ANALISIS FINANCIERO Y DE RECUPERACION DE COSTES

In the course of any offshore drilling operation a large number of companies, apart from the drilling contractor, are invariably called upon to perform cer- tain jobs and provide special equipment of one sort or another. The operator may directly contract these supply and service companies, just as he contracts the drilling contractor, or else the drilling contractor sub-con- tracts them, but in any event, the final cost will ultimately be borne by the operator. Running casing, cementing, mud logging, diving, fishing (or debris retrieval), inspection, and directional drilling are all typical services which are commonly put out to tender, while items such as drilling fluid, cement, fuel and water are amongst the essential supplies which must be

regularly on demand from supply bases.

There are numerous firms in the oil industry in the manufac- ture of individual items of equipment or the provision of specialist help, and their products and services are described in four large volumes of standard reference catalogues which run to nearly 8000 pages in all and are found in the toolpusher’s office on all rigs. Drill pipe, for example, can be

9 . 0 COMPENSATION AND REWNERATION

9.01

given ace per 24-hour day or rata for part of a day to the half-hour, and shall apply as specified below or elsewhere this from the Date until termination of this

a) Operating and Moving Rate:

This rate shall be payable at all times when no other rate under this

b) Standby Rate:

This rate shall be payable if shall not be capable of being carried by reason of weather conditions, instructions from COMPANY to cease operations hereunder, the or non-operation of equipment, lack of any supplies or personnel by reason of delays in COMPANY-provided transportation, or the failure of COMPANY obtain such as may be required permit CONTRACTOR to carry operations hereunder in the Operating Area.

Repair Rate:

The first 72 hours of repair time within each calendar month shall be at Operating Rate. Thereafter CONTRACTOR shall be paid the Repair Rate for any unscheduled shut-down of the Unit, excepting periods for

routine maintenance or lubrication of the Unit and its equipment, changing of the mud-pump fluid-end parts, repacking swivels, the slipping and cutting of drill line, or pulling of to effect repairs. If a single repair period shall Last for more than

days after the Repair Rare is applied, CONTRACTOR shall after that receive only 50% of the Repair Rate.

d) Majeure Rate: US $

This rate shall be payable during any period in which operations are suspended because of Force Majeure, as defined in Clause 12 below.

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a) Within the first 10 days of each month CONTRACTOR shall submit an invoice COMPANY setting the sums due to CONTRACTOR under this Contract in respect of the work carried out during the previous month. Invoices for re-imbursibles shall be submitted and when

relevant information is available to CONTRACTOR. Invoices shall be submitted to the address for COMPANY given Clause 15 below.

COMPANY shall pay each invoice within 30 days of the date of the invoice. If COMPANY disputes part of an invoice, the portion not in dispute shall be paid within 30 days of the date of the invoice, and the disputed element shall be paid over as soon as agreement is , reached, interest at the rate of 1.5%

date of payment up to the actual dare of

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supplied by more than forty manufacturers, while blow-out preventers are made by over thirty firms. Whenever a problem arises with the equipment supplied by one of these firms, their technicians ‘service hands’ as they are called are brought out to the rig to effect speedy repairs. Consequently there may be many personnel on an offshore drilling unit who are only aboard for a few days and who work for a variety of different firms.

The operator also has to have craft available to get all this equipment, and the men who will use it, out to the drilling unit. In most areas of the world this means chartering supply boats for the heavier and bulkier cargoes, and helicopters for the men and the lighter, or more urgent, small items. In smooth-water areas, however, crews often travel by fast launch since these are cheaper to hire than helicopters. Two or three supply boats, not neces- sarily all owned by the same company, might be chartered for the duration of the well programme, while others might be ‘spot chartered’ as required on a single voyage basis. Normally one helicopter company is contracted to pro- vide a regular flight schedule out to the unit, with additional flights being paid for as required when extra personnel or freight have to be transported.

to hiring supply boats, the operator has to provide a safety boat in some parts of the world, to stand by close to the rig whenever it is manned in case of an emergency requiring its evacuation. The standby boat may never actually be used in earnest, but it is an unavoidable expense which must be borne nevertheless as a condition of holding a to explore.

Re-locating many mobile rigs from a previous location will involve using anchor-handling vessels. These are often dual-purpose ships that may become the rig’s supply boats once their anchor-laying work has finished. Because of their more arduous duties, for which they need much greater power, anchor-handlers normally command higher rates than supply boats, and different rates again will be earned by boats in different power categories. In a particular week in early 1987, for example, an anchor-hand- ler of brake horse power could earn a day in the North Sea, while a vessel of bhp could earn Large supply boats

commanded around while smaller vessels on supply runs could com- mand a maximum of Charter rates fluctuate wildly from week to week according to demand and availability of vessels, and rates much higher, as well as much lower, might prevail according to the dictates of the market. As far as the well operator is concerned, he usually wants his boats to be reliable as well as cheap, and he would rather have an expensive boat that can stay ‘on location’ alongside a rig with essential supplies in bad weather than a cheap but unreliable boat that delays the drilling programme.

Rigs are constantly hungry for equipment. Top: Casing being loaded. Some of the stock of equipment on a semi-submersible’s deck.