Jackup uncertainty building

With reports of Pemex budget cuts and potential rig suspensions, additional uncertainty is added to the jackup market. The overhang from two rounds of Saudi Aramco suspensions (totalling 28 rigs, c6% of global supply) have been slow to absorb, and are likely to persist through 2025. With looming risk of even more Aramco suspensions, and rigs possibly being released in Mexico, we see a continued high competitive environment on new tenders. Dayrates for most premium jobs are cUSD120k–130k (a tad b...

Pemex saving plans add to jackup uncertainty

Several news reports suggest Pemex plans to cut USD1.4bn from its E&P budget this year. As the budget reduction is aimed at drilling, among others, we see a risk of jackup suspension. Pemex has 26 jackups chartered from contractors, with Borr Drilling and Paratus (through Fontis Energy) having most exposure with five rigs each, and such rigs representing 18% and 41% of 2025e EBITDA. The duration of suspensions appears unclear for now; while savings are limited to this year’s budget, reports sugg...

Vermilion Short Shots: Technically Vulnerable Stocks

Short Shots is a collection of technically vulnerable charts culled from the Negative Inflecting and Toppy columns within our Weekly Compass report or from various technical screening processes. The charts contained in this report have developed concerning technical patterns that suggest further price deterioration is likely. For these reasons Short Shots can also be a great source of ideas for investors interested in short-selling candidates.

Valuation and market update

In this note, we show updated valuation and market statistics for the Offshore Drilling sector.

Noble (Buy, TP: USD48.00) - Consolidation helped challenges

The completed Diamond Offshore transaction has helped to derisk Noble’s earnings profile due to the former’s solid contract coverage for its 7G drillships. For legacy Noble tier-2 rigs and open 7G capacity, we now see even more uncertainty for 2025–2026 and potentially beyond, remaining conservative in our modelling. On the positive side, we believe Noble’s efforts to drive consolidation and become the largest owner of 7G drillships is attracting investor attention. We reiterate our BUY, but hav...

Seadrill (Buy, TP: USD54.00) - Looking to 2026 and beyond

We see long-term challenges for tier-2 rigs (2026 and beyond) and have cut our estimates again. While we believe Seadrill is well placed for two 7G deepwater extensions on ongoing Petrobras tenders (we estimate at dayrates cUSD450k), we are 9–25% below consensus on 2025–2026e EBITDA. We expect consensus to come down and believe Seadrill needs to de-risk tier-2 rigs, but still see an attractive investment case, based on asset values and 2026e earnings and beyond. We reiterate our BUY but have cut...

Petrobras rig pool tender saw limited competition and likely supportiv...

Today, the Petrobras ‘rig pool’ tender for up to four deepwater rigs with 3-year duration across three lots closed. Initially, it appears that seven contractors with nine rigs participated, split between four locals (Constellation, Etesco, Foresea and Ventura) and three international contractors (Seadrill, Valaris and Transocean). Hence, the participation would be less than at the recent Petrobras tender for Sepia/Atapu, which saw nine contractors taking part with 15 rigs. With different technic...

Energy Morning - 15 October 2024

Petrobras set to reduce 2025 capex

Petrobras is expected to reduce 2025 capex from USD21bn to around USD17bn, according to a Reuters article today. Petrobras has a 5-year capex plan, but there are usually changes to its plans, and “current year” / “near-term” spending has a track-record of being revised lower (2024 capex was recently cut c24% to USD13.5bn–14.5bn), as Petrobras has struggled with value-chain delays. The updated spending represents YOY growth in 2025 of c21% (versus c50% earlier). The article mentions equipment pri...

Valuation and market update

In this note, we show updated valuation and market statistics for the Offshore Drilling sector.

Limited excitement for oil services from TotalEnergies’ Strategy & Out...

With total capex set to be flattish through this decade (organic capex lower in the out-years), TotalEnergies’ Strategy & Outlook presentation provided limited excitement for oil services. Strong capital discipline and allocation was maintained, with targeted oil production growth (3%) on flattish capex and shareholder returns being a top priority. With several large-scale developments for the next few years already defined (oil services mostly contracted), we consider its plan supportive for cy...

Odfjell Drilling Ltd: 1 director

A director at Odfjell Drilling Ltd sold 23,400,000 shares at 50.000NOK and the significance rating of the trade was 72/100. Is that information sufficient for you to make an investment decision? This report gives details of those trades and adds context and analysis to them such that you can judge whether these trading decisions are ones worth following. Included in the report is a detailed share price chart which plots discretionary trades by all the company's directors over the last two year...

Crude Quarterly Q3'24: Lower oil price

Oil inventory draws for the rest of 2024. IEA is wrong – peak demand is not imminent. Both E&P and oil service shares look highly attractive.

Petrobras deepwater awards at decent dayrates

Following a lengthy tender process, Constellation announced it has been awarded contracts for two rigs for the Roncador development with Petrobras for 2.5 years starting in mid-2025. One of the awards is for a stranded newbuild (Tidal Action), while the second award is for an incumbent 2012-built 6G drillship (Laguna Star). With current uncertainty among investors related to deepwater, we consider the dayrate levels (around USD450k) solid, in particular for the incumbent 6G rig. For companies u...

InsiderInsights Weekly Report: September 14, 2024

InsiderInsights Ratings of Companies with Open-Market Form 4 Purchases; Sales Filed at the SEC on the date above. We separate the real investment intelligence from the noise. Saving you time, and improving your research process

InsiderInsights.com Daily Ratings Report: September 13, 2024

InsiderInsights Ratings of Companies with Open-Market Form 4 Purchases; Sales Filed at the SEC on the date above. We separate the real investment intelligence from the noise. Saving you time, and improving your research process

Transocean Ltd: 1 director

A director at Transocean Ltd bought 1,500,000 shares at 4.130USD and the significance rating of the trade was 67/100. Is that information sufficient for you to make an investment decision? This report gives details of those trades and adds context and analysis to them such that you can judge whether these trading decisions are ones worth following. Included in the report is a detailed share price chart which plots discretionary trades by all the company's directors over the last two years clea...

Supply-side discipline remains key

With uncertainty among investors due to flattish near-term deepwater demand and increasing availability of tier-2 deepwater rigs, we highlight that supply-side discipline has been a key driver this upcycle. As the industry is even more consolidated, we expect the high-end of the deepwater market to remain strong while lower-end units are likely to face greater day-rate volatility. We still see value chain bottlenecks (FPSO, subsea) unfolding, effectively putting a cap on drilling demand, as expl...