Majority of all deep drilling contracts (that means oil and gas and also geothermal wells) are in the form of standard day rate contracts. The biggest demand comes from oil and gas companies who have been doing exploration for decades and have already big departments filled with specialists in this field.
In a standard day rate contract the service of a drilling company is limited to supplying only the rig equipment and safe operation of its crew.
The rig equipment (ath myndir)
Very often, some of this equipment is quoted separately, and therefore not included in the dayrate. Example of this is for example the BOP‘s, top drive, and drill strings. In other words, it is very difficult to compare day rate unless having full understanding of the responsibility of the contractor. Usually, people are comparing apple and oranges.
Drilling rig with crew may includes for example;
The handling of all other related services and material procurement are the obligation of the Operator, who normally has a big staff of experienced drilling experts for planning and execution. (oil & gas producers like Shell, Exxon etc.)