By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Mar. 15�Helmerich & Payne Inc., Tulsa, Thursday said it has ordered 15 new land rigs, worth $9 million each, with delivery expected from March 2002 to February 2003.
It said the order was prompted by high levels of exploration and production activity, attractive economics, and recent contracts for other rigs under construction. The 15-rig order comes in addition to a 12-rig order last year (OGJ Online, Jun 14, 2000).
Hans Helmerich, president and CEO, said, "Our FlexRig design has gained wide customer acceptance by delivering improved rig productivity. Higher productivity is captured through faster rig moves.''
H&P said it tested and proved the FlexRig concept with its first order of six rigs in 1998 and 1999. The original six rigs are working while six rigs of the current order of 12 rigs are under 2-year and 3-year contracts.
The utilization rate for the company's entire fleet has averaged 96% since 1994.
In other news, H&P has contracted three deep land rigs that were recently returned from South America. H&P will return two more deep land rigs from South America to US operations within 30 days.
Currently, H&P has 39 US land rigs, 10 US platform rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, 32 rigs in South America, and 20 rigs under construction or modification. With units on order or being relocated from South America, H&P estimates its US land rig fleet will total 51 rigs by December 2001 and 65 rigs by December 2002.