The Drilling Company of 1972 (TDC 1972), the rebranded Maersk Drilling, is considered the ‘strongest competitor’ in the mid-size rig market, Wood MacKenzie reports. Maersk demerged its drilling business in February, aiming to change away from the energy sector and focus on transport and logistics.
As Leslie Cook, principal analyst of upstream supply chain WoodMac, notes that despite the fact that only few large drilling companies have decided to proceed to acquisitions in the lasts two years, TDC 1972 participate in the consolidation narrative in the near future.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
However, a fact that remains is that the offshore rig market still experiences issues regarding over-supply and tempered demand. Namely, in spite of a certain recovery in the offshore rig market during 2018, Ms. Cook explains that more consolidation is necessary in order to make any meaningful movement in utilisation.
Nonetheless, TDC 1972 can be considered the strongest competitor among their mid-sized peers, with their floating rig utilisation being 75%, having six of their eight rigs working. In comparison, the industry’s average for all floaters is less than 70%.
What is more, the company also announced a US$300 million agreement with Inpex for the Maersk Deliverer semi-submersible. The important on this contract is its duration of 1,095 days, while average contract lengths for floating rigs in 2018 were about 200 days.
Finally, Leslie Cook says that TDC 1972 is also leading the jack-up market, with more than 50% of their jack-ups rated for harsh environment. In addition, they have more harsh environment jack-ups in their fleet than any other company.
