Asian Nov. Rig Use Rises 2.4%, Led by India, Baker Hughes Says

By Dinakar Sethuraman

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Rig use by petroleum explorers in Asia Pacific, led by India, rose 2.4 percent in November in the slowest increase this year as oil prices fell, according to data from Baker Hughes Inc.

The Asia Pacific region used 253 rigs to drill on land and water last month compared with 247 a year earlier, Baker Hughes, the world’s third-largest oilfield services company, said on its Web site. October’s count fell 2.4 percent from a year earlier.

Crude oil futures have declined more than 70 percent from the record $147.27 a barrel in New York on July 11, prompting explorers to reduce or postpone drilling plans. Oil and commodities including silver and copper have slumped as a global economic crisis cuts demand for raw materials.

India was the biggest user of rigs in the Asia Pacific last month, at 82, followed by Indonesia with 61 as companies including Reliance Industries Ltd. and Total SA searched for gas.

Asia Pacific accounted for 23 percent of the rigs used worldwide last month, excluding the U.S. and Canada.

The international rig count, excluding the U.S. and Canada, stood at 1,096 last month compared with 992 a year earlier, Baker Hughes said. November figures were unchanged from October.

There were 3,448 rigs operating worldwide at the end of November, 9.1 percent more than a year earlier, according to Baker Hughes. The figure includes offshore and onshore drills sites and excludes data from Iran and rigs used in onshore sites in China.

The rates to rent deepwater rigs has stayed high despite a decline in crude oil prices because the global credit crunch has prompted some small companies to cancel plans to build vessels, benefiting operators such as Transocean Inc., the world’s largest offshore driller.

Transocean agreed to lease its C. Kirk Rhein Jr. rig to Burgundy Global Exploration Corp. for $550,000 a day, a 52 percent increase from an earlier contract for the rig, according to a public filing on Dec. 5.

Baker Hughes has published the rotary rig counts since 1944, when Hughes Tool Co. began weekly counts of U.S. and Canadian drilling activity, the Web site said. The monthly international rig count started in 1975.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dinakar Sethuraman in Singapore at dinakar@bloomberg.net.