The Number of Oil and Gas Rigs in the World Increased in October for the First Time in Three Months
The number of active oil and gas drilling rigs in the world increased in October for the first time in three months, according to the American oil services company Baker Hughes.
On average, 1,777 installations operated worldwide last month compared to 1,760 in September. At the same time, the October level is 116 lower than the figure for the same month in 2022.
In the US, the number of installations in October decreased by 9 compared to the previous month and amounted to 623 (the minimum since January 2022). Meanwhile, in Canada their number increased by 4 to 192. Thus, North America accounted for 45.9% of the world’s drilling rigs compared to 46.6% in September and 51.9% a year earlier.
The number of installations in Europe over the past month increased by 7 (to 122), in Africa – by 6 (to 111), in the Middle East – by 10 (to 337). At the same time, in Latin America the figure did not change – 175 rigs, and in the Asia-Pacific region – decreased by 1 (to 217).
Baker Hughes has been publishing data on active drilling rigs since 1944. At first, the company collected information only in the USA and Canada, and since 1975 – all over the world. Since June 2019, it has included the number of drilling rigs in Ukraine in its calculations, while no recalculation of aggregate data for Europe for previous periods has been carried out in this regard.
The historical maximum in the number of operating drilling rigs was noted in 1981 – 5,624 rigs. The minimum number was recorded in 2020 and was 1,352 installations.
