The full-time hunt for oil

Employment of offshore mobile rigs around the world stood at an all-time high in February with 497 units reported on drilling locations, according to the Offshore Rig Location Report. The utilization rate was at its highest in recent history with 98 percent of the fleet under contract. This is up 1 percent over January and 5 percent over the same period last year.

In the US only one mobile rig was idle out of the 165 units in US waters.

The extreme tightness of the mobile rig market has caused day rates to soar dramatically.A semisubmersible rig in the North Sea was reported to have drawn a have seen jackup rigs signed for rates in the low $40,000s.