Keppel drillship deal marks new wave of orders: Barclays

The order for two semi-submersibles by Ukraine’s Naftogaz won by Singapore’s Keppel Corp. may mark a new wave of orders for drillships, says Barclays.

“We believe the outlook for semi-submersible orders remains robust, despite the strong wave of orders for drillships in 2012,” Barclays analysts say in a note.

They expect potential new orders to come from other national oil companies, including Norway’s Statoil (STO), Mexico’s Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, and Azerbaijan’s Socar.

“With harsh-environment regions, such as the North Sea, Black Sea and Caspian Sea, requiring harsh-environment semi-submersibles, we expect the pause in semi-submersible orders to only be temporary,” they say.

Keppel is up 3.1% to $10.6.