Technology gap widens between high-specification, legacy drilling rigs

摘要

Safety and inspection requirements in the US GoM post-Macondo have shifted the preference by operators to high-specification floaters. Another 50 to 70 newbuild deepwater high-specification floaters could be ordered over the next five years. Nearly 190 new floaters will have been delivered between 2008 and year-end 2016. The trend toward high-specification offshore drilling rigs has gotten impetus from regulations and requirements following the blowout on the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM).