The worldwide offshore rig count in January 2019 increased by five units sequentially and 50 rigs year-over-year, according to a Thursday report by Baker Hughes, a GE company.
BHGE splits its rig count reports on international and North America rig counts, which together make up the worldwide rig count.
Looking only at the offshore part, the international offshore rig count for January 2019 was 241, up 7 from the 234 counted in December 2018 , and up 45 from the 196 counted in January 2018.
Breaking down the international count by regions, with only offshore rigs included, the rig count in Latin America lost one rig during January 2019 totaling 26 from 27 in December 2018 and remained flat compared to January 2018.
In Europe , the offshore rig count in January 2019 was 31, down 7 from 38 in December 2018 and up 4 rigs from January 2018.
Over in Africa , the offshore rig count for January 2019 was up by 5 rigs totaling 20 when compared to December 2018 and up 9 units from January 2018 which totaled 11 rigs.
In the Middle East region, the offshore rig count in January 2019 totaled 63 rigs, up 7 rigs from December 2018 and up 22 units from January 2018.
The Asia-Pacific region had the largest number of offshore rigs which totaled 101 in January 2019, up 3 rigs from December 2018 and up 10 rigs from January 2018.
In North America , there were 24 rigs in January 2019, down 2 from December 2018 and up 5 from January 2018.
The worldwide offshore rig count in January 2019 was 265, up 5 from 260 counted in December 2018, and up 50 from the 215 counted in January 2018.