Athens Group announced a 64% increase in year-over-year revenue for 2009 as well as a 225% increase in booked business for 2010. Athens Group is experiencing a growing demand for its Drilling Technology Assurance (DTA) Services on newbuilds and existing fleets as drilling contractors and operators become increasingly aware of the need for control systems and software engineering expertise on today’s high-specification assets. In 2010, Athens Group’s Proven Practices Methodology will be used by a growing base of customers to reduce Non-Productive time (NPT) and improve safety during all phases of the rig lifecycle including construction, operations, annual audits, and refurbs.
New customers in 2009 included: Pacific Drilling Services, Inc.; Seadrill Management AS; Atwood Oceanics; Husky Energy; Frontier Drilling; Shell U.K. Limited; and ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Norway AS. Repeat customers included BP, Transocean; Ensco; Nexen Petroleum USA Inc.; Maersk Drilling; Anadarko; and Stena Drilling.
“At the beginning of the recent newbuild spike, virtually all offshore rigs had contracts before construction began,” said Mike Haney, CEO of Athens Group. “Due to the addition of seventy-six new drillships, semisubs and jackups in 2009 and forty-eight of the same in 2010, this is no longer the case. Consequently, drilling contractors are increasingly employing our services to improve the overall performance of their rigs and make them more attractive to potential operators. Some of the services they are requesting to fill this need are Software Configuration Management and Alarm Management. We’re also seeing operators with long-term contracts (and therefore long-term risk) collaborating with drilling contractors to jointly fund our DTA services across the entire rig lifecycle.”