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OFFSHORE OUTLOOK

GULF OF MEXICO

The bidding war for GulfMark Offshore is evidence of vi- tality in the offshore business generally; both Tidewater and

GulfMark have worldwide footprints. Consultants Westwood

Energy offered a view of the strength closer to home in their mid-August report, entitled ‘Don’t Look Now, But the Gulf of

Mexico Jackup Market is Doing Pretty Well.’ Of course, it’s all relative; while their measure of utilization for jackups in

Esben Christensen, Shane Guidry, the U.S. Gulf has risen from a meager 21% at the beginning

Managing Director and co-leader CEO of Harvey Gulf of 2018, to 44% in August, the improvement is far short of AlixPartners’ shipping team International Marine, LLC of the 60%+ utilization seen in 2012 to early 2014. Terry

Childs, from Westwood’s RigLogix unit, projecting ahead to ers in April 2018. It can buy time, positioning for the mar- 2019 writes: “In a market where well-to-well contracts have ket recovering, by temporarily delaying servicing its loans generally been the norm, having nearly 70% of the