New drillships trump Pacific's expectations

The New York listed ultra deepwater drilling contractor reported net income of $34m in 2012 compared with a $2.9m loss in 2011 as revenue rose from $65.4m in 2011 to $638.1m last year.

"The fourth quarter represents significant growth in our profitability on the back of a strong performance by our fleet of operating drillships.. The fleet outperformed our revenue efficiency targets and cost expectations due to the substantial improvement in rig uptime since all our rigs have completed their respective shakedown periods." said Pacific Drilling ceo Chris Beckett.

In January 2013 the drillship owner ordered their eighth unit from SHI, bringing their orderbook to a total of four drillships due for delivery between the second quarter of 2013 and March 2015, two of which are under customer contract.