The falling price of oil this spring hasn't put a damper on drilling rig owners, and Noble
In the second quarter, which the company reported yesterday, revenue rose 43.1% to $898.9 million and net income more than tripled to $159.8 million, or $0.63 per share. This was also a big increase from the $0.47 per-share profit the company reported in the first quarter of the year as well.
It should be no surprise that ultra-deepwater drilling is driving the growth with the addition of three new rigs to the fleet. Ultra-deepwater now accounts for 33% of revenue and there are another five rigs under contract.
Operationally, the company appears to be hitting on all cylinders and will likely continue to in the future. Seventy-nine percent of the floating rig fleet and 84% of the jackup fleet are under contract for the remainder of 2012, and 80% of the floating rig fleet days are committed for 2013.
Over at competitor Diamond Offshore
Deepwater is still hot
There doesn't appear to be any slowdown of momentum in the ultra-deepwater segment. Transocean
Seadrill
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