Floater Backlog Showing Signs of Strengthening with South America at Forefront

By the close of 2025, total floating rig backlog days had fallen 25% compared with 2024. This was in large part due to few contract awards coming out of Brazil, the world’s biggest user of floating rigs. As of the end of January 2026 however, the number of rig days already booked for this year is up 4% from the 2025 total.

The three rig managers with the biggest increases in contracted days for 2026 versus last year are Turkiye state-owned TPAO, China state-owned China Oilfield Services (COSL) and Well-Safe Solutions, which is based in the UK and primarily competes in the well intervention and workover segments. Each of these three companies already has over 400 more days firmed up for 2026 than they did for 2025.

Looking at 2026 backlog by rig manager, Transocean, Noble Corporation, Seadrill and Valaris are the five companies with the most backlog for 2026. Despite a changing marketed fleet size and competitor landscape over the years, Transocean has held the top spot for over two decades. The company currently has a marketed fleet of 23 managed floaters.

However, at present, Noble has the most backlog days booked for 2027 and 2028. Following the September 2024 close of Noble’s acquisition of Diamond Offshore, the company currently has a managed marketed floater fleet of 24 rigs. Notably, Noble has over 400 more days booked in 2027 than for 2026. Valaris, with a marketed floater fleet of 12 units, is in a similar position to Noble, with over 200 more days booked for 2027 than for this year.

South America Leads 2026 Contracted Days

Despite seeing fewer floater awards than anticipated from Brazil in 2025, numerous long-term contracts already in place means Brazil continues to drive the South America region to remain at the top in terms of days contracted by region for 2026 at 33%. Approximately 77% of South American floater days contracted for this year are for drillships, leaving 23% of the days going to semisubs.

While South America has nearly 14,000 days contracted this year, it is a far cry from the second busiest floater region of the North Sea, which has around 7,400 days booked. This represents about 17% of global days contracted for 2026. Unlike South America, which is heavily skewed towards drillships, the North Sea floater days are all for semisubs. For this region, the work is more heavily weighted towards Norway, which accounts for 75% of contracted days, versus 25% for the UK.

Focus for 2025 Contracting Was Securing 2026

Examining the contract fixtures from 2025, operators were primarily focused on securing slots starting in 2026 and beyond, rather than for 2025, despite a weakness in floater demand that began creeping into the market during 2024. This softness in demand resulted in lower contracted utilization rates for the 2025 marketed fleet, coming in at 78% for drillships and 71% for semisubs. Westwood uses the term ‘contracted utilization rate’ for rigs currently under contract. The committed utilization rate, which adds rigs with future firm commitments, was much higher than the contracted rate at 91% for drillships and 84% for semisubs due to all the upcoming assignments that are already firm.

Last year, only 17% of the days awarded, whether new contracts or exercised options, were for jobs starting in 2025, leaving 83% booked for future years. For comparison, from the 2024 awards, 28% were for the current year, and in 2023, 27% of awarded days were for the current year.

Opportunities for 2026 Start Now Limited

With a limited number of pending floater programs expected to be finalized for commencement this year, the upside potential to contracted days for 2026 is tight. Westwood’s RigLogix is currently tracking over 13,700 unawarded days across 30 programs with target commencement dates this year. This is limited to only rig requirements at the direct negotiation, pre-tender, or tender phase, as these programs are generally the closest to being finalized. However, it is also worth noting that RigLogix is also tracking additional campaigns that, while less certain, may still be finalized.

Besides these opportunities, Westwood also expects multiple blend-and-extend arrangements to be finalized this year for floating rigs working for Petrobras off Brazil. These awards will add to backlog and are not included in open requirements.

Furthermore, the available white space on many floating rigs this year could see some competitive, and possibly below-market, dayrate offers meant to entice operators to move forward sooner with certain plans that had not previously been on the schedule for this year. When there are gaps between rig campaigns, this can be an opportune time for operators with pending plug-and-abandonment (P&A) obligations to go ahead and lessen their P&A backlog.

Most of the floater opportunities targeting a 2026 start are for Southeast Asia, which has about 3,000 days available. Within this region, the countries with the most potential work are Indonesia and Malaysia.

Signs of Strong Demand For 2027 and Beyond

While the market is showing limited signs of new work coming to the market to start this year, 2027 is already shaping up to be a busy year for floating rigs. With nearly 11 months to go, 2027 already has over 8,300 days booked, which equates to around 62% of current 2026 backlog. Additionally, RigLogix records over 12,600 days from open requirements at the direct negotiation, pre-tender, or tender status with target start dates in 2027. Given the combination of secured demand and open demand for next year, the market may see some projects pushed into 2028, more as a factor of market tightness than a desire to delay.