The offshore drilling industry is composed of five markets engaged in the trade of a unique service or good. Mobile offshore drilling units are owned and operated in the contract drilling services market, supplied by the newbuild and secondhand markets, maintained and enhanced in the upgrade market, and complete their lifecycle in the storage and scrap market. The purpose of this review is to characterize the players, pricing, size and revenue of each market. The contract drilling and newbuild markets are the largest and most transparent of the sectors and the majority of activity is concentrated in a small number of players. In 2010, drilling services generated approximately $45 billion in worldwide revenue and the newbuild market supplied $18 billion in jackups, semisubmersibles and drillships. The secondhand market is an important secondary market where rigs are sold between contractors. Maintenance and upgrade activities are performed by a number of shipyards throughout the world, but because of the sporadic mature of the activities and limited record keeping, the market is the least transparent. In 2010, the secondhand market realized approximately $7 billion in market exchanges and about $2 billion was spent on rig upgrades. The scrap market is the smallest of the five markets and valued at less than $50 million.
