It seems as if The Land Rig Newsletter team can’t publish an issue of The Unconventional Drilling Report without acknowledging yet another milestone. UDR active rig counts have hit new highs for both total shales (687) and total unconventionals (at 805, surpassing 800 for the first time). The UDR also has a new record for the number of oil-directed rigs among both total shales (234) and total unconventionals (257), as well as a fresh peak for unconventional horizontals (680).

 

None of this dissuades the LRNL team, however, from their central thesis that tailwinds including low gas prices and drilling services capacity/takeaway constraints will slow growth in unconventional drilling this year. The signs are already at hand:  The UDR’s YTD average unconventional active rig count is up only 3% from 2H 2010’s average but 50% higher than 1H 2010’s average. In addition, new environmental regulatory hurdles could add more tailwinds to unconventional drilling growth, in the wake of Chesapeake’s apparent wellhead breach and subsequent spill of flowback fluids during a Marcellus frac job in Pennsylvania last week.

The Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) announced that its membership has grown to 10 members at the conclusion of the company’s formation period. The MWCC member companies are now Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Apache, Anadarko, BHP Billiton, Statoil and Hess. These 10 companies operated approximately 70 percent of deepwater wells drilled in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico between 2007 through 2009.

 

McDermott International, Inc. announced that one of its subsidiary companies was awarded fabrication and installation work from Chevron U.S.A., Inc. to support the development of the Jack and St. Malo fields.

Diamond Offshore confirms it has received a one-well contract from Marathon Oil for semi Ocean Monarch. Work in Garden Banks Block 515 is scheduled to begin in early May and should last around 60 days. The rig has been idle since June 2010 when Anadarko, which has the rig under contract to March 2013, declared it was terminating the contract via force majeure. Diamond disputed the claim, resulting in a litigation that has yet to be resolved.

 

Nabors Offshore workover platform rig Sundowner IV has completed its two-well contract with Merit Energy in Vermilion Block 408. With no follow-up work in place, Nabors has mobilized the rig back to New Iberia where it is hot stacked.

 

Basic Marine Services reports it is refurbishing workover inland barge Basic Marine Rig 15. The rig, which had been idle since December 2008, is now at the Bollinger Shipyard facility in Amelia where work is scheduled to be completed in late May. At present, Basic does not have a contract in place for the rig.

 

Hercules Offshore reports jackup Hercules 204 completed work in Eugene Island Block 113 for LLOG Exploration and the rig is now stacked on location. It is ...

BP Exploration & Production, Inc. has signed an agreement with federal and state agencies to accelerate work starting this year to restore areas of the Gulf of Mexico that were affected by the Deepwater Horizon accident. The agreement commits up to $1 billion to projects that will restore injured natural resources in the Gulf at the earliest opportunity.

 

BHP Billiton approved major projects with a total investment value of $9.8 billion, net to the company, during the first quarter of 2011. Meanwhile, the company advised the Deep Blue-1 project in Green Canyon 723, in which it holds a 31.875% interest, encountered hydrocarbons, but has been temporarily suspended. Noble Energy is the operator.

BP, plc filed suit against Transocean, Ltd. for damages relating to the Macondo oil spill, citing the driller’s “misconduct” as a cause for the disaster. In addition, BP has filed suit against Cameron International Corp., the blow-out preventer manufacturer, and Halliburton Co., the cement contractor on the well. Meanwhile, a report issued by the U.S. Coast Guard cited safety failures on the part of Transocean as a cause of the Deepwater Horizon incident.

Total mobile rig utilization in the Gulf of Mexico remains at 50% this week with 63 of 126 mobile rigs under contract or committed for work. Marketed utilization, which excludes cold stacked and other non-marketed rigs, fell to 82.9% with 63 of 76 rigs under contract.

 

Within the jackup fleet, two Noble Drilling jackups departed the region for Mexico, while the Hercules 204 was released. As a result, total utilization now stands at 40% with 34 of 85 rigs under contract or committed for work. Marketed utilization is now 75.6% with 34 of 45 units contracted.

 

Floating rig utilization is unchanged this week. Overall, 29 of 35 rigs are under contract for utilization of 82.8%, while marketed utilization is 93.5% with 29 of 31 rigs under contract.

 

Total Platform rig fleet utilization fell slightly as one idle Nabors Offshore rig was returned to the total fleet while a previously contracted unit was released. Fleet utilization is now at 35.3% with 18 of 51 units under contract, with marketed utilization at 54.5% with 18 of 33 rigs contracted.

 

Inland barge utilization rose with the addition of one rig to the contracted rolls. Total fleet utilization now stands ...