the BIG list...drillships currently under construction or on order

[c.captain]

here it is...50 total drillships to be delivered between now and the end of 2018 with the vast majority before the end of 2013. That's close to 15 ships per year for the next two and a half years or well over more than one per month!



A couple of items to note: one is that there is not a single new drillship being built for Transocean and two, Noble Drilling is the number one for newbuilds coming in the next couple of years.

Anyway, so there it is and all I can say is GOD ALMIGHTY ABOVE! Will this insanity never end?


.

[Orniphobe]

They floated the Etsco ship out last week. She has a new name, but I can't remeber what it is. Pacific Santa Ana, Khamsin, and Sharav are all 12000 class, not 10000.
Anyone know if the Globetrotter has sailed for Rotterdam yet?

[c.captain]

I'll make the changes to my spreadsheet regarding the designs. In fact, I need to do some more research in that department as my list is rather bare in that column.

Regarding the GLOBETROTTER I leaving Dalien...I know that they are close but don't believe they have left yet but I can check and find out. Those two should prove to be an interesting pair!

[denis]

I cannot see the big list attachment

[c.captain]

It's not supposed to be an attachment but rather just an imbedded image.

Here it is as a link

[chemcarrier]

I would be willing to bet that not many of them are destined for the "Big Pond" (GOM)

[c.captain]

I would be willing to bet that not many of them are destined for the "Big Pond" (GOM)

On the contrary...I know for a fact that at least a quarter of them are. DWH only setback drilling in the GoM...there is no way in hell it will stop the exploration in one of the biggest potential deepwater prospects on the planet.

[SailorDaniel]

I would be willing to bet that not many of them are destined for the "Big Pond" (GOM)

This was my question too.... Hey c.cap, do you have any idea how many on that list will translate into jobs for Americans? Maybe you could put a column in the list for who will be operating them?

[c.captain]

Well if you figure that 15 of these ships ultimately come to the GoM to work full time and that there are 175 persons per rig (x2 for rotations) then the total number of jobs for American workers would be 5250. Then I would say that US workers might make up 10% of the hands on the remaining 35 ships so that would be 17.5 (x2) so another 1325. If you only want to count "marine" hands then reduce the number by 75% for "seafarers" on these ships, my estimate is 1645 persons.

No chump change here!

[bnhpr]

I wonder what hull design the two diamond drillships Hyundai is building will be?

[Capt. Lee]

Vantage, Really?


http://www.marketwire.com/press-rele....u-1512634.htm

[c.captain]

vantage, really?

mother of jonah!

[tengineer]

There is a rumor going around that the increased drillship construction is due to A: Oil prices predicted to be above $60/bbl for the foreseeable future. B: The evolution and resulting instability of governments in the middle east makes them less dependable suppliers. Therefore the oil companies feel that it would be both wise and profitable to have sources in other areas of the world most of which are offshore.
On another note: The USA is for the time being a net exporter of refined petro. In other words the US is making more diesel, etc than they are using so the US is now exporting such, mostly to Central and South America. Considering current pump prices that kinda blows a hole in all the "drill baby drill" BS. There were people who actually thought that lots of petro in the US would mean low gas prices. Not only is that not true but the taxpayers actually subsidize these oil companies to the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars. It's an interesting business.

[c.captain]

All I know is that many of these ships listed are being built on speculation which is VERY dangerous. Everytime there is a building boom based on future projections, those projections most often prove to be overly optomistic and bubbles seem to have a bad habit of bursting. I hope I am wrong this time but the good news is that my ship is contracted to Shell for five years after it is delivered later this year. I don't know how comfortable I would be if I was sitting on a ship right now that itself was just sitting.

[c.captain]

Here's more on Vantage Drilling's announcement of their contracting for yet another newbuild drillship without a job!

Vantage Drilling Company (NYSE Amex: VTG) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co., Ltd ("DSME") to construct an ultra-deepwater drillship further expanding the Company's ultra-deepwater drilling fleet. The Company plans to name the drillship Tungsten Explorer.

The agreement is a fixed price turnkey contract for the construction of the drillship with a scheduled delivery date of May 31, 2013. The cost of the Tungsten Explorer, including all project management, commissioning, spares, pre-delivery crew costs and inventory is estimated to be approximately $580 to $590 million. The Company has also obtained a fixed price option for the purchase of an additional drillship.

Tungsten Explorer will be constructed at DSME's shipyard in Okpo, Korea, and will be capable of operating in water depths up to 12,000 feet, with a total vertical drilling depth capacity of 40,000 feet. The hull design has a variable deck load of 20,000 tons and measures 781 feet long by 137 feet wide. The drillship will be equipped with the most technically advanced features in the drilling industry including DP3 dynamic positioning system, 1250 short ton hook load drilling package, a 9000 hp drawworks, as well as offline pipe handling and trip saver system. The drillship will have accommodations for 200 personnel.

Paul Bragg, the Company's Chairman and CEO, commented, "The addition of Tungsten Explorer to our fleet is an exciting development. While this will be our second Company-owned unit to be constructed at DSME, it will be our fifth drillship project undertaken there, inclusive of our three ongoing construction oversight projects. Our strong relationship with the DSME management has allowed us to achieve exceptional project terms -- a) one of the lowest cost construction contracts of this kind, (b) one of the earliest deliveries of the recent order cycle -- just 24 months away, and (c) one of the highest specification ultra-deepwater units yet to be built.

"We are also very pleased that payment terms provide for an initial down payment of just slightly over $100 million, with the balance of the contract price due at delivery in May 2013. We plan to debt finance the down payment in connection with our planned refinancing of some of our existing high cost debt. "The addition of Tungsten Explorer to our fleet will add substantial additional earnings power to Vantage by the second half of 2013."

For those of you who follow this insanity like myself there is one item of note which is that the price of a new sixth gen drillship from Korea continues to fall as oil prices as well as steel prices continue to climb. What in the hell are the Koreans up to here? They certainly can't be selling these ships at losses but how can they be profiting from them either? This building boom turns everything I've ever seen in this crazy industry completely on its head!

Also worthy of note is that this contract includes yet another option for Vantage to take advantage of in the future. How much you wanna bet that they'll take that bet!?!

[Mikey]

Here are two more for you...

Chalk it up: Hyundai Heavy clinches $1.2 billion drillship order

[tengineer]

Rowan? you gotta be kiddin'. Who's next in the drillship business, Hercules?
When are Chouest and Tidewater going to put their orders in? It's getting silly.

[c.captain]

Am I pissed that you guys beat me this time! Damn, I guess I am getting slow off the blocks and need to get back into training. Where the hell is Angelo Dundee right now?

Anyway, this is getting ridiculous! At least 80% of all the newbuild drillships are on spec! Where in the name of god are the charters for all these damned ships going to come from?

[tengineer]

Perhaps some are on spec but far from all. No one is going to advance 300-500 million dollars to someone to build a ship in hopes they'll get a contract.
What major player has not ordered a new drillship lately, besides Transocean? Why hasn't Transocean? Do they figure they are going to build a future with their old drillships and stacked up old jackups or are they waiting to be bought or are they figuring they can buy one of these other companies? It's an interesting business.

[c.captain]

tengineer

It's pretty easy to see which rigs have charters and which don't since almost every major drilling company is publically traded and puts their rig contract status on their individual websites. If you check each company out, you'll see that very few newbuild drillships have operating contracts ahead of construction. Diamond is one the the few to actually announce getting longterm contracts for two of their new ships just recently.

Your comments about Transocean's not being part of the newbuilding frenzy has been mentioned by me before and it certainly bears noting with considerable interest. Are they just looking to buy another company out of bankruptcy? Could be...that's how they ended up with Reading and Bates in 2001.