Consulting Case Study – European Rig Arbitration

On behalf of a leading offshore fabrication yard in Asia, Westwood provided an expert witness testimony for an arbitration proceeding – which also included a detailed rig market study and comprehensive asset valuation of a drilling rig.

Project Brief

Westwood was commissioned by a leading Asian fabrication yard as an expert witness in an arbitration proceeding against a European drilling contractor. Our scope of work included:

• Overview of the rig market on a regional and global level which included key metrics such as utilisation, dayrates, tender requirements, S&P transactions and rig orderbook/attrition.
• Detailed rig benchmarking based on key technical specifications to provide a competitive landscape by drilling contractor.
• Five-year rig market forecast based on the forward availability of rigs, visible tender requirements, potential newbuilding and forecasted number of wells drilled.
• Identification of key clients on a regional and global level, including detailed information such as average awarded contract duration and preferred rig specifications.
• Discounted cash flow rig valuation based on key financial inputs such as achievable dayrates, implied utilisation, operating costs and potential scrap value.

Consulting Sectors: Upstream Oil and Gas Consulting, Offshore Energy Services Consulting, Drilling Consulting

Westwood Approach

Westwood’s core offshore rig market intelligence tool, RigLogix, offers the best-in-class technical and commercial data on offshore rigs globally. Our outputs were achieved by looking at historical utilisation and dayrates on a regional and global level, whilst isolating relevant rig types based on various preferred technical specifications. Our market forecast was achieved by looking at tender requirements, rig availability, potential attrition and newbuilding. This also enabled reliable inputs for a detailed rig valuation assessment, which was cross-checked with RigLogix’s S&P transaction database.

Project Outcome

Westwood’s commercial market report and expert witness opinion provided key points for the Client’s legal team to come up with additional supportive arguments as well as reinforce existing arguments with reliable market intelligence. This resulted in a highly robust and comprehensive report that was delivered to the Client’s satisfaction.

Westwood Consulting Project Team

For every energy consultancy mandate that Westwood delivers, we define key roles to ensure the smooth management and delivery of each project.