By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Mar. 8 -- US drilling activity dipped slightly last week, down by 5 rotary rigs to 1,129 still working, officials reported Friday at Baker Hughes Inc.
The US rig count hit a 28-month high the previous week. The latest count was up from 929 working rigs during the same period a year ago.
The loss was primarily in land operations, down by 5 rigs to 1,011 still making hole. Activity in inland waters increased by 1 unit to 21. The number of rotary rigs actively drilling offshore was unchanged at 96 in the Gulf of Mexico but declined by 1 to 97 in US waters overall.
Canada's weekly rig count dipped by 4 to 556 last week, still up from 521 during the same period a year ago.
Among the rotary rigs working in the US, the number drilling for natural gas declined by 7 to 964, while those drilling for oil increased by 3 to 161. There were 4 rigs unclassified. Directional drilling increased by 9 rigs to 302. Horizontal drilling declined by 10 rigs to 91.
Texas led the decline, down by 7 rigs to 476 working last week. Oklahoma decreased by 2 to 159. However, Louisiana and New Mexico added 3 rigs each, resulting in respective weekly counts of 169 and 64. Wyoming and California each increased by 1 rig to 65 and 19, respectively. Alaska was unchanged with 14 rigs working.
The number of mobile offshore rigs under contract in the US portion of the Gulf of Mexico decreased by 1 to 115 last week while the available fleet increased by 1 to 164, dipping the utilization rate to 70.1%. "A new jack up was delivered from a Gulf of Mexico this week and is mobilizing for work offshore Mexico," officials said Friday at ODS-Petrodata Consulting & Research, Houston.
In European waters, the number of rigs under contract increased by 2 to 81 out of an available fleet of 96, raising utilization to 84.4% in that market.
Worldwide, the number of mobile offshore rigs under contract increased by 3 to 533 while the fleet size was up 1 to 654. That put the global utilization rate at 81.5% among those rigs.
