Rowan is Out of the Woods with Latest Contract While Other Drillers are Scrambling

Rowan Companies’ fourth and final newbuild drillship, the Rowan Relentless, is now covered by a long term charter contract amid a very competitive deepwater drilling market.

The contract was awarded last Friday by Freeport-McMoRan Oil and Gas for operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and commences in Q3 2015. The charter adds approximately $425 million to Rowan’s backlog.

The Rowan Relentless, like her three sister vessels are DP-3 equipped and based on the GustoMSC P10,000 hull design capable of drilling to depths of 40,000 feet in water up to 12,000 feet.

Seadrill and Ocean Rig also won long-term charters last week, however unlike Rowan, both have more charter deals to close over the next two years in order to ensure their rigs are earning money once delivered.   These two companies are certainly not alone however.

The following is a breakdown by company of deepwater drillers and their expected deliveries and contract expirations between now and the end of 2015.

Diamond Offshore Newbuilds:

• Ocean BlackRhino: Q4 2014
• Ocean BlackLion: 2015

Diamond Offshore Coming Off Charter

• Ocean Vanguard (current)
• Ocean Onyx – Jan 2015
• Ocean America – May 2015
• Ocean Clipper – Early Dec 2015
• Ocean Baroness – Sept 2015
• Ocean Courage –  Feb 2015

ENSCO Newbuilds:

• ENSCO DS-8 – 1Q 2015
• ENSCO DS-10 – 3Q 2015

ENSCO Coming Off Charter:

• ENSCO 7500 – Aug 2014
• ENSCO 8504 – May 2015
• ENSCO DS-2 –  2Q 2015
• ENSCO 8501 – Aug 2014
• ENSCO 8506 – Jul 2015

Atwood Oceanics Newbuilds:

• Atwood Admiral – March 2015
• Atwood Archer – December 2015

Ocean Rig Newbuild:

• Ocean Rig Santorini – 2015

Ocean Rig Coming Off Charter:

• Ocean Rig Mykonos – Q1 2015
• Ocean Rig Corcovado – Q2 2015

Pacific Drilling Newbuilds:

• Pacific Meltem – Q3 2014
• Pacific Zonda- 1Q 2015

Pacific Drilling Coming Off Charter

• Pacific Mistral – Feb 2015
• Pacific Khamsin – Dec 2015

Seadrill Newbuilds:

• West Saturn – 2014
• West Carina – 4Q 2014
• West Draco – 3Q 2015
• West Dorado – 4Q 2015
• West Aquila – 4Q 2015
• West Libra – 4Q 2015
• Sevan Developer – 3Q 2014

Seadrill Coming Off Charter:

• West Taurus – Feb 2015
• West Eminence – July 2015
• West Venture – July 2015
• West Phoenix – Oct 2015

Transocean Coming Off Charter:

• Discoverer Enterprise – Oct 2014
• Deepwater Pathfinder  -Apr 2015
• Sedco Energy – currently idle
• Deepwater Discovery – Sep 2014
• C.R. Luigs – Jun 2014
• Deepwater Champion – Nov 2015
• Henry Goodrich – Mar 2015

COSL Newbuild:

• COSL Prospector – Q3 2014

QGOG Constellation:

• Brava Star – Dec 2104

Dalian Deepwater Development Ltd

• Dalian Developer – Sept 2014

Vantage Drilling Newbuild:

• Cobalt Explorer – 2015

Sonangol Newbuild:

• Drillship 1 – 2015
• Drillship 2 – 2015