The big boys are back. It's driller time:
chron.com
Burst of oil and gas
exploration predicted
By NELSON ANTOSH
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle
Worldwide spending on oil and gas exploration
and production will jump about 20 percent
this year, the largest increase in two decades,
according to Houston-based offshore driller
Global Marine.
The four major oil companies -- ExxonMobil,
BP, Royal Dutch Shell and TotalFinaElf -- are
finally getting back into the game after a slack
period attributed to mergers.
They are looking for ways to grow, says
Global Chairman and Chief Execuitve Bob
Rose, and increased production of oil and gas
will be a focus.
This makes for a bullish outlook for contract
drillers such as Global, as drilling companies
build on a substantial recovery in both the
growing demand for their equipment and the
rates they can charge per day. For jackup rigs
in particular, day rates may touch the 1997
high, said Rose at a media briefing today.
Rose doesn't buy the argument that 1997 will
stand as a high. The current recovery
promises to last longer than the prior one,
which was cut short by OPEC overproduction
and the financial crisis in Asia, he reasons.
Compared to the 1997 high, day rates for
jackup rigs in the Gulf of Mexico are now
about three-quarters of the way to the peak
then, while rates for semisubmersibles are
approximately half as high.
A profitability index developed by Global
increased by 3.7 percent in December and
was up by 49.7 percent from a year ago. The
most profitable areas, ranked from highest to
low, were the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa,
Southeast Asia and the North Sea, in that
order. |
