Now THIS is a story...THANKS ROB!

Offshore
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each and every one of us in the offshore needs to heed the message hidden in this data and what it portends for the future! Cost cutting in inevitable and it will trickle down! This is business afterall!

[B]Offshore Drilling Rig Marketing is Becoming Very Serious Business[/B]

By Rob Almeida On March 20, 2014

According to data obtained by gCaptain, a dozen newly-built offshore drilling rigs will commence operations in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) this year while five newbuilds have signed contracts outside of the GoM.

For the drilling contractors who own the 31 un-contracted rigs scheduled for delivery between now and the end of 2015, the pressure is certainly on.

For some drilling contractors who have played their cards right, this could be just a bump in the road to get past, however the future does not appear to get much brighter in the coming years, particularly in the GoM.

By mid-2014, the number of contracted rigs in the GoM will drop to 42 assuming no contracts are renewed for existing rigs between now and then. By 2016, the number drops precipitously to 36 and then 33 by mid-2016.

A situation is developing where a flood of newbuild rigs coming on the market in 2014 and 2015 will be competing for contracts with about 10 rigs scheduled to come off contract in the Gulf of Mexico over that same period. With more rigs competing for finite contracts, day rates will most certainly fall.

Worldwide, it’s a similar story as upwards of about 50 rigs will be finishing up their contracts between now and the end of 2014. Wells Fargo Securities estimates that about half of those rigs will gain contracts.

Besides facing the spectre of falling day rates, experienced personnel will also be needed to crew these rigs and provide the required shoreside support, labor which will be in extremely high demand (and thus expensive) over that period.

ExxonMobil and other major oil companies predict significant increases in world energy needs in the future, particularly from deep water, however for drilling contractors, time will tell if the increase in energy needs will support the additional rig capacity that will be flooding into the market soon.

The following are the rigs, in alphabetical order, which will be delivered in 2014, and the companies they will be contracted to:

Atwood Advantage (Noble Energy)
Deepwater Invictus (BHP)
Maersk Valiant (ConocoPhillips/Marathon)
Maersk Viking (ExxonMobil)
Noble Sam Croft (Freeport-McMoRan)
Noble Tom Madden (Freeport-McMoRan)
Ocean Blackhawk (Anadarko)
Ocean Blackhornet (Anadarko)
Pacific Sharav (Chevron)
Rowan Reliance (Cobalt)
Rowan Resolute (Anadarko)
West Neptune (LLOG)

The following are the rigs scheduled for delivery in 2014, but have not yet gained contracts (in order of delivery dates)

West Saturn
Pacific Meltem
Maersk Deepwater Advanced 4
Maersk Venturer
Ocean BlackRhino
ENSCO DS-8
West Jupiter
Dalian Developer
COSL Prospector
Sevan Developer
West Carina
Brava 
Ocean BlackLion
Opus Tiger 1

all I need is for my little wood boat to make me a living now so I can turn my ass towards the GoM and say adios emmeffers!

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I can believe a story with as much real meaning towards the future livelihoods of likely half of us here has been posted for two hours and not a single peep from anyone yet? What a lame assed bunch y’all are!

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What are we supposed to say? Yea it sucks and the guys should be saving and it doesn’t look like there will be a whole lot of jumping from OSVs to drill rigs, but it’s not full panic time yet. Over all it seems like there will be a leveling out, but there’s been so many different “expert” articles written that I don’t think anyone knows what will happen. Maybe some of the old rigs will go and the newer ones will take their place. Maybe the new rigs will pick up contracts, maybe we should all run to the construction vessels, maybe the East and West Coast will open over night. Some of the articles have even said the GoM won’t have a very big drop off at all. I don’t want to see another slow down, and I don’t want to see all the great pay raises end up like dust in the wind, I’m just keeping an eye out and watching what’s going on.

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There may be a pause in growth, but its just a bump in the road. The world population and energy demand continues to grow. The world and the overall US economy is still depressed and recovering. Who the hell knows how big a mess there will be in Ukraine? How much longer until the next set of Mideast problems that interrupt oil supplies.

US mariners with the right training and credentials who can run boats and computers, and do the ever increasing mountains of paperwork will continue to be in demand. Demand may drop off a little for the less qualified. How much? More ridiculous physicals to come, better start doing more push ups.