By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Jan. 24 -- Worldwide drilling markets ended on a sluggish note last year with the December worldwide SCORE up 2.9% from the month before. The latest SCORE was 40, down 11.7% from a year ago and down 43.9% from 5 years ago, drilling contractor GlobalSantaFe Corp. reported Friday.
"Though worldwide SCORE improved in December 2002, continued softness in the US Gulf of Mexico drilling market and semisubmersible rigs worldwide left (the Summary of Current Offshore Rig Economics) near the year's lowest level," said Jon Marshall, GlobalSantaFe chief operating officer.
"Our short-term view is the Gulf of Mexico is ripe for a rebound," Marshall said. This is because depressed drilling activity is contributing to lower natural gas inventory levels, pushing prices higher, which in turn is expected to stimulate more drilling activity, he said.
Meanwhile, he said that oil and gas companies are being cautious on their US spending levels because of the price swings experienced in natural gas prices during 2001.
"Because of that big swing (from $10/Mcf to below $3/Mcf in 1 year), there is a higher measure of patience out there right now," Marshall said of oil and gas companies. "Even though we've got these high commodity prices. . .the oil companies are being very conservative."
GlobalSantaFe's SCORE compares the profitability of current mobile offshore drilling rig rates to the profitability of rates at the 1980-81 peak of the offshore drilling cycle.
The Gulf of Mexico showed a 2.5% month-on-month decline in December compared with November. All other regions showed an increase with Southwest Asia showing the biggest improvement—10.2%. Meanwhile, the North Sea SCORE climbed 4.4% and West Africa climbed 2.1% in month-on-month statistics.