Top 10 offshore drillers enhance their market position

By Cinnamon Edralin, Westwood Global Energy Group

Following a few years of increasing offshore rig activity, in 2024 the market began experiencing a dip in demand. This dip is not the start of a new down cycle, but rather a mid-cycle correction in a longer-term upcycle.

Demand for jackups, semisubs and drillships combined stands at 520 units as of mid-2025, with the marketed committed utilization rate at 86%. This is defined as the count of rigs currently under contract, as well as those units not currently under contract that have future firm work, as a percentage of the actively marketed fleet.

When demand and utilization start to fall, rig owners take various actions to support the marketed utilization rate, in some cases culling units from their fleets if longer-term opportunities are not apparent, and 2024 was no exception.

In 2023, while demand was still rising, only two units – one semisub and one drillship – were retired from the global offshore rig fleet. Both were converted for use outside the industry. In 2024, the number of retirements rose to seven, all of which were semisubs sold for recycling. The focus on removing semisub supply is the result of this segment taking the hardest hit in terms of a drop in demand. Semisub demand finished 2024 at about 62 units, a drop from 68 at the end of the previous year, and as of mid-2025, semisub demand has fallen to about 58 units. Only one new rig order was made last year – ARO Drilling jackup Kingdom 3. Because steel had not yet been cut as of the end of 2024, for the purposes of this article, this rig has not yet been added to the fleet count.

As a result of the aforementioned attrition and no new supply, the global supply of jackups, semisubs and drillships finished 2024 at 717 units, down from 724 at the end of 2023. This count includes 26 units deemed under construction, for which steel has been cut but the rig has not yet been delivered, whether the unit is actively being built or has had its construction paused. By rig type, there were 512 jackups, 94 semisubs and 111 drillships in the global fleet at the end of 2024. For comparison, at the end of 2023, the count was 512 jackups, 101 semisubs and 111 drillships.

By fleet size, the top 10 rig contractors of managed units at the end of 2024 controlled nearly 51% of the global fleet, a slight increase from 49% in 2023. However, when it comes to the working rig count, the top 10 contractors raised their position even more, to about 57% versus 53% the prior year. None of the 26 units under construction are managed by the top 10 contractors.

Once again, state-owned China Oilfield Services Ltd. (COSL) is at the top of the list with 65 rigs under its management, despite reducing its managed fleet by two units from 2023. COSL is most dominant within Asia-Pacific, with a smaller presence in the Middle East and the North Sea.

Valaris is the second largest manager with 47 units, having gained two units over the previous year after bareboat charter agreements between Valaris and ARO Drilling were terminated. ARO Drilling is a joint venture between Valaris and Saudi Aramco. The two jackups had received contract suspensions from Saudi Aramco that ARO, in turn, elected to terminate and then returned the units to Valaris. Valaris’ fleet is spread across the world, with its largest regions being the North Sea and the US Gulf.

Rounding out the top three slots is Advanced Energy Systems, or ADES, as the company is commonly known, with 46 units under its management. ADES is predominantly a Middle East contractor, with 40 of its units in the region. Another five are in Asia-Pacific, and the other one finished 2024 in the Mediterranean region.

One contractor that made a meaningful move in 2024 was Noble Corp., which finalized its acquisition of Diamond Offshore in September 2024. Prior to the close of the merger, Diamond retired two semisubs, and following the merger, Noble retired one more semisub, finishing out the year with a managed fleet of 40 units, versus 31 at the end of 2023.

Seadrill also increased its managed fleet size last year, and at 17 rigs was added to the top 10 list for 2024, replacing ARO Drilling, which as mentioned earlier, had reduced its managed fleet count by two during the year, ending at 15 units. During 2024, Seadrill sold one jackup to PV Drilling. However, while Seadrill closed its acquisition of Aquadrill in 2023, some of the rigs remained under the management of the contract-in-place until the end of their respective charters, when management transitioned to Seadrill. Because a few of these transitions took place in 2024, Seadrill’s managed fleet count increased during the year.

By region, the top 10 contractors are most dominant in the US Gulf, where they managed nearly 94% of the region’s fleet. This is led by Enterprise Offshore with 15 jackups; however, many of the region’s jackups are stacked and not working. In the North Sea, the top 10 contractors manage almost 69% of the region’s fleet, with Noble having the most units in the region at the end of last year.

Meanwhile, the region where the top 10 contractors are the least dominant is Latin America, whey they manage close to 38% of the fleet. Across Mexico, which is primarily a jackup sector, and Brazil, where mostly floating rigs are used, local contractors provide a significant portion of the local fleets.

Norway-based Borr Drilling has the most rigs off Mexico with seven jackups, but this is followed by Mexico-based Perforadora Central and Perforadora Mexico with six and four jackups, respectively. Several other local companies manage small fleets off Mexico. For Brazil, Constellation Oil Services had the largest managed fleet at the end of 2024 with seven floating rigs. Notably, since the start of this year, Constellation has also commenced managing newbuild drillship Tidal Action, which is owned by Hanwha Drilling, and has won a contract that will see it manage jackup Admarine 511, which will be mobilizing to Brazil this year for a long-term assignment with Petrobras. Foresea, Ventura Offshore and Etesco Drilling are other local rig managers for Brazil.

Globally, the number of working rigs at the end of 2024 was 2% lower than at the end of 2023. However, the number of working rigs managed by the top 10 contractors at the end of 2024 was up 3% over the previous year. Looking ahead to the end of 2025, Westwood anticipates a decrease in the global working count and in the total offshore rig supply ahead of demand picking up once again for long-term work starting in the second half of 2026 and beyond.