After the long, slow downturn that began in late 2014, this year was set to be better with many dormant regions resuming exploration and long-awaited development drilling programmes going ahead. Then, in mid-March, a double disaster struck as an oil price crash coincided with a global pandemic. This double whammy left many operators hitting the brakes, slashing budgets, and deferring those long-awaited programmes meaning contractors found themselves receiving dozens of contract termination notices.
There have been 43 rig contract terminations globally since the beginning of March this year. Both Northwest Europe and West Africa have