Offshore driller Vantage Drilling narrowed its net loss in the fourth quarter 2017 as its revenues grew boosted by significant increase in rig utilization.
According to its financial report for the fourth quarter 2017 issued on Wednesday, Vantage managed to cut its quarterly net loss to $36.6 million from a $41.1 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2016.
The driller’s revenues increased to $59.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 from $40.4 million in the prior-year period.
At the end of the year, Vantage had approximately $195.5 million of available cash. Uses of cash during the quarter included debt service costs and the re-activation of the Platinum Explorer drillship.
Namely, the 2010-built drillship was awarded a three-year contract by India’s Oil and Natural Gas Company (ONGC) in June 2017. The drillship was brought back from the warm-stack mode and mobilized to India in the fourth quarter 2017.
Ihab Toma , Vantage CEO, commented, “I am pleased to report that with the commencement of the Platinum Explorer three-year contract for ONGC in India, during the fourth quarter, we successfully reactivated three of our four previously stacked units during a difficult year for the offshore drilling industry and now have six of our seven premium assets working.”
Vantage’s fleet recorded a significant increase in utilization year-over-year. It consists of three ultra-deepwater drillships and five jack-up drilling rigs, including the one acquired from the bankrupt driller Hercules Offshore.
Jack-up rig utilization in the final quarter of 2017 jumped to 99.5% from 39.5% in the year-before period.
Vantage’s drillship also saw an increase in utilization which went from 33.3% in 4Q 2016 to 45.4% in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Offshore Energy Today Staff