Worldwide offshore rig utilization has held quite steady recently. This week, utilization stands at 83.3%, deviating only slightly from the previous week and in line with utilization rates of the last several months.

As we continue our ongoing examination of the offshore rig market, this week we will be looking at the companies that are contracting the largest competitive jackup fleets in the world. Looking at this information over the past year and into the future helps to paint a picture of which operators have been and will be the most active.

The table below outlines the leading operators around the globe that currently have the largest fleet of competitive jackup rigs under contract. In addition, each company's overall share of the competitive jackup rig fleet is shown. It is worth noting that the inclusion of non-competitive rigs alters the rankings somewhat, with ONGC pushing into second-place with 20 jackups contracted.

Looking at this list of companies, it is quickly apparent that state-controlled (or partially state-controlled) operators generate a very large portion of the world's jackup demand. Of these top operators, 8 of 17 (47%) are state companies. Between just these top eight state companies, they have just over 27% of the world's jackup fleet contracted.

Looking at the current picture of rig contracts as of today is useful, but a more comprehensive picture can be gained by looking back over a longer period of time. The table below presents the number of competitive jackups and days contracted throughout 2006 for the top operators of these rigs that had at least 1,500 rig days contracted during 2006.

When looking at the total number of jackup rig days that were contracted over the course of 2006, a useful guide to operator activity is the average length of those contracts. In the table above, it is clear that Rasgas is obtaining much longer contract terms than Apache given that both companies contracted a similar number of rig days, but Apache contracted those days to more than twice as many different rigs.

To look at this in more detail, the table below presents the operators that have the longest average contract lengths for competitive jackup contracts that have occured since the start of 2006, including ongoing contracts. Only companies that have had at least four competitive jackups contracted since January 2006 are included, and only those companies with average jackup contract lengths of at least one year are shown.

While all of the operators shown in the table above have longer than average jackup contract lengths, Saudi Aramco stands out from the pack, with its average contract length nearly one year longer than the next company in the list. From another perspective, Saudi Aramco has locked rigs into contracts about 4.5 times longer than the average for all operators.

Beyond looking at the past and current competitive jackup contracts, we can also look forward to the contracts that will be ongoing during the next two years. This is a good guide to which operators have the most worked plan and have made the most efforts to ensure access to rig time between now and early 2009. The table below provides the list of operators that have already contracted the most competitive jackup rigs days for the next two years (includes firm contracts, options, and LOIs).

Looking at these upcoming contracts, it is easy to see the Pemex will still continue to be the world's leading operator of jackups. Most of the other companies on the list will remain mostly inline with their levels of activity of the course of 2006. However, the most notable company on the list is Saudi Aramco, which is raising its level of jackup days contracted by about 25% from the level of 2006.

For More Information on the Offshore Rig Fleet:
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