Baker Hughes (NYSE:BHI) reported Friday that the drilling rig counts in the US are up, both onshore and offshore; while the number of land rigs drilling in Canada has dropped.
The US land rig count has jumped 14 from last week to 1,585 rigs working. This is an increase of 642 rigs year over year.
The increase in the number of rigs in the US is most likely spurred by stabilized commodity prices and increased exploration, workover and completion activities in the major shale plays, including Marcellus, Haynesville, Eagle Ford, Barnett, Woodford and Fayetteville Shales.
The number of rigs drilling onshore Canada is down 16 from last week, bringing the number of contracted Canadian land rigs to 349. While the number of rigs contracted for work onshore Canada may be less than last week, it is still an increase of 169 year-over-year.
Offshore the US, surprisingly there was an increase in the number of drilling rigs contracted for work in the Gulf of Mexico. Up two from last week, the number of rigs offshore the US is 14.
This is a considerable drop from last year when there were 37 offshore rigs contracted for work in the waters of the US.
Additionally, force majeures have been declared on deepwater rigs contracted for work in the US Gulf of Mexico, due to the current deepwater drilling moratorium. Two of these floaters have been redeployed to other areas of the world.
