Transocean, Noble, COSL, Seadrill, and Valaris pinpointed as rig backlog powerhouses

March 20th, 2026

While taking a deep dive into the floater rig market and top floating rig managers based on the current total backlog for 2026, Westwood Global Energy, an energy market research and consultancy firm, has spotlighted five offshore drilling players – Transocean, Noble, COSL, Seadrill, and Valaris – as the ones that share the largest slices of this year’s backlog cake.

Illustration; Source: Westwood

Westwood underlined that the total floating rig backlog days in 2025 fell 25% compared with 2024 in large part due to few contract awards coming out of Brazil, described as the world’s biggest user of floating rigs. However, the number of rig days already booked for 2026 is up 4% from the 2025 total.

Cinnamon Edralin, Westwood’s Americas Research Director, has broken down the latest developments, including the top floating rig managers, 2026 firm backlog days, open requirements, and the growing pipeline of the 2027 onward offshore drilling programs.

The three rig managers with the biggest increases in contracted days for 2026 versus last year are said to be Turkiye’s state-owned TPAO, China’s state-owned China Oilfield Services Ltd. (COSL), and the UK’s Well-Safe Solutions, which primarily works in the well intervention and workover segments.

Each of these three companies already has over 400 more days firmed up for 2026 than they did for 2025. Westwood identifies Transocean, Noble, COSL, Seadrill, and Valaris as the five companies with the most backlog for 2026 based on this year’s backlog by rig manager.

While Transocean’s marketed fleet consists of 23 managed floaters, Noble, which has the most backlog days booked for 2027 and 2028, has a managed marketed floater fleet of 24 rigs, with over 400 more days booked in 2027 than in 2026. On the other hand, Valaris, with a marketed floater fleet of 12 units, has over 200 more days booked for 2027 than for this year.

Transocean is in the process of acquiring this firm, with the completion anticipated in the second half of this year. If this transaction closes, the combined company would hold the most backlog days for 2026, but Noble would still have the most 2028 backlog on the books.

Westwood’s analysis shows that Brazil continues to drive the South America region to remain at the top in terms of days contracted by region for 2026 at 33%, with approximately 77% of South American floater days contracted for 2026 being for drillships, leaving 23% of the days going to semi-submersibles.

Even though South America has nearly 14,000 days contracted this year, the second-busiest floater region of the North Sea has around 7,400 days booked, representing about 17% of global days contracted for 2026.

While South America is heavily skewed towards drillships, the North Sea floater days are all for semi-submersible rigs, with the work more heavily weighted towards Norway, which accounts for 75% of contracted days, versus 25% for the UK.

Edralin underlined: “With a limited number of pending floater programmes expected to be finalised for commencement this year, the upside potential to contracted days for 2026 is tight. Westwood’s RigLogix is currently tracking over 13,700 unawarded days across 30 programmes with target commencement dates this year.

“This is limited to only rig requirements at the direct negotiation, pre-tender, or tender phase, as these programmes are generally the closest to being finalised. However, it is also worth noting that RigLogix is also tracking additional campaigns that, while less certain, may still be finalised.”

Westwood also anticipates multiple blend-and-extend arrangements to be finalised this year for floating rigs working for Petrobras offshore Brazil. The company believes that the available white space on many floating rigs this year could see some competitive, and possibly below-market, day rate offers meant to entice operators to move forward sooner with certain plans that had not previously been on the schedule for the year.

While most of the floater opportunities targeting a 2026 start are for Southeast Asia, which has about 3,000 days available, the countries with the most potential work in this region are Indonesia and Malaysia.

Edralin concluded: “While the market is showing limited signs of new work coming to the market to start this year, 2027 is already shaping up to be a busy year for floating rigs. With nearly 11 months to go, 2027 already has over 8,300 days booked, which equates to around 62% of current 2026 backlog.

“Additionally, RigLogix records over 12,600 days from open requirements at the direct negotiation, pre-tender, or tender status with target start dates in 2027. Given the combination of secured demand and open demand for next year, the market may see some projects pushed into 2028, more as a factor of market tightness than a desire to delay.”