By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Oct. 3 -- The number of mobile offshore rigs under contract in the US sector of the Gulf of Mexico fell by 5 this week to a total of 120 out of the 171 units available for work, dropping the fleet utilization rate to 70.2% in those waters, said officials Friday at ODS-Petrodata, Houston.
The number of contracted offshore rigs in European waters was down by 2 to 79 out of an available fleet of 99, with utilization dipping to 79.8%. Worldwide, the net loss was 6 rigs to 521 mobile offshore units contracted out of a total fleet of 654. That dropped the global utilization rate among mobile offshore rigs to a 3-month low of 79.7%, said ODS-Petrodata officials.
Total US drilling activity continued to fluctuate by small amounts this week, down by 4 rotary rigs to 1,091 working, compared with 857 a year ago, said officials Friday at Baker Hughes Inc.
Land operations accounted for the loss in the Baker Hughes rig count, down by 10 units to 963 drilling this week. Activity in inland waters increased by 3 barge rigs to 20. The number of rigs working offshore increased by 2 to 104 in the Gulf of Mexico and by 3 to 108 in US waters as a whole.
Canada's rig count jumped by 88 units to 396 working, up from 230 last year.
In the US, the number of rigs drilling for natural gas decreased by 11 to 932; those drilling for oil increased by 7 to 155, while 4 rigs were unclassified. Directional drilling was up by 5 units to 289. Horizontal drilling declined by 2 to 88 units.
The number of rigs working in Texas fell by 13 to 453 this week. New Mexico was down by 4 units62, while California lost 1 to 25. Louisiana's rig count gained 9 to 164, while Wyoming was up by 4 to 71.Oklahoma and Alaska added 1 rig each for respective totals of 139 and 9.