Looking beyond the 'famous four'

摘要

Larger jack-up rigs are becoming more commonplace in a number of territories, not least the North Sea, where moves towards drilling and exploration in significantly deeper waters has necessitated a shift from reliance on existing semi-submersibles and other floating assets, some of the older of which have been designed to drill to depths of just over 100m. While the North Sea sector is currently booming in terms of demand for skilled engineers and managers, with enviable salaries to match (see News, page 6), firms deployed in this territory are nonetheless facing up to the fact that output has been declining over the past decade.