Brazil, Cuba and unfounded rumours

More news from Cuba here, reflecting the need for Americans to do something about it, whether they help the Cubans or drill themselves, some effort will need to be made soon.

I also noticed America are lending a significant pile of cash to the Brazilians link here. I reckon there are 2 reasons for this - first of all to get their hands on some of the oil once it comes back, but also to try and put one over on China, who have been pouring money to Brazil as well. Good Economist articlehere.

I heard an interesting story today, which I am not sure if it is true or not, concerning Transocean. The rumour mill says that they bought GSF purely for a patent on a double derrick rig which was in dispute between the 2 companies, and they had already intended to cut back on their Jack up operations, to focus on deepwater drilling. This isn't actually that groundbreaking, Ensco, and various other companies are doing the same.
The knock on effect for Transocean is that they are turning down work for Jack ups at good day rates (rumour says one operator had offered them $150k per day for one of the GSF Jack ups!), and are stacking rigs instead.

It's their company, so of course they can do what they like, but there are plenty of unhappy employees at Transocean at the moment, most of them ex-GSF.

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:

- Driller, Toolpusher, Maintenance Supervisor, Mechanic, Electrician - Workover Offshore -India. - Still looking for people.
- Process Engineers - Residential - London/South East UK.
- Subsea Engineers - New Semis/Drillships - Brazil
- Barge Master - Day rate - accomodation barge - South East Asia and Angola.

Please feel free to apply. I am in particular keen on Indian nationals for my workover roles, so please do pass my details on.

Oil Price Slump

Welcome! Straight to business.

The oil price has been taking a nose dive for the last 2 weeks, from $70 to just above $60.

This blog won't be about speculating as to why the price of oil is doing what it's doing, or what it's going to do, but it might touch on some of the effects.

Generally at the moment the rig count is pretty low - see here and there'll be a link on the sidebar so I don't need to keep telling you. Utilisaiton rates are also pretty poor.

The general consensus seems to be that deepwater drilling will be popular for a long time yet, while jack ups will fade into cheapness and obscurity eventually.

Having said that, some of the Jack ups in the middle east are looking as if they'll pick up a few contracts, and not just on the cyber rigs either.

Iraq has been big news at the moment, with many of the oil companies telling the Iraqi authorities to get stuffed: the terms just don't seem favourable to the E&P companies.

The coolest thing this week so far has been the round rigs from Sevan Marine. Is it just me or do they look pretty unstable?

Intermittently, I'll be posting 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:

• Driller, Cyberbase, Jack up, Indonesia - Must be Indonesian.
• Chief Officer/Master Mariner, FPSO, Phillipines - DP, STCW certificate, Shuttle Tanker experience.
• OIM, FPSO, no location yet - STCW Master's Unlimited, FPSO or offshore production experience.

That's all for today.