By John Benny and Shanti S Nair Oct 8 (Reuters) - Deep-sea oil driller Ensco Plc said on Monday it would buy smaller rival Rowan Cos Plc in an all-stock deal valued at $2.38 billion, to take advantage of a nascent recovery in the sector fueled by strengthening oil prices. Offshore drilling, the worst hit during the 2014 slide in oil prices, is set to benefit as recent … [Read more...]
Ensco to Stack More Rigs, Cut More Offshore Jobs
International offshore drilling contractor Ensco is planning to cut about 350 of offshore jobs as the company plans to stack more rigs amid the downturn in the offshore oil and gas market. The job cuts were revealed in a letter to the Texas Workforce Commission reported by the Houston Business Journal. Ensco is based in London but its operations are managed out of its … [Read more...]
BP Terminates Contract For ENSCO DS-4 Drillship, Semi-Submersible
ENSCO announced on Monday the receipt of a termination notice for their ultra-deepwater drillship DS-4 which is currently on contract to BP in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The original contract for the 2010-built drillship was scheduled to last until July 2016, however BP has decided to cut that short by 12 months upon completion of their current well program. Under the terms … [Read more...]
HERO to Zero
Dan Dicker, Energy contributor at TheStreet.com, talks with Jim Cramer about the recent downgrade of Hercules Offshore to bankruptcy by Deutsche Bank. With only a few of its rigs currently in service and several destined to finish contracts soon, the cash flow at HERO looks dire. But who is likely to be the next victim of depressed oil prices? No other offshore driller … [Read more...]
SPOTD: ENSCO 8502 Under Tow by the Kurt J Crosby
Yesterday afternoon, the semi-submersible drilling rig ENSCO 8502, under tow by the KURT J CROSBY and the SIGNET WAR HORSE, arrived at Mustang Island Block 740, near the Corpus Christi sea buoy. The tow was escorted by the M/V CROSBY COURAGE and Adriatic Marine's ARABIAN. Crosby notes in an emailed statement to gCaptain: "The two Crosby tugs successfully completed the tow, … [Read more...]