Why the Offshore Drilling Recovery Is Real

Yahoo! Finance | Matthew DiLallo | August 19, 2019

After several years of declines, the offshore drilling market is on track to see its first annual increase in investment spending since crude oil prices started tanking in 2014. The industry's rebound should continue for several years, even though oil prices remain volatile. That was a clear takeaway from the comments of management teams across the sector during the second quarter. Here's why they believe that this recovery is for real.

We're trending in the right direction

Leading offshore drilling contractor Transocean (NYSE: RIG) was one of several companies seeing notable improvements in the market. CEO Jeremy Thigpen ran through some key trends on the company's recent second-quarter call:

[W]e're extremely pleased with the direction of the high specification harsh environment market where our top tier assets are fully utilized. Day rates are approaching and, in some cases, exceeding $400,000 per day. ... And while we're somewhat frustrated with the pace and trajectory of the ultra-deepwater market, we remind ourselves that we have moved off the bottom and are clearly in the early stages of what we expect will be a much broader recovery. ... We have spent the last several years positioning ourselves [for this recovery] by establishing the offshore drilling industry's largest and most profitable backlog, providing us with unparalleled visibility to future cash flows.

As Thigpen notes, the company has seen a definite improvement in two of the offshore drilling market's most important metrics: day rates and utilization. As those trends continue, the company and its peers will be able to make more money, since they'll have more rigs working at higher rates.

We see an acceleration ahead

Olivier Le Peuch, the new CEO of leading oilfield service contractor Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB), also noted similar positives on that company's second-quarter call. First, he pointed out that shallow water rig activity improved by 14% during the second quarter. Meanwhile, he said that deepwater "is seeing less growth of rig activity at the moment, more single digit." Those trends should become even more pronounced in the coming quarters. That's because the industry is on track to make additional final investment decisions on deepwater projects during the third and fourth quarters. "That would translate in further growth and acceleration of deepwater as we expect into next year," according to Schlumberger's CEO.

We're in the early innings of a long game

Clay Williams, CEO of oilfield equipment maker National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) also sees several positives ahead for the offshore drilling market. An analyst on the company's second-quarter call stated that it seemed like the industry has recently hit an inflection point where orders are improving. That's driving the view that a sustainable multiyear recovery could be taking hold.

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