Norwegian Offshore Oil Rush Forces Rig Rates Higher

High activity on the Norwegian shelf leads to high day rates for drilling rigs.

Desperate oil companies are forcing day rates for drilling rigs to reach new heights. Analysts believe day rates will be over $700,000 this autumn, reports the 'Barents Observer'.

Contracts are pouring into the rig market and the day rates for the most advanced drilling rigs are reaching the top levels of 2008. “The rush has just begun”, says analyst Martin Huseby Karlsen in the 'Dagens Næringsliv'. The oil companies are desperate and rates will continue to climb in course of the autumn.

He points out that the market is now about to be emptied. There are almost no vacant rigs in the ultra-deepwater market in 2013.

Norway earlier this summer announced the 22nd License Round , where 72 out of 86 blocks are located in the Barents Sea. “The Barents Sea is now a Sea of Opportunities”, Minister of Oil and Energy Ola Borten Moe said during the announcement.