A rumour emerged in the market at the beginning of this week that Rowan Cos is in talks to acquire Maersk Drilling.
Senior Offshore Analyst, Charlie Hockless, has provided some comments and data on the possible acquisition:
Should the takeover of Maersk’s drilling arm by Houston based Rowan go ahead, it would result in the second highest value MODU fleet in the global market. Favouring Jack Up rigs, the fleet would have an average age of 12.1 years. This merger would be a strong statement of intent from Rowan about the future of the offshore drilling market, in the week where oil prices have been at their highest since mid-2015.
What will be interesting to see is whether the deal is too big for Rowan to complete, as Maersk’s fleet is of higher value than the current Rowan fleet, each standing at 30.9 and 2.55 billion USD respectively. If the deal does not go through in its entirety, it is likely that Rowan will target Maersk Jack Ups, with the intention of expanding their presence in the North Sea drilling market.
Top 5 MODU Owners by Value
| Company | Number of Rigs | Total Drill Depth | Total Value USD m |
| Sete Brasil | 28 | 280,000 | $5,746 |
| Rowan & Maersk Drilling | 52 | 144,151 | $5,650 |
| Seadrill Management | 37 | 151,118 | $5,528 |
| Transocean Inc | 50 | 373,596 | $5,181 |
| ENSCO | 57 | 186,093 | $3,581 |
sourse: www.VesselsValue.com
