US oil and gas drilling activity this week fell by 8 units to 1,989 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Feb. 10 was up by 268 rigs from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

Seadrill Ltd. announced contracts for the three jack up rigs: Offshore Mischief, Offshore Defender, and West Leda. The three contracts have an aggregated revenue potential of $311 million including mobilization fees and assignment-specific rig modifications.

ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co. has issued a global license for proprietary oil-well sand-control technology to Weatherford International Ltd.

Sterling Resources Ltd., Calgary, said results of its F17-09 appraisal well in Netherlands North Sea Block F17a will assist the company in understanding how to optimally develop the discovery as part of a greater F-Quad project.

The global market for oil field specialty chemicals reached nearly $16 billion in 2010 with the US and Canada accounting for 52%, which an IHS Chemical market study attributed to increasing oil and natural gas drilling activity in shale plays.

US oil and gas drilling rig activity this week fell by 11 units to 1,997 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Feb. 3 was up by 258 rigs from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

McMoRan Exploration Co., New Orleans, said its Blackbeard East ultradeep exploratory bypass well on the Gulf of Mexico shelf encountered potential hydrocarbons in the Sparta carbonate section of Eocene and Vicksburg section of Oligocene.

Statoil and partners have taken a step toward development of deepwater Luva gas and condensate field in the Norwegian Sea with selection of a spar platform to handle production from wells completed subsea (OGJ Online, Mar. 18, 2009).

US oil drilling in fourth-quarter 2011 was up from a year earlier, the American Petroleum Institute said in its latest quarterly well completion report.

US oil and gas drilling rig activity this week remained unchanged at 2,008 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Jan. 27 was up by 276, however, from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

BP PLC is required to indemnify drilling contractor Transocean Ltd., the owner of the Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible drilling rig, against compensatory damages in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill off Louisiana in 2010, according to US District Judge Carl Barbier of New Orleans.

US oil and gas drilling rig activity this week increased by 21 units to reach 2,008 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Jan. 20 was up by 295 from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.