Unnamed
oil majors are taking the Ocean Rig Poseidon (built 2011) and the Ocean Rig
Athena for work off Angola, West Africa.
The
Poseidon looks set to earn around $615,000 per day, while the Athena will pick up around $680,000 per day.
The
rates are not official numbers from Ocean Rig, but based on respective backlog
figures given for both rigs by the company.
The
Athena is due to be delivered from Samsung Heavy Industries late next year and
take up its debut charter in the fourth quarter.
The
Poseidon is due to start its charter off Angola in the third quarter of 2013.
It is now working for Petrobras off Tanzania until then earning $586,000 per
day.
Ocean
Rig also has an outstanding letter of intent for its Eirik Raude (built 2002)
for work off Ireland for an unnamed oil major.
“Assuming this contract
materializes, our total backlog will reach about $4.5bn over three years,” said
chief executive George Economou.
Ocean Rig already has one
drillship working off Angola – the Ocean Rig Olympia (built 2011) – which is on
charter to Total until late 2015 at $584,000 per day.
News of the charters emerged as
Ocean Rig reported a third quarter net loss of $12.2m, or 9 US cents per share.
A year ago it made a profit of $49m.
Revenues from drilling contracts
increased $59.7m to $285.7m. Expenses increased to $160.1m from $84.6m a year
ago.
“Adjusted for one-time factors,
Ocean Rig reported solid results for the quarter, with our drilling units operating
at acceptable levels of efficiency,” said Economou.
“The scheduled drydock of the
Eirik Raude, which is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2012,
combined with costs mainly associated with two of our units preparing to work
in Angola resulted in higher operating expenses.”
“We believe the outlook for the
ultra-deepwater drilling industry is very positive given the high level of
demand we are continuing to witness for our units from all over the world.”
“Oil company capital expenditures
for 2012 and 2013 are projected to grow at a double-digit rate with most of
this directed at exploration and production.”
“Given strong industry
fundamentals and the fact that there are very few ultra-deepwater units available
in 2013, we expect to further increase our already substantial backlog by
entering into contracts for our two remaining units available in 2013.”
Ocean Rig has a fleet of ten ultra
deepwater drilling units, comprising of two semi-submersible drilling rigs and eight
drillships, four of which remain to be delivered by 2015.
