ODS Petrodata June 9, 2006:  Strong worldwide demand for offshore drilling rigs continues to be reflected in ODS-Petrodata’s monthly Offshore Rig Day Rate Indices.
	Day rates for mid-water depth semisubmersible drilling units have continued to rise, and the ODS-Petrodata Mid-Water Depth Semisubmersible Day Rate Index now stands at 875 this month, its highest level ever.  With fleet utilization effectively at 100 percent, rig owners will continue to seek higher rates in this class from their oil company customers.
	As anticipated, the deepwater rig fleet remains at 100 percent utilization.  The ODS-Petrodata Deepwater Rig Day Rate Index reflects the continuing strong demand for deepwater rigs, and this month stands at 745.  While slightly lower than the adjusted May index, the current month’s index number falls well within the expected range.
	The ODS-Petrodata U.S. Gulf of Mexico Jackup Day Rate Index declined slightly to 506.  However, every available rig is working, and more rigs will be leaving the area, boosting fleet utilization and keeping upward pressure on day rates.
	The ODS-Petrodata North Sea Jackup Day Rate Index fell to 632 this month, but remains within the expected range established early in the year.  Rates in this rig market segment will likely continue to move within a relatively small range; this is indicative of how long term contracts have become common, leaving rig owners with fewer near-term opportunities to leverage up rates. The ODS-Petrodata Day Rate Indices track the movement of competitive mobile offshore drilling fleet day rates and utilization for four rig categories.  Day rates are charted as an index with the average market day rate in January 1994 equal to 100.  Utilization is the percentage of contracted rigs out of the total competitive fleet supply.  The data is updated on the second Friday of each month by ODS-Petrodata.  Additional information is available from ODS-Petrodata in Houston, Aberdeen and Oslo.
Copyright © 2006 ODS-Petrodata Inc.

ODS-Petrodata's Weekly Mobile Offshore Rig Count
June 9, 2006

Offshore rig count inches up

HOUSTON:  The number of offshore rigs under contract worldwide experienced a net increase of one unit this week, according to ODS-Petrodata’s weekly mobile offshore rig count.  This week, 602 of the world’s 649 mobile offshore drilling units are under contract, and worldwide fleet utilization is 92.8 percent. 

Both the contracted offshore rig supply and available fleet in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico shrank by one this week.  With 132 of the region’s 150 mobile offshore drilling units under contract, U.S. Gulf offshore rig fleet utilization is 88.0 percent. 

The European offshore rig count is unchanged this week.  With 101 of the 103 offshore rigs in European waters remaining under contract, fleet utilization stands at 98.1 percent.

ODS-Petrodata forecasts that rig demand will remain strong in all of the world’s offshore oil and natural gas arenas into 2007 and beyond.


For additional information, contact:  Karen Boman, at 832-463-3000, email kboman@ods-petrodata.com.
 

U.S. Gulf of Mexico
	Today	Last Week	Month Ago	Year Ago	5 Years Ago
Total Rigs in Drilling Fleet	150	151	152	156	213
Rigs Under Contract	132	133	132	131	189
Rigs w/o Contract	18	18	20	25	24
Fleet Utilization Rate	88.0%	88.1%	86.8%	84.0%	88.7%

Europe/Mediterranean Sea
	Today	Last Week	Month Ago	Year Ago	5 Years Ago
Total Rigs in Drilling Fleet	103	103	103	99	102
Rigs Under Contract	101	101	101	92	98
Rigs w/o Contract	2	2	2	7	4
Fleet Utilization Rate	98.1%	98.1%	98.1%	92.9%	96.1%

Worldwide
	Today	Last Week	Month Ago	Year Ago	5 Years Ago
Total Rigs in Drilling Fleet	649	648	646	642	651
Rigs Under Contract	602	601	593	571	586
Rigs w/o Contract	47	47	53	71	65
Fleet Utilization Rate	92.8%	92.7%	91.8%	88.9%	90.0%

Offshore Platform Rigs In addition to mobile drilling units, 294 platform rigs are deployed worldwide for offshore drilling operations:
Area	Platform Rig Fleet Total	Contracted	Fleet Utilization Rate
U.S. Gulf of Mexico	58	33	56.9%
Europe/Mediterranean*	109	107	98.2%
Worldwide*	288	230	79.9%

*As of June 9, 2006 (updated quarterly).  Note that not every contracted unit is actually working.