978 rigs currently drilling
Baker Hughes announced its most recent International Rig Count today, revealing that international activity rose in April.
A total of six new rigs came online in April, bringing the international total to 978 rigs. This is the second-highest activity level in two years, surpassed only by the 979 that were operational in February this year.
The increase in activity was driven by Africa and Asia-Pacific, where five rigs began drilling. The increase in African activity was very distributed, with multiple countries adding one rig each. Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria and Djibouti each saw activity increase, while one rig shut down in Angola. While tracking rig activity outside of North America is difficult, and Baker’s records may be incomplete, this is the first rig reported in Djibouti in at least five years.
The increase in activity was more concentrated in Asia-Pacific, with a few countries seeing larger rig count jumps. Four rigs began drilling in offshore China, while three came online in India. Two rigs started activities in Indonesia, and one became active in Australia. Most other countries in the Asia-Pacific region saw small decreases in rig count, though, as one rig shut down in Brunei, Thailand and Vietnam and two came offline in Malaysia.
Venezuelan activity continues to slide
The largest decrease in activity came in Latin America, where a net four rigs came offline. Like in many previous months, the decline in activity this month was primarily driven by Venezuela, where eight rigs came offline. There are now only 36 rigs operational in the country, one of the lowest activity levels in the last 25 years. Venezuelan rig counts were below this level during only one period since 1992, the strike of 2002-2003. However, the country’s current crisis is not as simple as a strike, and shows no signs of letting up soon.
Among other Latin American nations, declines were seen in Ecuador and Trinidad and Tobago, where two rigs shut down. Mexico saw the largest increase in activity, with four new rigs, while one came online in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Peru.
Shifts were more minor in Europe and the Middle East, where rig counts increased and decreased by one, respectively. Rig count changes were very distributed in each region, with only slight changes in individual countries.
There are now 94 rigs in Africa, 209 in Asia Pacific, 88 in Europe, 189 in Latin America and 398 in the Middle East.
Most rigs currently target oil, though the proportion of oil-targeting rigs is not as high as in the U.S. There are 756 oil-targeting rigs operating internationally, or 77% of all operations. In the U.S., by contrast, oil makes up 81% of all drilling.
Offshore drilling is much more popular internationally than in the U.S., as 194 international rigs are offshore. In the U.S., which has a higher total rig count, there are only 19 offshore rigs currently active.
