Chart of the Day: This chart shows why drillships are getting more popular

2 reasons are behind it.

According to Maybank Kim Eng, tecent orders for deepwater floaters have been skewed towards drillships (44 on order) rather than semisubs (14 on order). 

Analysts believe this is due to (1) drillships’ relative higher charter rates currently, and (2) Koreans dropping prices for drillship units to combat shipbuilding downturn.

Here's more from Maybank Kim Eng:

As utilisation for semisub tightens, day rates for semisubs should rise to close the gap. This is possible due to the limited number of semisubs on order and we believe drillers would eventually want a balanced fleet of deepwater floaters as drilling activities move from exploratory to developmental phase (in which semisubs may be preferred to drillships).