Offshore Drilling Contractors News

Esgian reports that offshore drilling contractors secured additional backlog in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Egypt, Nigeria, and Brazil and operators confirmed new discoveries in Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire, and China in its Week 10 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.ContractsDiamond Offshore has executed a two-year contract extension with a subsidiary of bp in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico for the 12,000-ft drillship Ocean BlackHornet.Shelf Drilling’s 250-ft jackup Rig 141 has secured a two-year…

Hornblower Group on Monday announced the promotions of several key members of its leadership team.“These changes within the leadership team represent a significant milestone for Hornblower Group as we forge ahead in working toward our company’s ambitions goals,” said Kevin Rabbitt, Chief Executive Officer for Hornblower Group. “I have full confidence that this group, with their impressive backgrounds and extensive industry knowledge, will significantly contribute to supporting our company's overall business strategy and lead us toward a successful future.

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.

With recent type approval of an 81-meter-high evacuation system, VIKING has answered the needs of offshore fixed and jack-up rigs to handle extreme heights. Leading maritime safety equipment and servicing manufacturer VIKING Life-Saving Equipment A/S has received type approval from Lloyd’s Register for its new offshore evacuation chute system, certified to operate at an unprecedented evacuation height of 81 meters to sea level. “The system’s certified evacuation capacity is 146 people in just 10 minutes, comfortably beating the threshold required by maritime authorities, even from such an extreme height,” says Kristian Ellertsen, Norway-based Offshore Technical Manager for the company.

Transocean Ltd. informs it has received a decision by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on phase one of litigation related to the April 20, 2010 Macondo well incident involving the Deepwater Horizon. [Background:a US judge has ruled BP was "grossly negligent" in the lead-up to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. •    Contractual indemnity: The Court found that BP's contractual agreement to indemnify Transocean for compensatory damages is valid and enforceable. •    Liability for punitive damages: The Court's finding that Transocean was not grossly negligent means that the company is not liable for punitive damages.

Atwood Oceanics Inc. has announced  that the Company earned net income of $59.5 million or $0.90 per diluted share, on revenues of $171.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 compared to net income of $65.5 million or $1.00 per diluted share on revenues of $184.7 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 and compared to net income of $70.6 million or $1.08 per diluted share, on revenues of $159.1 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2011. For the six months ended March 31, 2012, the Company earned net income of $124.9 million or $1.90 per diluted share, on revenues of $356.3 million compared to net income of $123.5 million or $1.89 per diluted share, on revenues of $305.4 million for the six months ended March 31, 2011.

Power conversion specialist Converteam has been selected by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) as designer and supplier of high efficiency electrical systems for three newbuild ultra-deepwater drillships for Noble Corporation, one of the world’s largest offshore drilling contractors. The Hyundai Gusto P10000 designed drillships, rated for operations in up to 12,000 feet water depth, are under construction by HHI at their Ulsan facility in South Korea. The first vessel is due for delivery to Noble in early 2013 with the third due in early 2014.

Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. received a contract from Hyundai Heavy Industries for the supply and installation of multiple sets of 5MW azimuth thrusters for the next generation deep water drill ships being built at Hyundai’s shipyard in Ulsan, Korea. The vessels are of the Gusto P 10,000 design and are capable of drilling in water depths of up to 10,000ft. Each vessel uses six underwater mountable thrusters for dynamic positioning per ABS DPS-3 specifications. The units are manufactured at Thrustmaster’s ultra modern facilities in Houston…

Houston-based GlobalSantaFe Corporation announced it has become one of the first offshore drilling contractors to receive the full International Safety Management (ISM) certification for its shore-based facilities and self-propelled offshore rigs. flags. The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) audited GlobalSantaFe for compliance to the code. Robert Kremek, president of ABS Americas, presented the company's first ISM Document of Compliance certificate to GlobalSantaFe executives in a ceremony held on December 18 in Houston. "We have always been absolutely committed to the safety of our people and the marine environments where we operate," Bob Rose, GlobalSantaFe chairman, said. "The ISM certification is further evidence of our commitment.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2001, Chiles Offshore Inc. reported net income of $5.0 million or $0.28 per basic share compared to net income of $3.3 million, or $0.42 per basic share, reported for the corresponding quarter ended June 30, 2000. Revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2001, was $19.6 million compared to revenue of $14.5 million for the corresponding quarter ended June 30, 2000. For the six-month period ended June 30, 2001, the Company reported net income of $10.3 million or $0.59 per basic share, on revenue of $38.2 million. Net income for the comparable period in 2000 was $3.1 million or $0.45 per basic share on revenue of $23.0 million.

Offshore rig counts in the world's largest drilling markets made mixed moves this week, bringing the end to a year that was less than kind to the world's offshore rig owners. The U.S. Gulf of Mexico rig count declined by two rigs since last week, and now stands at 149. Fleet size is unchanged at 192 rigs. Fleet utilization is 77.6 percent. The European offshore rig count increased by one rig with the delivery of a new rig that has a firm work commitment. The European offshore drilling fleet now rosters 107 rigs, 75 of which are under contract. Worldwide offshore drilling rig utilization is 70.1 percent. The worldwide offshore rig count recorded no net change on a week-to-week basis…

It appears that the long awaited, much antipated and greatly debated offshore boom part II is prepared to launch again, as offshore drilling stocks surged on Thursday as U.S. crude oil prices hit a fresh nine-year high of $32.15 a barrel, fueling a second day of strong gains on Wall Street for the oilfield services sector. Drilling stocks across the board were flying high, some posting high single and low double digit gains for the day. At mid-day R&B Falcon Corp. was 1-1/2 higher at 18-1/8 and Santa Fe International Corp. was up 3 at 32-15/16 -- gains of roughly 9 and 10 percent respectively. It was the second straight day of substantial gains for oilfield services stocks…