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July 3 (Reuters) - The number of rigs working in the Gulf ofMexico hit its highest level for more than four years this week,according to Baker Hughes figures out on Wednesday, boosted bythe search for oil in North America as crude prices top $100 abarrel.
Now at 57 rigs, activity in the Gulf has improved along withthe gradual recovery since the 2010 BP disaster at theMacondo well led to an extended moratorium for U.S. deepwaterdrilling.
But the decline in work in response to the North Americanshale gas glut has had just as dramatic an impact. The last timethere were 57 rigs working in the Gulf - February 2009 - 54 werefocused on natural gas; as of this week, only 14 were.
On the other hand, at 43 rigs, the oil-targeted count is atits highest level since March 2001, according to Baker Hughes.
A note on Tuesday from Bernstein Research flagged thepotential of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico for certain stocksthat have generally underperformed since Macondo.
"Part of the miss in performance has been related to themoratorium in the Gulf of Mexico following the Macondo tragedy.We note however that (deepwater) activity has returned and isaround all time highs," said Bernstein, singling out companiessuch as Anadarko and Apache as potentialbeneficiaries.
