By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Sept. 26 -- US drilling activity rebounded this week with 1,095 rotary rigs working, up 3 units after dipping by the same amount last week, officials at Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday. That's up from 875 rotary rigs drilling during the same period in 2002.
US land operations increased by 9 rigs to 973 drilling this week. Offshore drilling was down by 5 units to 102 in the Gulf of Mexico and 105 in US waters overall. There were 17 drilling barges working in inland waters this week, 1 less than last week.
Continued seasonal wet conditions caused a 30-rig drop in Canada's rig count, down to 308 this week compared with 237 a year ago.
In the US, the number of rigs drilling for natural gas increased by 7 to 943, while those drilling for oil were down by 4 to 148. There were 4 rigs unclassified. Directional drilling in the US decreased by 1 rig to 284. Horizontal drilling also dipped by 1 unit, to 90.
California registered the largest gain this week among major producing states, up by 2 units with 26 drilling. Wyoming's rig count increased by 1 to 67, and Alaska was unchanged with 8 rigs working.
Texas and Louisiana were down by 3 rigs each to 466 and 155, respectively. Oklahoma and New Mexico lost 1 rig each, with respective counts of 138 and 66.
The number of mobile offshore rigs available for work in the US sector of the Gulf of Mexico decreased by 1 to 171 this week, with the number of units under contract unchanged at 125, said officials Friday at ODS-Petrodata, Houston. That slightly increased the rig utilization rate to 73.1% in those waters.
Activity in European waters was unchanged, with 81 offshore rigs contracted out of an available fleet of 99, for an utilization rate of 81.8%. Worldwide offshore rig utilization remained at 80.6% for the second consecutive week, with 527 units under contract out of a total fleet of 654.