Dril-Quip, Inc. announced that Blake T. DeBerry will become Senior Vice President, Sales and Engineering, while James A. Gariepy will assume the position of Senior Vice President, Manufacturing, Project Management, and Service, effective July 18, 2011.

Hercules Offshore has canceled the remainder of its contract with Great Gulfcan Energy with jackup Hercules 212, and the rig is hot stacked in West Cameron 38. The rig had been working in High Island 98-L and was originally scheduled to complete the work in mid-July, but financial issues with the operator led to the cancellation. Shipyard work on jackup Hercules 120 has not been completed, and now the rig is not expected to return to its contract with Chevron until late June. The rig, which is under contract through the end of 2011, was originally due to return to work May 25. Pisces Energy will now keep jackup Hercules 204 for an additional well in Ship Shoal 151. The operator now has the rig through end-July, after which it will go to Ship Shoal 112 for a 40-day well with Stone Energy. With the extension, the rig is now next available in the first half of September. Finally, inland barge Hercules 17 has secured a follow-up contract with Energy Partners, Ltd. for a 42-day well. Work will begin later this week after the current contract with Marlin Energy is completed. The new work keeps the rig busy to mid-July....

Noble Energy, Inc. announced a discovery at the Santiago exploration prospect in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The well, located in 6,500 ft of water on Mississippi Canyon 519, was drilled to TD at 18,920 ft. Open-hole logging identified about 60 ft of oil pay in a high-quality Miocene reservoir. Noble Energy is the operator at Santiago with a 23.25% working interest.

 

ATP Oil & Gas Corporation concluded drilling on the deepwater Mississippi Canyon (MC) 941 A-2 well located at ATP’s Telemark Hub, and all pay sands encountered in the earlier MC 941 A-1 well were present, essentially confirming pre-drill estimates. The main pay sands are about 500 ft structurally higher than the MC 941 A-1 well and 1,000 ft above the original oil-water contact.

 

Stone Energy Corporation’s board of directors has increased the company’s 2011 capex budget from $425 million to a range of $475-500 million due to a projected increase in production, oil prices, and estimated cash flow, combined with an attractive inventory of capital projects. Stone has additionally increased its 2011 production guidance from 200-220 MMcfe/d to 205-225 MMcfe/d.

 

Williams Partners, LP has received a contract award from Hess Corporation to provide production handling ...

Ensco, PLC announced the completion of its acquisition of Pride International, with the sale creating the world’s second largest offshore driller. Under terms of the agreement—with exceptions for certain UK residents as well as dissenting stockholders—Pride stockholders will receive 0.4778 share of newly issued Ensco stock plus $15.60 for each share of Pride common stock.

 

The expanded 76-rig Ensco fleet now consists of 7 ultradeepwater drillships, 13 dynamically positioned semis, 7 moored semis, and 49 premium jackups. The deal also gives Ensco a substantial presence in Brazil and West Africa, two high-growth areas where it previously was not well established. The Pride fleet has been renamed, with the exception of three jackups: the Pride Pennsylvania, Pride Hawaii, and Pride Wisconsin. These units will likely be sold at some point. In related news, Ensco newbuild drillship ENSCO DS-4, the former Deep Ocean Clarion, has departed the U.S. Gulf of Mexico for Brazil, where it will begin a 5-year contract with BP. The rig was originally slated to mobilize to Libya for BP, but civil unrest there prompted the change. It is expected that newbuild drillship ENSCO DS-5 (formerly Deep Ocean Mendocino), now undergoing acceptance testing, will begin its 5-year contract ...

Total mobile rig utilization in the Gulf of Mexico is 50%, with 62 of 124 rigs under contract or committed for work. Marketed utilization, which excludes cold stacked and other non-marketed rigs, rose to 83.8%, with 62 of 74 rigs under contract.

 

Within the jackup fleet, one previously idle Nabors Offshore jackup was contracted, while a Hercules Offshore jackup contract was canceled and the rig is now idle. In addition, a previously marketed Hercules jackup was moved to the cold stacked rig rolls. As a result, overall fleet utilization is still 40.5%, with 34 of 84 rigs under contract or committed for work. Marketed utilization, however, rose to 77.3%, with 34 of 44 units contracted.

 

Floating rig utilization changed due to an Ensco drillship departing the area. Overall, 28 of 34 rigs are under contract, for utilization of 82.3%, while marketed utilization is 93.3%, with 28 of 30 rigs under contract.

 

Total Platform rig fleet utilization is now 40.4%, with 21 of 52 units under contract, while marketed utilization is 58.3%, with 21 of 36 rigs contracted.

 

Inland barge utilization is unchanged this week. Total fleet utilization is 42.4%, with 25 of 59 units under contract. ...

Corporate debt markets have been an attractive source of funding for U.S. E&P companies in the current era of easy money. Interest rates are at or near record lows for high-grade and high-yield companies alike, resulting in a number of E&P companies tapping these markets in recent months. However, the current environment of easy money could be coming to a close. Despite this, the outlook for drilling remains generally positive, and particularly so for companies in unconventional resource plays such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford, according to the latest issue of The Land Rig Newsletter’s Unconventional Drilling Report.

 

Companies have upsized debt offerings in recent weeks. Recent examples include Concho, which increased its offering from $400 million to $600 million, and Brigham Exploration, which increased its debt offering from $250 million to $300 million. Debt financing is allowing companies to add rigs. One example is Brigham. The company recently announced plans to add a tenth rig to its Williston program by July and plans to add another 2 rigs to the program in early 2012.