Offshore Rig Movers International, Inc.

International rig count, onshore and offshore, was 951 as of October, which represented a rise of 20 rigs from September, which had represented a drop of 21 rigs from August. In other words, the international rig count is still bouncing around near the cycle low of 920 seen in October of 2016, despite the stabilization in oil prices in 2017 pointing to further weakness in global oil production.

The month-over-month rise was concentrated in Asia Pacific. Specifically, rigs in China Offshore rose by nine and rigs in India rose by another nine rigs. Rigs across the rest of the world were relatively stable.

The downturns in the oil industry are cyclic, as we've learned over the last 40 years. And history has also taught us that the one thing that is consistent is the fact that the upturn will come, but it is always unpredictable.

Readers should note that the number of oil rigs in the China Offshore segment rose to multi-year highs and nearly matched the all-time high, as the following graph illustrates: