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Diamond Offshore News

17 Mar 2024

Esgian Week 11 Report: New Discoveries in UK and Namibia

Source: COSL

Esgian reports that drilling contracts have been announced this week for operations in Brazil and the Philippines, and new discoveries have been confirmed in the UK and Namibia in its Week 11 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.ContractsCOSL Drilling has emerged as the winner for Petrobras' moored semisubmersible tender with the 4,600-ft Nanhai 8 (also known as Nan Hai Ba Hao).Noble has secured a high-dayrate drillship contract with Prime Energy in the Philippines.Drilling Activity and


03 Mar 2024

Esgian Week 9 Report: Dolphin, Diamond and Seadrill Updates

© AndSus / Adobe Stock

Esgian reports rig-related updates from Dolphin Drilling, Diamond Offshore, and Seadrill in its Week 9 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report Outline:ContractsDespite Tullow Oil’s recent announcement that it would take a break from drilling offshore Ghana, Noble Corp. has stated that there has been no contract termination announcement and that its 12,000-ft drillship Noble Venturer is currently still contracted to Tullow into March 2025.Masirah Oil Ltd has signed a rig contract with


29 Dec 2023

Esgian: New Contracts, Drilling Activities and Rig Moves Across the World

Borgland Dolphin drilling rig (Credit: Dolphin Drilling)

Esgian's last roundup of the year for the Week 52 puts spotlight on new developments for Dolphin Drilling semisub, Seadrill drillships, as well as Shell’s plans for Australia and ONGC’s new tender for jackups in India.ContractsDolphin Drilling has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with an undisclosed operator for the 1,500-ft semisubmersible Borgland Dolphin to undertake a 500-day drilling campaign in the UK. The drilling campaign is planned to begin directly after the firm part of the contract period with EnQuest, which was announced in late November 2023.

23 Dec 2022

Two Offshore Drilling Firms Set to Merge

Credit: Aquadrill

Offshore drilling firms Seadrill Limited and Aquadrill (ex-Seadrill Partners) on Thursday announced a definitive merger agreement under which Seadrill will acquire Aquadrill in an all-stock transaction. When the transaction is completed, Seadrill shareholders and Aquadrill unitholders will own 62% and 38% of the common shares in the new company, respectively. Based on Seadrill's 30-day volume-weighted average share price of US$31.25 on the NYSE as of December 22, 2022, the deal


04 Apr 2022

Hornblower Names Peakes EVP and CFO

Adam C. Peakes (Photo: Hornblower Group)

Hornblower Group announced Monday that Adam C. Peakes has joined the company as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Peakes will report to Kevin Rabbitt, chief executive officer, Hornblower Group.As Hornblower Group’s CFO, Peakes will oversee the company’s global shared services functions of finance and accounting, human resources, information technology and marine operations.“I am excited to welcome Adam to the Hornblower family and work with him as a trusted partner,” said Kevin Rabbitt, chief executive officer, Hornblower Group.

21 Feb 2021

MacArthur Takes the Helm as Master Aboard T/S State of Maine

Captain Gordon ‘Mac’ MacArthur (Photo: MMA)

Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) hired alumnus Captain Gordon ‘Mac’ MacArthur to serve as master aboard the Training Ship State of Maine.With more than 30 years of experience in the maritime field, MacArthur served most recently as a Senior Dynamic Positioning Officer for Diamond Offshore Drilling, where he monitored environmental conditions, assisted in incident investigation and analysis, maintained and tested equipment, and managed personnel aboard offshore drilling vessels. Prior to joining Diamond, MacArthur served as Chief Mate and Master with Seadrill.

11 Feb 2021

Seadrill Seeks Bankruptcy Protection—Again

(Photo: Seadrill)

Offshore drilling rig contractor Seadrill has filed for bankruptcy protection at a court in the U.S. state of Texas, it said on Wednesday, the second time in four years the company has entered into so-called Chapter 11 restructuring.The Oslo-listed group controlled by Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen returned to court along with several subsidiaries after failing to win consent from bank lenders to postpone payments on $5.7 billion of debts.Its total debts and liabilities


18 Sep 2020

Fire Breaks Out on Offshore Vessel Near Rig in Canada

A fire broke out earlier this week on a fast rescue craft aboard the Siem Diamond offshore support vessel in the Atlantic Ocean, east of St. John's Canada.According to the C-NLOPB, the offshore oil and gas safety body for the Newfoundland and Labrador area, oil firm Equinor informed the regulator that the incident had struck on Wednesday morning, September 16, 2020.The Siem Diamond was, at the time of the incident, on standby for the Transocean Barents semi-submersible drilling rig."All personnel safely mustered, there were no injuries and all personnel were accounted for. The fire team was able to quickly extinguish the fire, however, the FRC received extensive damage and was deemed unavailable.

03 Aug 2020

BP Charters Solstad Offshore Vessel Trio for Ironbark Drilling Support

BP has chartered Solstad Offshore's three offshore support vessels to support its Ironbark drilling campaign in Australia.Norway's based offshore vessel owner Solstad Offshore said Monday that BP had awarded contracts for two anchor handling tug and supply vessels Normand Saracen and Far Senator, along with the platform supply vessel  Normand Leader.The vessels will be working with Diamond Offshore's semi-submersible drilling rig ‘Ocean Apex’ throughout the one well campaign, estimated at approximately 90 days duration.

09 Jul 2020

Wave of N. American Oil and Gas Bankruptcies to Continue at $40 Oil

© Mike Mareen / Adobe Stock

A wave of oil and gas bankruptcies in North America is likely to continue this year as oil prices remain depressed and a new surge of COVID-19 cases threaten to stall any recovery in fuel demand, law firm Haynes and Boone said in a report released this week.Bankruptcies surged in the second quarter, including from major shale independents Chesapeake Energy and Whiting Petroleum, as oil prices collapsed due to the pandemic and a brief, unexpected price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.There were 18 producer bankruptcies in the second quarter


30 Apr 2020

Valaris Says Rigs May Be Idle for Up to Two Years

Offshore drilling contactor Valaris, which is exploring a bankruptcy restructuring, on Thursday said it could take up to two years to reactivate idle equipment as contracts dry up during a historic rout in oil prices.Global oil markets have collapsed since the beginning of March as the coronavirus pandemic has crushed fuel demand. Expensive offshore drilling projects have been halted or delayed, creating an uncertain outlook for service firms that had hardly recovered from the last oil price crash.London-based Valaris, the result of the 2019 merger of Ensco Plc and Rowan Companies, posted a $2.81 billion asset impairment charge in the first quarter.

24 Apr 2020

Maersk Drilling to Mothball Several Rigs, Reduce North Sea Headcount

A Maersk Drilling rig - Image Credit: Maersk Drilling

Danish offshore drilling contractor Maersk Drilling is set to mothball several offshore drilling rigs, and as a consequence, reduce the number of offshore workers, citing low oil prices and the impact of COVID-19 pandemic as the reason."The COVID-19 pandemic and the lower oil price environment are impacting offshore drilling activity. Some tenders and projects are being delayed or canceled which adversely affects commercial prospects," Maersk Drilling said Friday.As previously reported, Tullow Oil in March sent an early termination notice for the Maersk Venturer drillship in Ghana.

04 Jul 2019

CMC Installed on Ocean Blackhawk Drillship

ST Engineering Halter Marine and Offshore (STEHMO) installed a NOV crown mounted compensator (CMC) on Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Blackhawk drillship.The 215-metric-ton passive heave compensator was fully assembled and lifted on the top of the derrick on May 22, 2019. Carol Crane Rigging & Lifting Technology and Mammoet supported STEHMO with completing the engineered lift. STEHMO also cleaned and painted tanks, lifeboats and the exterior hull above the waterline.Before the lift,


18 Apr 2019

Keppel Bags $118mln Upgrading Contracts

Singapore's Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M) has through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Keppel Shipyard Ltd (Keppel Shipyard) and Keppel FELS Limited (Keppel FELS), secured integration and upgrading contracts worth a combined value of about S$160mln (USD 118mln).Chris Ong, CEO, Keppel O&M, said, "These contracts from repeat customers are testament to Keppel O&M's strong customer service in delivering on time, within budget and safely as well as our extensive track record in modification and upgrading projects for a wide variety of products such as FPSOs and drilling rigs."With strong engineering expertise and project management capabilities


30 Jul 2018

Diamond Offshore Posts Smaller-than-expected Loss

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc posted a smaller-than-expected loss on Monday, as a fall in revenue was offset by a 15 percent drop in costs.The Houston-based company's total operating expenses fell to $321.2 million from $378.5 million, a year earlier.As oil prices stay above $70 a barrel, oil and gas producers are again showing an interest in expensive offshore projects that can take up to a decade to develop.The rig contractor recorded a loss of $69.27 million, or 50 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, compared to a profit of $15.95 million, or 12 cents per share, a year earlier.Excluding items, the company posted a loss of 33 cents per share.

09 May 2018

Maersk Likely to Shelve Plans to List Drilling Division

(File photo: Maersk Drilling)

Shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk is likely to shelve plans to list its struggling offshore drilling division because of weak market conditions, according to five finance sources familiar with the matter.The Danish company is now expected to focus on a trade sale of Maersk Drilling, and extend the timeline to divest the unit beyond its initial target of the end of 2018, said the sources who declined to be named as the discussions are private.Maersk group has not publicly put a price tag on the division


12 Feb 2018

Diamond Offshore Revenue Beats Estimates

(File photo: Diamond Offshore)

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc's fourth-quarter revenue beat analysts' estimates on Monday, helped by higher demand for its ultra-deepwater rigs. The company's revenue from its ultra-deepwater rigs rose more than 24 percent to $288.28 million in the fourth quarter. Total revenue fell nearly 12 percent to $346.21 million, but beat analysts' estimate of $331.91 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. "Although market conditions continue to be challenging, we were able to secure additional work for the Ocean Valor and Ocean Valiant


30 Oct 2017

Diamond Offshore Shares Buoyant

As the offshore energy market continues to search for signs of recovery, latest news from Diamond Offshore points to better times ahead. On Monday, October 30, 2017 Diamond Offshore reported better-than-expected quarterly profits, in part driven by additional deals won for its deep-water drilling rigs at better rate, sending its shares up 8.3% at the time of reporting.. While Diamond Offshore CEO Marc Edwards was not prepared to call the bottom of the market, the news certainly bodes well for a global industry collectively looking for any light at the end of a nearly four year oil downturn turnnel. "The number of tenders has increased, albeit from a very low platform and customer inquiries have picked up, although also starting from a low base.

04 May 2017

ABS Approves Innovative Drillship Design

ABS is working with industry to improve efficiencies in offshore development. “ABS is working on multiple fronts to help the offshore industry find efficiencies and streamline operations,” says ABS Executive Vice President for Global Offshore Ken Richardson. “We are coordinating efforts for standardization and working one-on-one with companies that are changing the way offshore projects are executed,” he added. Recent work with Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. on the company’s Floating Factory drillship concept is an example of how ABS is working with drilling contractors, in this case, approving the basic design for this innovative concept.

06 Feb 2017

Diamond Offshore Sees Recovery when Oil 'Well over $60'

Photo: Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc

Rig contractor Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc's Chief Executive Officer Marc Edwards said on Monday oil prices needed to be "well over $60" to spur a recovery in offshore drilling. The company's shares reversed course and were down 2.3 percent at $16.67, with investors shrugging off a beat on quarterly profit and revenue. Global benchmark Brent crude prices have stabilized after a more than two-year slump, with prices hovering around $55 per barrel. "Offshore drilling is cyclical in nature


20 Sep 2016

Ocean Endeavor Repair Completed

(Photo: Harris Pye Engineering Group)

Harris Pye Engineering Group completed repair works during the two-stage multi-million dollar Diamond Offshore demobilization project for its semi-sub rig Ocean Endeavor from the Black Sea, which completed its contract in January 2016. The initial phase of the repair work, which started in December 2015, while the rig was offshore Constanta, Romania involved cleaning of mud, brine, base oil and skimmer tanks. Steel repairs were carried out on a main column blister. The removal of three Seatrax crane pedestals


08 Aug 2016

First ISDS for DNV GL Classed Ocean Greatwhite

DNV GL has welcomed the world’s largest semi-submersible drilling rig into class recently. Ocean Greatwhite is 123 metres long and 78 metres wide and was delivered at Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, South Korea. Owned by the Houston-based drilling contractor Diamond Offshore, the rig will be chartered to oil major BP and will operate in the Great Australian Bight. Ocean Greatwhite is also the first new-build rig to receive the DNV GL Integrated Software Dependent Systems (ISDS) notation. ISDS are systems whose performance is dependent on the overall behaviour of their integrated software components. DNV GL’s ISDS standard helps owners and operators minimise software integration errors and delays in projects involving complex integrated systems.

19 Apr 2016

Long Joins SEACOR Holdings as Executive VP

SEACOR Holdings Inc. has appointed William “Bill” C. Long as the company's Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, effective immediately. He will report directly to Charles Fabrikant, SEACOR's Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Long brings to SEACOR more than 20 years of business and legal experience with publicly-traded companies. Prior to joining SEACOR Holdings, Long served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of GulfMark Offshore, Inc., and previously spent more than 17 years with Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc., where he was Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary.

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