New orders for offshore drilling facilities would maintain to be active in 2013 as well, since charter rates for overall offshore drilling facility seem to have taken an upturn by continued shallow-water and deep-sea field development, while newbuilding prices are marked relatively lower.
As of November, 2012, offshore drilling facilities fleet, which include drillship, semi-submersible drilling rig, jack-up rig, tender rig (barge shaped), etc., stood at 974 vessels/units. Of them, offshore fabricators in USA built 278 vessels, while those from Singapore fabricated 212 vessels, Korea delivered 87 vessels, Japan completed 80 vessels, China 50 vessels, UK 25 vessels, Norway 24 vessels, etc., according to Clarkson.
Having been delivered eight new offshore drilling facilities in 2005, delivery saw a steady increase - 11 vessels/units having been hit the water in 2006, 22 vessels in 2007, 38 vessels in 2008, 52 vessels in 2009, 46 vessels in 2010, 51 vessels in 2011, etc. However, in 2012, delivery showed a decline and only 29 vessels were delivered in the first 11 months.
Drillship delivery marked three vessels in 2008, seven ships in 2009, 10 vessels in 2010, 17 ships in 2011, 10 vessels by November 2012, while seven semi-submersible rigs were delivered in 2008, followed by 15 units in 2009, 11 units in 2010, 15 units in 2011 and seven units in the first 11 months of last year.
Drillship segment, which had been dominated by Korean shipyards with almost 80% of market share, is bitterly contested, as Brazil's local shipyards won some orders from domestic demand and China also made its first step into the segment last year.
According to the gathered results by Asiasis, a total of 35 new drillships were contracted in 2012 and comparable number of drillships is to be ordered in 2013 as well. Korean Big4 booked 19 drillships - nine vessels from Samsung Heavy Industries, five from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, four from Hyundai Heavy Industries and one from STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, while Brazil-based shipyards sealed 15 orders - six from Enseada Paraguacu, three from Rio Grande 2, one from Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz and five from Sembcorp Marine. Also, China's Dalian Shipbuilding Industry inked one plus three drillships from Norwegian shipowner.
Drillship orderbook now stands at around 72 vessels.
Singapore swept orders for semi-submersible drilling rig last year, by massive contracts from Brazil under its localization strategy. Singapore booked 10 units - seven units from Keppel and three from Jurong. Korea inked four units, including two units from Daewoo and two from Hyundai, and China's CIMC Raffles won one unit.
In case of jack-up rig market, Chinese builders seem to challenge Singaporean companies, on the basis of its price competitiveness. Last year, Singapore contracted eight units, including four from Keppel and four from PPL, while China booked eight units and Lamprell from the Middle East inked three units, etc.
In 2012, China's Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (one unit), Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (two), COSCO (one), Yangzijiang Offshore Engineering (two), Jinhai Heavy Industry (one), Rongsheng Heavy Industries (one), etc., succeeded to win orders for jack-up rig.
Meanwhile, Rongsheng and COSCO contracted three tender rigs each last year.
While Chinese shipbuilders are becoming distinguished in jack-up rig and tender rig segments, several yards have started to successfully enter into drillship and semi-submersible drilling rig markets. Shipyards will meet with tougher competition to win orders for offshore drilling facility.