Key global offshore drilling companies' revenue 2022-2023

Transocean Ltd is the largest offshore drilling contractor in the world. In 2023, the Switzerland-based company reported 2.8 billion U.S. dollars in revenues. This figure represents a slight increase compared to the previous year, although the gap to its nearest competitor shrunk. Transocean is contractor to some of the largest oil producers worldwide – such as Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron. It was also owner of Deepwater Horizon, which had been leased to BP and was involved in the largest marine oil spill caused by the petroleum industry.

The stationary and mobile rig fleet

Offshore rigs are facilities built to explore, extract, process, and store petroleum and natural gas from subsea formations. Some of the risks associated with such platforms are explosions, fires, ecological disasters, and endangerment of native marine species. In recent years, the use of mobile rigs has become more common as they allow for more flexible usage. Valaris has the largest mobile offshore rig fleet of any company.

Worldwide oil rig numbers

At the end of 2023, the number of global offshore oil rigs stood at 240 units, compared with more than 1,300 units of land-based oil rigs.