Robert Eifler: Well, they’re drilling carbon capture wells. So you’re drilling into a zone to inject CO2. It’s too early to tell. — we saw a statistic that as drillers, you always hang on to the most positive possible statistic. But we saw a statistic that you could have up to 30 rig demand for carbon capture wells in just in the North Sea going — I mean, that’s years and years away. No one could possibly predict that and we’re not calling for that or anything. But it will produce some level of utilization through time. We drilled the carbon capture well last year, as I mentioned. It’s medium and long term, as you say, but it is real, and they’re drilling — we’ve drilled carbon capture in Australia. — around. There’ll probably be some demand in the U.S. as well.
So there’s a couple of components to it. There’s an initial project phase, and then there’s a really important maintenance phase on those wells as you’re reentering a zone that has already injected CO2, so a lot of that engineering work is being done right now. And there’s a lot of, I think, investment in money that’s moving towards some bigger projects. But again, that’s medium and long term, as you say.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of David Smith.
David Smith: So one first, I thought your closing remarks were maybe the best summary of the investment thesis for offshore drillers that I’ve heard. I’m including several steps that I’ve made question…
Robert Eifler: I very much appreciate that. Hopefully, there’s a wide range of new investors that heard that.
David Smith: The question I had relates to some of the requirements we’ve seen since late June for 5-year plus terms for drillships from a couple of — on the one hand, I’m sure they’re looking for a discount to leading-edge rates, but I can’t think that’s the main driver for the higher duration. I don’t expect they have very defined work programs in years 4 and 5 or beyond. So it felt to me like the extended terms are really about securing availability. They’re maybe getting nervous then the dwindling of the incremental supply. But I’m curious how you think about the emergence of requirements for 5-year plus terms from IOCs, maybe the implications of that because I think the equity market might not fully appreciate it.
Robert Eifler: It’s a great point, and you’ll fill in if I miss anything here. But I think after years and years of every deepwater contract being closely connected with specific programs, we are starting to see hints of a little bit more of a portfolio approach, which is an important next step in the cycle, and you’ve referenced the evidence exactly. Now there are a few programs that are 5 years out there that are project-specific. But to the extent that operators are looking to contract outside of already FID projects, I think it’s — I do think it’s to secure availability, I think a dynamic we’ve talked about a fair amount is that operators are seeking efficiency and finding efficiency through, I would say, a deeper relationship with a number of their contractors, including the drilling contractors.
So I think there could be an element of that playing out as well, where operators, if they’re going to take a little bit of risk are going to pick a company to take that risk with in the hopes that you can also find long-term efficiency gains as you work through time. But we take it as a great sign and a sign as where certain E&P companies see the cycle going and how they see longevity, which, of course, we and our competition have been screaming from the mountain tops here for a while.
David Smith: Very, very much appreciated. And a quick follow-up, if I may, with some of the requirements emerge and the black sea. I’m wondering if you see maybe any opportunities emerging for the Globetrotter rigs that might take advantage of their unique mobilization capabilities and whether that could come work, the chance to reduce their historical rate discount to Tier 1 covigilship?
