OE 's analysis of current rig market data is updated monthly using statistics provided by Rigzone.com
Worldwide utilization for the mobile offshore drilling fleet is tracking at 76%, near the top of a 74%-76% band that it has traversed over the past 11 months. On an annual basis, global utilization is down nearly two percentage points compared to levels achieved a year ago. All three rig types have improved slightly versus the prior month, with semisubs gaining over two percentage points month-to-month.
The North Sea is home to 75 mobile offshore units. Barriers to entry are high due to the region's harsh environment and regulatory frameworks which collectively ring fence this market. In turn, these conditions lead to utilization that is higher and typically less volatile than the rest of the world. Overall utilization currently stands at 88% in the North Sea.
Stratifying the North Sea market by rig type we see that 50% of the rigs in the region are jackups, 50% are semisubs. There is one drillship operating in the region which is currently drilling. Utilization for the remaining rig types is roughly 87% for jackups (15 percentage points higher than the global average) and 89% for semisubs (also favorable compared the global average). Supply and demand dynamics will likely hold steady with the region an unlikely recipient of most rigs that might be displaced by the regulatory aftermath stemming from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.