The Baker Hughes rig count is the most widely quoted measure of drilling activity in the world. Equipment buyers, sellers, and service companies outside North America watch the monthly international count to see whether drilling in their country is rising or falling. The headline number is simple. The series behind it has a few traps, and one of them, a reporting change for Saudi Arabia that took effect in January 2024, can distort any chart of Middle East activity that spans 2023 and 2024.
This guide explains what the international count measures, how to read it for a single market, and the two series breaks to check before you compare one year with another.
What the international rig count measures
Baker Hughes has published a monthly international rig count since 1975. It covers active drilling rigs outside the United States and Canada, which have their own weekly count. Since February 2020 the international figures have been released on the last working day of the first week of each month (Baker Hughes Rig Count).
Baker Hughes counts a rig as active when it is "turning to the right," meaning the well is underway and has not yet reached target depth. Rigs that are moving between locations, rigging up, or doing non-drilling work such as completion or production testing are not counted. International rigs are counted weekly and the weekly results are averaged into a monthly figure, which is why you will sometimes see fractions (Baker Hughes Rig Count FAQs).
The count also leaves out some places entirely. According to Baker Hughes, it does not include rigs drilling in Russia, the Caspian region, Iran, Sudan, Cuba, North Korea, or onshore China, and Syria has been excluded since February 2012 (Baker Hughes Rig Count FAQs). If your market is in one of those areas, the international count says nothing about it, and a regional total does not include it.
For the latest month in this guide, October 2026, Baker Hughes reported 1,111 international rigs: 870 on land and 241 offshore. The regional split was Middle East 502, Asia-Pacific 202, Latin America 150, Europe 137, and Africa 120 (Baker Hughes Worldwide Rig Count, October 2026).
How to read it for one market
The headline international total moves slowly and hides most of what matters to a buyer or seller in a single country. The downloadable workbook on the Baker Hughes international page breaks each month down by region, country, land or offshore (plus inland waters), and drilling target (oil, gas, or miscellaneous). Four habits make that detail useful.
Look at your country, not the region. Regional totals can move in one direction while individual countries move the other way. Between the first half of 2024 and the six months to October 2026, Baker Hughes data shows Middle East land rigs outside Saudi Arabia falling from an average of about 229 to about 208. Inside that total, Iraq fell from about 62 to about 17, while Kuwait rose from about 28 to about 40 and the UAE (Abu Dhabi) from about 46 to about 60 (ORN calculation from Baker Hughes monthly data).
Separate land from offshore. Land and offshore fleets use different equipment and react on different timetables. Saudi Arabia's offshore count, for example, went from 89 in January 2024 to 54 in October 2026, while its land count went from 218 to 200 over the same period (Baker Hughes, October 2026 report). A single country total would blur two quite different stories.
Compare like months, or use a longer average. A one-month change can reflect timing more than activity. Averaging over three or six months, or comparing a month with the same month a year earlier, gives a steadier picture. Baker Hughes reports both the month-on-month and the year-ago change in its summary sheets.
Know the seasonal pattern in your market. The strongest seasonal swing in the data is outside the international count: Canada's spring breakup. From 2013 to 2025 (leaving out 2020 and 2021), Canadian rig activity in April and May ran about 48% to 54% below its 12-month trend, in every year measured (ORN calculation from Baker Hughes data). Most international markets show no comparably reliable seasonal swing, so a change of a few rigs from one month to the next in, say, Algeria or India is not a seasonal effect you can explain away.
Series break 1: Saudi Arabia, January 2024
This is the change most likely to mislead.
Effective January 2024, Baker Hughes changed how it counts rigs in Saudi Arabia. Its methodology notice says the international reports "now reflect all operating rigs within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," and that methodologies for all other countries are unchanged and continue to count active rigs (Baker Hughes Rig Count). The FAQ confirms that every country except Saudi Arabia reports "active" rigs, while Saudi Arabia reports "operating rigs" (Baker Hughes Rig Count FAQs).
The two definitions are not the same. Baker Hughes describes the Saudi figure as the monthly average of rigs actively operating in the Kingdom, including contracted rigs that are drilling, conducting workovers, or mobilized across locations, and excluding idle units. Everywhere else, workover rigs and rigs in transit are not counted. Baker Hughes says the Saudi and other counts "may be combined," because the movements up and down still reflect changes in operations (Baker Hughes Rig Count FAQs). That holds for direction within one basis. The level across the change is a different matter.
The difference in level is large. Baker Hughes has published two workbooks that both cover January 2024 through July 2025: a history file on the old basis and the current report on the new one. Over those 19 months:
- Saudi Arabia averages about 79 rigs on the old (active) basis and about 282 on the new (operating) basis.
- The Middle East region averages about 340 rigs in the old file and about 543 in the new one.
- Every other region (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America) is identical in both files, month for month.
- The Middle East excluding Saudi Arabia is also identical in both files.
(ORN calculation comparing the two Baker Hughes workbooks.)
In January 2024 alone, the old basis shows 88 Saudi rigs and the new basis shows 307. In practice, the whole difference between the two Middle East series comes from Saudi Arabia.
Chart 1. Saudi Arabia rig count, old and new Baker Hughes basis
Why it matters
The current Baker Hughes workbook starts in January 2024. Anyone who joins it to the older history to build a long chart will see Saudi Arabia jump from 80 rigs in December 2023 to 307 in January 2024, and the Middle East from 336 to 567. That is not a drilling boom. It is the same country counted a different way.
The change affects any figure that includes Saudi Arabia: the Middle East total, the international total, and the worldwide total. Comparing a 2023 international total with a 2025 one without adjusting for this will overstate growth by about 200 rigs, even though month-to-month movements after January 2024 remain comparable on the new basis.
How to handle it
- For trends within Saudi Arabia, compare 2024 onward only with 2024 onward. On the new basis, Baker Hughes data shows Saudi Arabia at 307 in January 2024, 232 by August 2025, and 254 in October 2026.
- For a long Middle East trend, use the region excluding Saudi Arabia, which is consistent across both files, and read Saudi Arabia separately.
- For international or worldwide totals across 2024, state which basis you are using, or show totals with and without Saudi Arabia.
Series break 2: Ukraine, mid-2019
The second break is older and smaller, but it still affects Europe. Baker Hughes notes that effective June 7, 2019, the international count includes active drilling rigs in Ukraine, and that the historical record was not updated (Baker Hughes, Worldwide Rig Count page). In the published data, Ukraine first appears in the May 2019 monthly figure, with 84 rigs.
The effect on the European total is immediate. Europe went from 98 rigs in April 2019 to 186 in May 2019, while Europe excluding Ukraine moved only from 98 to 102 (Baker Hughes history workbook). Ukraine is mostly a land and gas market, so the addition also changed Europe's mix. Gas-directed rigs made up about 19% of the European count in 2018 and about 47% in 2019 (ORN calculation from Baker Hughes data).
If you compare European activity before and after 2019, take Ukraine out of both sides, or start the comparison in mid-2019.
What the data shows across regions since 2024
The table below compares average land rig counts in the first half of 2024 with the six months to October 2026. It is a description of what Baker Hughes reported, not a forecast. The Middle East figure excludes Saudi Arabia so that the comparison is on one basis throughout.
| Region (land rigs) | Jan–Jun 2024 avg | May–Oct 2026 avg |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | 91.8 | 97.8 |
| Asia-Pacific | 122.8 | 115.2 |
| Europe | 95.2 | 106.7 |
| Latin America | 123.5 | 106.3 |
| Middle East (ex Saudi Arabia) | 228.7 | 207.7 |
Source: ORN calculation from Baker Hughes Worldwide Rig Count monthly data (October 2026 report).
Country moves inside those regions over the same windows, again from Baker Hughes data, include Turkey (about 24 to 39 land rigs), Libya (about 19 to 26), Mexico (about 32 to 15), and Argentina (about 52 to 48). These are averages of monthly figures, rounded.
A short checklist before you quote a number
- Name the basis. For anything involving Saudi Arabia from 2024 onward, say that it counts operating rigs, not active rigs.
- Check the coverage. Confirm your country is in the count at all, given the exclusions listed by Baker Hughes.
- Watch for added countries. Ukraine joined in mid-2019 without a restated history. Check for any similar note before comparing across years.
- Split land and offshore. They are different fleets and often move in different directions.
- Average before you conclude. One month is a data point. Three or six months is a trend.
- Cite the source and date. Baker Hughes asks that it and its rig count website be cited when the information is used (Baker Hughes Rig Count FAQs).
Sources
- Baker Hughes Rig Count, overview and methodology update notice: rigcount.bakerhughes.com
- Baker Hughes Worldwide Rig Count, October 2026 report and archive workbooks: rigcount.bakerhughes.com/intl-rig-count
- Baker Hughes Rig Count FAQs: rigcount.bakerhughes.com/rig-count-faqs
Data accessed November 6, 2026. Baker Hughes is not affiliated with Oil Rigs Now and has not reviewed this article.
Browse current listings of land drilling rigs and offshore rigs on Oil Rigs Now.