U.S. offshore rig count moves up a gear after two weeks of being idle

Baker Hughes’ weekly rig count report shows that the number of offshore rigs in the United States climbed up a step last week by adding one more unit, following two weeks of no change. However, the total number of rigs operating in the U.S. slipped to 748 from 755 units during the week before.

After the pause in the offshore rig activity for units working in the U.S., Baker Hughes revealed on Friday, 5 May 2023, that the number of these rigs went up a notch last week to 21. In addition, offshore rigs were up by 4 units on a year-over-year basis.

Moreover, Baker Hughes’ report points out that the total number of active drilling rigs – including onshore and offshore ones – in the United States fell by 7 units last week, reaching 748, which is higher by 43 rigs than last year’s count of 705 with oil rigs going up by 31 units, gas rigs jumping up by 11 units, and miscellaneous rigs inching up by 1 unit.

When compared to the figures from the week before, oil rigs in the U.S. were down by 3 units to 588 last week while gas rigs slipped by 4 units to 157 and miscellaneous rigs kept the status quo at 3 units.

On the other hand, the total number of active rigs in Canada remained flat, keeping the status quo at 93 rigs, with oil rigs slipping down by 2 units to 34 while gas rigs fell down by 2 units to 59.

Furthermore, the company’s report underlines that the total number of rigs in Canada climbed up by 2 units from last year’s count of 91 rigs. While oil rigs decreased by 8 units last week compared to the year before, gas rigs went up by 10 units.