The number of working oil and gas rigs working worldwide rose month-on-month in December according to the Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE) monthly rig count, monitored by Kallanish. The international rig count, covering global regions excluding North America, upticked as did the North American count itself.

The number of rigs operating in the US moved upwards in December after having fallen for two months previously. Numbers in Canada meanwhile increased by just one rig m-o-m.

The North American rig count for the month was 1,135, an increase of 20 (1.8%) m-o-m and up by 292 (34.6%) y-o-y. The international rig count for December 2017 was 942, 9 less than the 951 counted in November but up by 17 (1.8%) from the 925 rigs counted in December 2016.

The worldwide rig count for December 2017 was 2,089 therefore, up by 32 from the 2,057 counted in November and up by 317 (17.9%) from the 1,772 counted in the same period 12 months ago.

Internationally, the rig count fell m-o-m in Africa to 77 while the Asia Pacific region improved by 4 rigs to 217. Rig numbers rose in Latin America by 14 to 195. The count upticked slightly in Europe by 2 m-o-m to 87 working rigs. The second largest region in terms of rig numbers after North America, the Middle East, saw no movement in working rig numbers. It had 378 rigs working in December 2017, just 2 more than in December 2016.     

The BHGE Rotary Rig Counts assess the number of rotary drilling rigs actively exploring for or developing oil or natural gas in the United States, Canada and international markets.