NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Nabors Industries Ltd., the world’s largest onshore oil and natural-gas driller, said first-quarter profit rose 2.1 percent as customers spent more to tap energy deposits.Net income climbed to $262.2 million, or 92 cents per share, from $256.8 million, or 79 cents, last year, the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company said in a statement last night. The company, which is run from offices in Houston, was expected to report per-share earnings of 86 cents, the average of six analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales rose ten percent to $1.3 billion.

The company benefited from more drilling in the international land market and lower-than-expected taxes. There were 3,352 rigs drilling for oil and gas worldwide in February, the highest since January 1986, according to Baker Hughes Inc., which compiles drilling statistics.

Nabors forecast seasonally slow results in the second quarter and expects drilling to pick up in the third quarter, particularly in the North American market.

“Subsequent quarters should show steady improvement, culminating in another strong year in 2007,” chief executive officer Gene Isenberg said.

Nabors owns almost 600 land-based rigs. The company also has 65 offshore rigs and 800 workover and well-servicing rigs that operate in the US, Canada, Central and South America, the Middle East and Africa. Workover rigs are used to extract oil from mature fields.

Yesterday’s results were crimped by a slowdown in North American drilling and higher service costs.

There were 1,898 rigs drilling in North America at the end of March, down ten percent from the year’s start, according to Baker Hughes.

The company expects second-quarter drilling margins to experience a “modest decline” in the second quarter before stabilizing.

Yesterday’s statement was issued after the close of regular trading on US stock markets. Shares of Nabors rose 73 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $32.72 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.