The Number of Drilling Rigs in the World Has Continued to Grow for Three Months in a Row
The number of operating oil and gas drilling rigs in the world continues to increase for the third month in a row. This is evidenced by data from the oilfield services company from the USA Baker Hughes.
In August, 1,735 drilling rigs were operating in the world, which is 22 more than a month earlier, when there were 1,713 of them. However, this level is 53 lower than in August 2023.
In the USA, the number of drilling rigs remained the same in August and amounted to 586, while in Canada this figure increased by 25 and reached 218.
In the Middle East and Africa, the number of installations decreased by eight (to 337) and four (to 104), respectively.
In Latin America and the Asia–Pacific region, the number of installations increased by six (to 160) and also by six (to 215), respectively.
Baker Hughes began publishing data on operating drilling rigs in 1944, initially covering only the United States and Canada, and since 1975 began to take into account the situation around the world. Since June 2019, the company has also included the number of drilling rigs in Ukraine in its calculations, but has not recalculated the consolidated data for Europe for previous periods.
In 2023, the average monthly number of operating oil and gas drilling rigs increased for the third year in a row, reaching 1,814 compared to 1,747 in 2022. In the history of the industry, the maximum number of working drilling rigs was noted in 1981 – 5,624, while the minimum was recorded in 2020 – 1,352 rigs.
