Profile of deepwater rig fleet ownership set to change

摘要

The future of the offshore industry, many industry insiders believe, lies in deep water. Evidence of this is borne by the steady flow of newbuild floater orders. To date, the total number of deepwater units under construction or on order has reached 60. Nearly all of these rigs are targeting the challenging ultra-deep waters of the U.S. Gulf, Brazil and West Africa and are therefore being outfitted with water depth capabilities between 7,500 ft and 12,000 ft. Two thirds of these units are ordered on a speculative basis, and given that the cost of an ultra-deepwater floater now varies between around 430 million dollars for a semi to around 670 million dollars for a high specification drillship, confidence that the industry will stay strong appears to remain high.