Europe has witnessed a significant growth in offshore drilling rigs market followed by
Africa. The burgeoning growth in North Sea, rising offshore exploration and production
activities in Nigeria have further enhanced the offshore drilling rigs market. In November
2016, Exxon Mobil along with its partners announced the discovery of oil in the Owowo-
2 and Owowo-3 fields off Nigeria’s shores. The discovery is estimated to be between 500
million to 1 billion barrels of crude oil. An estimated 85 trillion cubic feet of gas was
discovered in the Rovuma basin in Mozambique, which have boosted offshore drilling rigs
in Africa.
Asia Pacific is witnessed to have a fast growth in offshore drilling rigs market, owing to
rising energy demand, high consumption rate, development of the emerging economies
in offshore drilling activities, and major investments in deep and ultra-deep water have
driven the offshore drilling rigs market in this region. According to Baker Hughes, the
offshore rig count in Asia Pacific was 69 in February 2016, which is increased to 13 in
February 2017. Additionally, in 2015, the Reliance industry announced an investment of
US$6 billion in the KG D6 block (Krishna Godavari).
Advancement in jackup rigs technology in the recent years includes:
In 2011, BASS (Bennett & Associates) incorporated two jackup rigs, BASS 350 and BASS
400. These jackup rigs are designed for moderate environment having independent leg,
rack-and-pinion for required water depth of 350 ft. and 400 ft. These rig types help to
support higher load required in drilling operations and can be modified according to
specification of the operator.
JU3000N design, is the latest generation rig with high specifications and greater
capabilities than most units. Noble Corp. had ordered four JU3000N in Singapore in 2012.
In March 2017, Ensco claimed 200% increase in number of jackup rig count.
The major players operating the global offshore drilling rigs market are Transocean, Ensco,
Seadrill, COSL, Diamond Offshore, Paragon Offshore, Ocean Rig, and Nabors Industries Limited.