The offshore drilling market has stayed essentially flat recently. The total number of jackups, semis, and drillships under contract grew by one unit from 469 units in October to 470 in November. Meanwhile, the global fleet has stayed flat for the last three months with a total supply of 758 rigs. As a result, utilization went from 61.9% in October to 62.0% in November. At the same time, the number of rigs working had a one-unit drop from 446 in October to 445 in November. All of that said, it should be noted that the market has come a long way from the end of 2017, when the fleet was nearly 50 rigs bigger, utilization was 51.1%, and only 366 rigs were working.
– Justin Smith, Petrodata by IHS Markit
