JPM OFS and Equipment: Preview of JPM‘s 11th Natural Resources Conference: NAM Pricing Debate, Distributed Power, and Implications of Soh Reopening

Research evidence excerpt

JPM OFS and Equipment: Preview of JPM‘s 11th Natural Resources Conference: NAM Pricing Debate, Distributed Power, and Implications of Soh Reopening

Arun Jayaram AC North America Equity Research

(1-212) 622-8541 22 June 2026 J P M O R G A N

arun.jayaram@jpmchase.com

to attempt to lay out the competitive advantages each player possesses. Potential areas of

differentiation in the space can span across operational execution capabilities,

technology, supply chain integration, interconnection capabilities, and/or financing

strategies.

• Offshore drillers update: constructive setup with a timing debate. The offshore

drilling setup heading into our conference has quietly shifted from a pure dayrate story

to a debate around volume, contract duration, and tendering, and we look forward to

updated commentary from NE and RIG on what closes the remaining 2026-2027

utilization gap and what ultimately forces leading edge UDW dayrates out of the low

$400k/d range. The starting point is constructive, with YTD 2026 floater contracting

decisively outpacing 2025, average award duration roughly doubling to ~480 days driven

by development-led term work, and the open tender pipeline expanding to 110+ rig years

(+33% YoY). That said, the bull-bear debate centers on commencement timing, with

skeptics flagging 2027 white-space risk if too much of the recent backlog converts as

2028+ work, the ONGC Samudra Manthan downsizing (from 5 rigs to ~1 drillship)

materially weakening the India demand-anchor narrative, and 2028 consensus already

implying high-$400k/d dayrate at near 90% 7th gen utilization. At the conference, we will

be looking for updated views on contracting cadence assumptions, the highest-

probability tender conversions across Norway/UK, West Africa, Asia, and Brazil, the