Offshore Drillers Eye Recovery By 2020
At the depths of a global slide that took oil below $27 per barrel in early 2016, daily rates for leasing the most sophisticated floating drilling rigs had fallen to just $180,000 from $500,000 a day, as producer returns from North Sea, Latin America and Canadian drilling evaporated.
Transocean Ltd., a top supplier of drilling vessels, said last month that rates for its new high-spec vessels in the North Sea are now fetching $300,000 per day.
Drillers have been predicting an upturn for more than a year only to disappoint but debt ratings firm Moody’s Investors Services said last month that it believed 2018 could mark the low point for industry earnings.