Oil, gas companies go overseas to buy equipment that’s often cheaper, safer

Twenty-five years ago, there were 4,000 rigs drilling oil and gas wells throughout the country.

That number has shrunk to 1,400.

Most of the rigs date to the 1980s and are expensive to operate, and if a company wants to use one, there’s an 18-month wait to get one in the U.S.

This forces companies drilling in the Rockies these days to go overseas for their rigs. The foreign rigs are cheaper, quieter, safer and drill better. They can be delivered in a quarter of the time, and, in some cases, the purchase price includes engineers to help set up the rigs.
Rocky Mountain News