Thanks for the reply. I was also googling after I posted. Drill counts are an interesting piece of data to track.
In my area drilling had taken a hard hit right at the end of ‘08, but I see it rebounding now. So the data confirms what I see. Drilling isn’t at the rate it was at its peak, but it is back strong, at least onshore.
Offshore Gulf of Mexico is running at about 50% utilization, apparently. Half the rigs are working. So there is room for improvement there. Hopefully those guys will go back to work soon.
I saw an interesting article the other day about an offshore complex Chevron is planning about 250 miles offshore. That caught my attention.
U.S. energy behemoth Chevron Corp. (CVX - Analyst Report) has got the green light for conducting oil and natural gas exploratory drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). The approval by the U.S. regulators is the first for ‘completely new exploration’ in the region – i.e. tapping a reservoir from which oil or gas has never been produced – since British giant BP plc’s (BP - Analyst Report) oil rig disaster in April last year.
Chevron’s exploration plan will see the super major drill a new exploratory deepwater well in 6,750 feet of water in Keathley Canyon Block 736, located 216 miles off the Louisiana coastline.
Chevron began initial drilling on the well in March 2010 but was forced to stop midway (in early June) when the Obama administration imposed a deepwater drilling ban because of the oil spill. The revised permit – the fifth approved by the federal agency since the deepwater Horizon rig explosion but the first that provides for exploratory drilling into a new field – will now allow the company to complete the well in the offshore reservoir.
According to the U.S. Interior Department, which oversees offshore drilling, the project has been given the go-ahead only after the fulfillment of strict safety and environmental requirements for offshore operations that have been imposed in the aftermath of the BP oil spill.
Chevron wins fifth deepwater drilling permit for exploration
Mar 24, 2011 ... The first deepwater permit approved for a completely new exploration well in the US Gulf of Mexico