July 23, 2010

The number of rigs under contract in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico continues to fall in the wake of April's Deepwater Horizon disaster, according to ODS-Petrodata's Weekly Mobile Offshore Rig Count.

This week, 67 of the 122 mobile offshore drilling rigs in the U.S. Gulf are under contract and fleet utilization is 54.9 percent. This is a three-rig decline in the contracted rig count since last week, and a 12-rig decline since the April 20 blowout at BP's Macondo well site. Of the 67 mobile offshore rigs currently under contract in the region, only 27 are actually working, compared to the 69 rigs that were working in April before the BP incident.

The South American offshore rig count is unchanged this week. With 93 of 119 mobile offshore drilling rigs under contract, the region's offshore drilling fleet utilization rate is 78.2 percent.

One more rig is under contract in European waters this week compared to last. With 93 of 105 mobile offshore drilling rigs under contract in the region, fleet utilization is 88.6 percent.

The number of mobile offshore drilling rigs under contract in West Africa is unchanged at 46 and fleet size remains 62. West Africa offshore rig fleet utilization this week is 74.2 percent.

The Middle East contracted offshore rig count increased by one since last week, and today stands at 91. The 120-rig fleet's utilization rate is 75.8 percent.

In the Asia/Australia region, one less offshore rig is under contract this week compared to one week ago. With 110 of the region's 131 mobile offshore drilling rigs under contract, Asia/Australia offshore rig utilization is now 84.0 percent.

The declining Gulf of Mexico offshore rig count continues to pull down global offshore rig fleet utilization. This week, 584 of the world's 762 mobile offshore drilling rigs are under contract, and worldwide offshore rig fleet utilization is 76.6 percent.

© 2010 ODS-Petrodata, Inc.

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