Good, Bad, Cuba, China

Things are looking good for the rig count in the US, up 18 which is a good sign, and also there are 2 shiny new drillships out.

However, things are a bit different elsewhere particularly for Jack ups, with Northern offshore cold stacking the Energy Exerter. I've always thought that Northern Offshore have struggled a bit since they bought those rigs from Maersk, victims of bad timing maybe, as they lost a few contracts just as the oil price died.

Although I can't claim much in the way of prescience, an interesting article in Rigzone appeared talking about the political fight that's going to kick off around Cuba's oil field. My guess is that the American government will cave in and compete with their own drilling programme there, but that the Florida state won't be too happy about it. Things could get pretty interesting, especially if there are substantial amounts of oil there.

Finally, The Chinese are spending money on oil comapnies - nothing unusual there, but it is odd, as they are buying YPF , the Argentinian Oil Company. They don't have much in the way of reserves. Again, this is purely speculation on my part, but it gives China a convenient power block beside some of the major oilfields, and they will be able to make some political capital out of the reasonably strong ties between Brazil and Argentina. Plus, they'll probably be able to make some money purely by virtue of having stacks of useful equipment right beside Brazil's new sub-salt layer.

As usual, below are my available jobs. If you're interested in applying for any of the positions, please email me at mb.oilblog@googlemail.com with a copy of your CV. If you fit the bill, I'll get back to you, but we get a lot of applicants, so please don't be offended if I don't get back in touch straight away. Jobs today are:

- Marine Engineer - PSV - North Sea - Bergen B and Star information experience. STCW95 - at least 2nd Engineer
- Process Engineers - Residential - London/South East UK.
- Subsea Engineers - New Semis/Drillships - Brazil- Barge Master - Day rate - accomodation barge - South East Asia and Angola.