The West African offshore rig market at the dawn of a new decade

摘要

The second half of the past decade has been a tumultuous one in the West African offshore drilling market. The downturn hit hard across the sector, and while a recovery is underway it has been muted in comparison to other regions around the globe. Looking at the utilisation charts below, it is clear to see that the jackup recovery hit around late 2016 - around two years before utilisation started to level off in the floater market. Nigeria has driven much of the activity in the jackup sector in recent years, while the floater market has been somewhat more equally spread throughout the region, although with Nigeria, Angola, and, to a lesser extent, Ghana, having dominated the longer-term development programmes.