NEW YORK CITY – Offshore rig contracting accelerated in the back half of April and the first half of May, bringing the month’s total to 43 contracts announced (plus seven year-over-year) for 60 rig years, according to Evercore ISI’s latest Offshore Rig Market Snapshot.
Jackups rigs received the bulk of contracting but floater rates are improving, the report noted.
The 74%/26% split in term of contracts and 90%/10% by rig years continue to favor jackups, says Evercore, as 20 term contracts were awarded including 16 for the Middle East (9 Saudi Arabia, 3 Egypt, 1 Iran, 1 UAE).
On the floater side, three term contracts were awarded with the Maersk Voyager priced at $298,000/day for Sao Tome and Principe; Seadrill’s West Gemini at $298,000/day off Angola; and the Maersk Deliverer at $395,000 off Australia.
Thus far in May, only one term contract has been announced; this was for Transocean’s Deepwater Skyros off Angola at $310,000/day.
Overall, the Evercore report said that “Seadrill was the big winner over the past month,” announcing a net backlog increase of 26 floater and 102 jackup rig months. The company is reportedly reactivating three jackups for new three-year contracts with Saudi Aramco; and has also contracted two floaters for 3-to-4 wells each in the Gulf of Mexico at dayrates in the $325,000 to $355,000/day range.
Evercore says that it expects jackups to continue dominating contracting activity in the near term as 37 units are scheduled to roll off contract by the end of June. This includes 10 with Pemex, 5 with Saudi Aramco and 2 each with Equinor, GUPCO, ONGC, and Petrobel.
In contrast, only six floaters are rolling off contract in the near term, including Noble Corp.’s Gerry de Souza, Transocean’s Development Driller III, and Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Onyx, which have options that are likely to be exercised keeping them busy into 3Q 2022.
05.17.2022
