Topic: How To Invest

Could I please have your opinion on deepwater drillers such as Diamond Offshore Drilling, SeaDrill and Transocean? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc., $34.60, symbol DO on New York (Shares outstanding: 137.1 million; Market cap: $4.7 billion; www.diamondoffshore.com); SeaDrill, $25.65, symbol SDRL on New York (Shares outstanding: 493.1 million; Market cap: $12.6 billion; www.seadrill.com); and Transocean Ltd., $31.72, symbol RIG on New York (Shares outstanding: 362.2 million; Market cap: $12.5 billion; www.deepwater.com), all continue to fall in price. That’s because producers are shifting toward drilling onshore shale wells after a lack of significant deepwater discoveries in 2013. In fact, last year was the first time in 20 years that the oil and gas industry failed to discover a field with the potential to recover one billion barrels of oil over its lifetime. Hiring deepwater rigs can cost $500,000 a day or more, so most explorers have, at least temporarily, cut their deepwater budgets. As well, the price of crude has moved down over the last few years, and this, combined with a rapid rise in deepwater rig construction, has resulted in…