Page 10: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Sep/Oct 2023)

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MARKETS OFFSHORE DRILLING RIGS

Figure 1 s offshore drilling rig utilization increases and Meanwhile, semi-subs are currently sitting at a global availability continues to tighten, Westwood average contract duration of 384 days, and those areas has recorded a marked lengthening of new driving demand are South America (414 days), Mexico

Acontract award durations as well as for new (953 days), the North Sea (369 days), the Far East (627 tender opportunities. days) and Australia (309 days).

Over the last decade, new rig deal durations peaked in Jack-up rig demand is coming from quite different ar- 2013 for jack-ups and in 2014 for ?oating rigs (semi-sub- eas to that of deepwater rigs, and mostly where there is a mersibles and drillships). Analysis shows that the length strong national oil company (NOC) presence. The average of such deals dwindled during the prolonged downturn global contract duration so far this year is 661 days, and and eventually reached the trough in 2018 for ?oaters and the biggest areas of demand come from the Persian Gulf 2019 for jack-ups but has picked up steam again since the (1,165 days), followed by India (840 days), the Far East global rig market recovery got underway in 2021. (528 days), and Mexico (457 days).

On average, awarded jack-up contract durations have Since 2022, awards with the longest contract duration increased 36% compared with 2021, while drillships have have been for jack-ups in the Middle East. increased 41% and semi-subs a whopping 117%. Notably ADNOC Offshore awarded six deals last year,

The areas driving these increases over the past year are all for 15 years apiece. The same operator has since award- quite varied according to rig type. Drillships have an av- ed a plethora of further long-term jack-up deals, ?ve of erage global duration of 569 days in 2023 year-to-date, which were ?xed in June this year for 10 years apiece. driven by South America (698 days), Mexico (1,080 days), Floating rig (semi-sub and drillship) deals have so far the Mediterranean (500 days), India (451 days) and West been ?xed at up to ?ve years in duration, seen in recent ?x-

Africa (517 days). tures for harsh environment semi-sub Deepsea Stavanger september/october 2023 OFFSHORE ENGINEER 11