By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Mar. 14 -- US demand for mobile offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico jumped this week, adding 11 units under contracts, officials at ODS-Petrodata, Houston, reported Friday.
Total US drilling dipped slightly, however, with 927 rotary rigs working this week, down 2 from last week but up from 753 a year ago, said officials at Baker Hughes Inc.
A mobile offshore rig was added to the US gulf, increasing the available fleet to 184 with 124 of those units now under contract. The fleet utilization rate in those waters jumped to 67.4% from 61.7% previously.
However, Baker Hughes said the number of US rotary rigs actually in the process of drilling offshore remained unchanged this week at 101 in the gulf and 106 for the US as a whole. Activity in US inland waters increased by 1 unit to 17, while the US land rig count dipped by 3 to 804.
There were 536 rotary rigs drilling in Canada this week, up 15 from last week and well ahead of the 329 units that were working during the same period a year ago.
The number of rigs drilling for oil in the US slipped by 1 to 170. There were 754 US rotary rigs drilling for natural gas, down 2 from last week, and 3 rigs were unclassified. US directional drilling increased by 4 to 240 units. Horizontal drilling declined by 1 to 60.
Texas accounted for the loss in drilling activity, down 5 rotary rigs with 409 still working this week. Wyoming's rig count declined by 1 to 40. Drilling increased in Oklahoma by 3 rigs to 116, and Louisiana's rig count was up 2 to 152. Rig counts remained unchanged in New Mexico at 64, California 18, and Alaska 12.
The US upsurge in demand for mobile offshore rigs pushed worldwide utilization of those units to 80.4%, with 529 contracted out of a total fleet of 658. That marks the second time this year that global utilization of mobile offshore rigs topped 80%, said ODS-Petrodata officials.
The number of mobile offshore rigs under contract in European waters was down 1 to 83 out of 100 available for a utilization rate of 83%.
