Drilling Market Vital Signs

It’s been many months since this edition of the Flash Report featured anything other than down arrows. But in this market, even treading water can be seen as optimism. However, that’s still a long way from an uptick in business, for which there is zero consensus. The pulse is detectable but weak.

Leading-Edge Day Rates

Overall Review: Leading-edge day rates at to slightly down. A total of 88% of surveyed contractors reported leading-edge day rates stabilized during the past 3 months, much greater than the 54% of contractors that responded similarly in the prior survey.

The remaining 12% of drillers said that leading-edge rates had decreased again compared with 46% in the prior survey. None of the contractors in the current survey reported any increases. Rig pricing during the next 6 months is expected to remain the same, according to 79% of surveyed drillers.

Another 15% of drillers were uncertain over the direction of rates for the upcoming 6 months, and 6% expect more decreases. None of the drillers expect any more increases, however.