International offshore rig count slips a notch

Baker Hughes’ international rig count report indicates that the number of offshore rigs lost its forward momentum in April 2023 and fell down by 1 unit, compared to the month before. However, the total number of international rigs was on the rise, climbing to 947 from 930 units in March 2023.

After the number of international offshore rigs increased by 6 units in March 2023, Baker Hughes disclosed last week, that the number of these units decreased by 1 in April 2023. In addition, offshore rigs were up by 36 units on a year-over-year basis last month while they were up 34 rigs year-over-year in March 2023.

Furthermore, the firm highlights that the total number of active international drilling rigs – including onshore and offshore ones – jumped by 17 units last month, climbing to 947, which is higher by 141 rigs than last year’s count of 806 with land rigs surging up by 105 units and offshore rigs going up by 36 units.

Compared to the figures from the previous month, land rigs went up by 18 units to 720 in April 2023 while offshore rigs dropped down by 1 unit to 227.

Moreover, the average U.S. rig count for April was 752 units, down 1 rig from last month’s count of 753 and up 62 units on a year-over-year basis while the average U.S. rig count for March 2023 was up 92 units year-over-year.

On the other hand, the average Canada rig count for April was 109 units, down 87 rigs from last month’s count of 196 rigs and up 2 units year-over-year, compared to the average Canada rig count for March 2023, which was up 11 units year-over-year.

Meanwhile, the worldwide rig count for April was 1,808 units, down 71 rigs from 1,879 units counted in March 2023, and up 205 units, from 1,603 rigs counted in April 2022.