What: Shares of offshore drilling rig owner Pacific Drilling SA (NYSE: PACD) dropped 22% in June as the offshore drilling market showed little signs of improvement. The move followed larger offshore drillers, but Pacific Drilling's move was significantly worse and it may be due to moves that its larger rivals did -- or didn't -- do.
So what: Throughout early 2015 and even into early June it appeared that large competitors in the offshore space were interested in buying Pacific Drilling. Bloomberg even ran an article saying that the company was a takeover candidate, but late in June it appeared that a deal wasn't imminent and oil prices began to drop again. That meant the support for Pacific Drilling's stock weakened and the stock dropped as a result.
Now what: It's no secret that consolidation is going to be needed in offshore drilling if the current swoon in energy prices continues. But with $3.0 billion in debt and just eight rigs the market for the company might be limited without some debt restructuring. This is one of the better fleets in the industry but like highly leveraged competitors like Seadrill it's also a high-risk stock. That risk reared its ugly head in June and unless the offshore drilling market picks up later this year it could be another bad year for the industry.
