DOHA: Gulf Drilling International (GDI) has announced that it has taken steps to counter the negative effects from having two of its jack-up drilling rigs go off contract earlier this month.
With the support of Qatar Petroleum (QP), GDI has already found short term work for one of the rigs that went off contract. The rig “Msheireb” has secured new work that will commence later this month for one firm well with a client option to extend for additional wells.
This same rig has also been shortlisted for a one year firm plus one year option contract scheduled to commence in first quarter of 2016 (1Q, 16). The second rig that went off contract, “Al Rayyan”, is also being considered for work that is scheduled to commence early next year, the company said in a regulatory filing to Qatar bourse as a response to the market trend, yesterday.
GDI is a subsidiary of Gulf International Services (GIS), the largest service group in Qatar, with interests in a broad cross-section of industries, ranging from insurance, re-insurance, fund management, onshore and offshore drilling, accommodation barge, helicopter transportation, and catering services.
While day rates are in the process of being modified according to the market trend, these changes are being made with the understanding that they will be re-visited should crude oil prices start to rise. It is worth mentioning that the daily operating rates reached by GDI after re-negotiations with its clients, lower by 10 percent to 15 percent of the previous prices, are considered adequate compared to currently prevailing prices in the global drilling market.
GDI remains on schedule to place four new assets into service in 2015 and 2016. The targeted commencement date for two new land rigs (GDI-7 and GDI-8) is September 1, 2015 and November 1, 2015, respectively, while its new lift boat (Al Safliya) and new jack-up rig (Halul) are expected to commence working in Q1 and Q2 of 2016. GDI’s financial results will be boosted by these new assets.
New CEO
Profitable work with select clients is also being extended, thereby providing for the possibility of improved financial performance. The foundation is therefore being laid to achieve higher operating ratios.
In a separate filing to Qatar Exchange (QE), GDI announced that it has appointed Mubarak Awaida Al Hajri as its new Chief Executive Officer with effect from June 14.
Al Hajri has a long experience with Qatar Petroleum, where he worked way up through different disciplines and management levels. For the last eleven years, Al-Hajri worked as a group manger within QP Operations Directorate as Operations Manager (Offshore Fields). He is also a member of various business committees within QP and has participated and chaired numbers of international conferences.
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