China is emerging fast as a strong competitor to the traditional offshore rig-building powerhouses of Singapore and Korea as shipyards such as COSCO, CIMC Raffles, Shanghai Shipyard, DSIC, etc. fight for a bigger market share in a deep-water exploration boom as well as shallow offshore.
China started making jack-up rigs for shallow-water drilling and semi-submersibles for deep-water operations about seven years ago.
In that short span of time, industry data shows it managed to secure a fifth of the $72 billion orders placed, tempting customers with aggressive pricing, Reuters reported.
China also topped the annual orders lists at least twice during that period. In 2009, it outpaced Singapore, traditionally the dominant producer of jack-ups, and in 2006 and 2011, ousted Korea on semi-subs.
"Over time there is no reason why Chinese yards – the good yards – could not be competitive internationally," Scott Kerr, chief executive officer of Norwegian oil service company Sevan Drilling, told Reuters.
Sevan has taken delivery of two ultra-deepwater rigs worth more than $1 billion from COSCO and has ordered another two such rigs from the shipbuilder for delivery in 2013 and 2014.