Diamond Offshore sinks deeper into the red

Offshore drilling contractor Diamond Offshore nearly doubled its losses as its revenues dropped in the third quarter of 2019 when compared to the same period in 2018. Diamond has also secured a new contract for one of its semi-submersible rigs with Woodside.

Diamond on Monday posted revenues of $254 million for the third quarter of 2019, a decrease when compared to revenues of $280.7 million in the same period last year.

The company recorded a loss of $95.1 million for the third quarter 2019 compared to the loss of $51.1 million in the same period of 2018.

Diamond also reported on Monday that Woodside had awarded a contract to Ocean Apex. The contract starts in early January 2021 until mid-November 2021. The dayrate has not been disclosed.

The rig is currently under contract Shell, which expires in mid-November 2019. After that, the rig starts its contract with Woodside in early January 2020, which expires in late September 2020. Later, the rig will work for BP from early October 2020 until late December 2020.

According to Bassoe Offshore, Ocean Apex’s dayrate estimate with BP in 2020 is $180,000. The dayrate estimate for the Woodside contract is $220,000.

“During the quarter, we secured approximately $90 million of additional backlog, including a new fixture for the Ocean Apex in Australia and the exercise of a two-well option for the Ocean Endeavor in the North Sea,” said Marc Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer.

As of October 1, 2019, the company’s total contracted backlog was $1.8 billion, including over $540 million of backlog secured year to date and excluding approximately a $130 million margin commitment from one of the company’s customers.

Diamond also said that the 2001-built semi-submersible Ocean Confidence is held for sale.

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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