The global count of working offshore rigs has inched up again, which makes two consecutive months of net gains after nearly a year of steady declines.

While registering a month-on-month increase of 9.4% from April, Latin America was the only region to enjoy a year-on-year rise, according to the latest figures from US oil-services giant Baker Hughes Inc (BHI).

Latin America’s May 2017 count surpassed May 2016 by a significant 16.7%, while all other regions were well below their figures from one year ago.

Overall, owners of offshore support vessels (OSVs) saw a global market with 226 offshore rigs at work in May, up 2.3% from 221 in April but still 11.4% down on the 255 units in May 2016.

Of BHI’s seven tracked regions, only Asia-Pacific and the Middle East declined marginally in May, while most of the other five areas saw rises in the double-digit percentages.

These two regions lost four rigs each, with the Middle East at 41 units, down 8.9% from 45 in April, and Asia-Pacific at 76, down 5% from 80 in the previous month.

For the gainers, Latin America had 35 working rigs in May, up 9.4% from 32 in April. Europe rose to 35 units, up 13% from 31 in April. Africa increased to 15 rigs, up 15.4% from 13 units.

The US Gulf of Mexico (GoM) saw a 10% rise to 22 working rigs from 20 in April, which is just 8.3% down from 24 rigs in May 2016.

The small market of Canada went from zero units in April to two rigs in May, which is the same as one year ago.

The total count for May, including onshore and offshore rigs, was 1,935 — a decline of 18 rigs from 1,917 in April.

Offshore rigs made up 11.7% of the global total in May. This is up from 11.5% in April and 10.9% in March. The share is relevant because of the widely expected gradual shift of oil companies’ spending from offshore to cheaper onshore drilling.