Current situation in the market is that every single operator out there are looking to cut their costs by renegotiating their contracts, especially on the day rates of oil rigs which has reached crazy figures of 250k/day for a jack-up! And it looks like some rig owners are starting to bend to the operator wishes.

I do not have all the details but there were rumours that somewhere in the Arabian/Persian Gulf, one of Noble Corp's (NYSE:NE) drilling jack-up rigs was loaned out to serve as a accomodation unit for a platform while there were ohers saying Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) refused to lower their prices and rather let their rigs sit in the yard. But considering Transocean currently owns most of the deepwater & ultra-deepwater drilling rigs around the world and they are still in demand despite the current oil prices, they can comfortably absorb the losses.

Anyway, on the subject of oil rigs, it's obvious some companies have spreaded themselves too thin but considering oil prices might recover in a year or two & it typically takes 3-5 years to build a new one, a chance to buy up one of these weakened companies doesn't look like a remote possibility anymore to bigger more established companies like Transocean (NYSE:RIG), Noble (NYSE:NE), Ensco (NYSE:ESV), Nabors (NYSE:NBR), Diamond Offshore (NYSE:DO) or those who are traditionally strong in the land rig business like Helmerich & Payne, Inc (NYSE:HP). I've been looking at the following recently:

Hercules Offshore, Inc (NASDAQ: HERO) – 29 jack-ups, 27 barge rigs, 3 submersibles (but cold-stacked)! Quite a fleet, but what's up with the cold-stacked submersibles! But with most of the rigs operating in the Gulf of Mexico/US Gulf Coast, it might not be faring too well with the current reduced demand of rigs, especially shallow ones.

Atwood Oceanics, Inc (NYSE: ATW) – 4 semisubs, another 2 on order to be delivered in 2011 & 2012 respectively and 5 jack-ups/tender rigs looks like a sizeable addition to any company's deepwater expansion!

Any thoughts anyone?

I quote from one of my favourite authors who quoted from a famous ship's captain:

Those who believe in the unconditional benefits of past experience should consider this pearl of wisdom allegedly voiced by a fa­mous ship's captain:

"But in all my experience, I have never been in any accident. . . of any sort worth speaking about. I have seen but one vessel in distress in all my years at sea. I never saw a wreck and never have been wrecked nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort."

- E. J . Smith, 1907, Captain, RMS Titanic

Captain Smith's ship sank in 1912 in what became the most talked-about shipwreck in history.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

I have 1 advice: Ciao. Get paid to give opinions, worthed £0.50-£2.50 for every survey done.

As some of you would know, Amazon sometimes give out songs for free. Currently there's quite a few music genres out there to satisfy anyone's taste.

So what are you waiting for? Here's the link:

Link

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To all UK readers, if you ever come across those free O2 sim card giveaways, apply for a few and once you get them I'll buy them from you at £1 each including delivery. Payment will be through online banking account. UK only.

To start go here: http://ucaspromo.o2.co.uk/form.php

And to continue in the business, sign up for the free sim mailing list here.

NOTE: Offer no longer available due to price crash of O2 sims. =(

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Just sold my first book online through Amazon, bought it for RM15 and sold it for £6 =) Haha…still much cheaper than a new one though in UK!

Also, just received payment from gozing! for a survey I've done – US$3.60 for 10 minutes of my time, not too bad for a student. Recommended for students who need extra cash in US/UK/Australia/Europe/Singapore. Not available in Malaysia yet though.