Offshore drilling contractor Global Marine reported Monday that the company’s worldwide Summary of Current Offshore Rig Economics, or SCORE, for August 2001 was down 3.2% from July because of a softening in Gulf of Mexico day rates that overshadowed the strength of the international offshore rig markets. In the Gulf of Mexico, the change was more dramatic, down 11.6% from a month earlier, and down 21.3% from a year ago.

Global Marine’s SCORE compares the profitability of current mobile offshore drilling rig day rates to the profitability of day rates at the 1980-81 peak of the offshore drilling cycle, when speculative new rig construction was common. In 1980-81, when the SCORE averaged 100%, new contract day rates equaled the sum of daily cash operating costs, plus approximately $700/day/million dollars invested.

Along with a worldwide SCORE that covers the key types of competitive offshore drilling rigs in key drilling markets, a separate SCORE is calculated for certain types of rigs and certain regions to indicate the relative condition of rig markets.

In August, Global Marine’s Gulf of Mexico SCORE was 46.5, compared with a July SCORE of 52.6. Worldwide, the August SCORE for the North Sea was 48.7, West Africa’s was 60.1 and Southeast Asia’s was 57.6. The North Sea’s SCORE was up 4.9% from July, and 98% over a year ago, while West Africa’s was up 0.3%, and 54.8% over a year earlier. Southeast Asia’s SCORE was down slightly to 0.3%, but is up 77% over a year ago.

By type, the August jackup SCORE is 60.6, down slightly from 61.4 for July 2001. However, jackup rigs are up 46.3% worldwide over a year ago and 4.4% from five years ago. Semisubmersible rigs had an August SCORE of 39.7, down from July’s SCORE of 41.2. The semisubmersible rate is up 61.2% from a year earlier, but is down 31.7% from five years ago.

Houston-based Global Marine has 33 mobile drilling units, including jackups, semisubmersibles and ultra-deepwater drillships. It also provides drilling management services, including turnkey, management and day work drilling.

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