Diamond Offshore adds to backlog
Written by Nick Blenkey
Houston-headquartered Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE: DO) has reported second quarter 2023 results that saw $229 million added to its backlog. Total revenues were $281.5 million compared with $232 million in the prior quarter and operating income was $10.2 million compared with a loss of $4.9 million in the first quarter.
“Our clients continue to commit additional capital to offshore drilling and make critical investments in long-lead subsea equipment,” said president and CEO Bernie Wolford, Jr. “This coupled with strong commodity demand outlooks and favorable economics for deepwater projects are setting the stage for sustainable demand for our drilling services as momentum continues to build in this cycle. During the quarter, we secured term work for the Ocean BlackHawk and added a two-well contract for the Ocean Patriot, both at higher dayrates. We also extended the Ocean Endeavor by two wells, and our customers exercised options for the Ocean GreatWhite and the Ocean BlackRhino. These wins, which total more than $229 million in additional backlog, provide increased visibility to our 2024 revenue stream and are a testament to our team’s performance. We now have $1.6 billion of backlog with notable average day-rate improvement as we transition to new contracts in the back half of this year.”
The company says that, operationally, its rigs “continued to perform exceptionally well, achieving revenue efficiency of at least 96% for the fifth consecutive quarter. This is a notable achievement with the Ocean GreatWhite having been reactivated in March 2023 and the Ocean Endeavor coming back online following its special periodic survey. In addition, the Ocean BlackHawk successfully completed its campaign in Senegal in early July and has mobilized to Las Palmas for its upgrades and preparation for its return to the Gulf of Mexico.
Diamond Offshore has a total fleet of 12 offshore drilling rigs, consisting of eight semisubmersibles and four dynamically positioned drillships. The Ocean GreatWhite, is one of the world’s largest ultra-deepwater harsh environment semisubmersibles. Following its reactivation, the company now has three remaining rigs cold stacked, according to its most recently filed fleet status report. One analyst, London-based Maritime Strategies International (MSI), said last month that Diamond Offshore has given no indication of any reactivation plans for the three remaining units.
The company has a conference call scheduled for 8:00 a.m. CDT on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, and it will be interesting to see whether analysts ask more about reactivation possibilities
Meantime, if you want to do some number crunching for yourself, you can get the full Diamond Offshore release HERE
