Offshore oil drillers have warned that the number of deepwater rigs “stacked” or scrapped is set to hit a two-decade high — and predicted that the industry slump caused by plunging crude prices could last another two years.
A near 50 per cent fall in oil prices, to about $60 a barrel from more than $115 last summer, has contributed to a steep slide in the prices paid for today’s ultra-deepwater rigs.
Norway’s SeaDrill said on Thursday that the severity of the downturn and extent of oversupply was such that about a quarter of these so-called floaters would come available for hire this year. A third of these were newly built and yet to be delivered, ordered during the oil market boom.
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