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Blog · Territory, capacity and quota planning · Oil and gas services

Rental fleet utilisation by operator: equipment on rent against equipment available

How an oilfield services or equipment rental company measures utilisation of its fleet per equipment class per basin from the rental ledger and the fleet register, the operators whose rental days fell against their own history while their activity did not, the idle classes in one basin that another basin is short of, and the identity that ties rental days to invoiced rental revenue.

The short answerUtilisation is rental days over available days per equipment class per basin, from the rental ledger and the fleet register. Per operator, rental days against the operator's own trailing history, beside its rig count, show the operators renting less while drilling the same, which is share lost to another provider. Across basins, the same class idle in one and fully utilised in another is a redeployment with a value. Rental days times rate reconciles to invoiced rental revenue, so utilisation is not a fleet manager's estimate.

An equipment rental company's fleet manager knows utilisation by feel and by basin. The rental ledger and the fleet register can compute it per class per basin, reconcile it to invoiced revenue, and show the operator whose rental days halved while its rig count did not. This guide sets out utilisation, the operator trend against activity, the cross-basin redeployment, and the identity.

The measures

Per equipment class, per basin, per month:

Utilisation = rental days ÷ available days Available days = Σ units × days − maintenance days − transit days

Per operator:

Rental days this quarter against the trailing four, beside active rigs this quarter against the trailing four Lost share signal if rental days fell by more than a stated margin beyond the fall in rigs

Across basins, per class:

Idle units in a basin under a stated utilisation, against demand in a basin over a stated utilisation

The rows you need

  • Rental ledger: contract, operator, basin, unit, class, on-rent date, off-rent date, rate.
  • Fleet register: unit, class, basin, status history.
  • Activity data: operator, basin, active rigs, month.

Operator identifiers only.

The identity

Σ rental days × rate = invoiced rental revenue, per period, within a stated tolerance for adjustments

A contract with rental days and no invoice, or an invoice with no contract, fails it and is listed.

A worked view

Class Basin Units Available days Rental days Utilisation
Pumps, class A Basin North 40 1,120 1,030 92%
Pumps, class A Basin South 36 1,010 410 41%

Twenty units of the same class idle in the south while the north turns work away. At the north's utilisation and rate, less transit, the redeployment is worth a stated figure per month, and the report shows it.

Per operator

Operator Rental days now Trailing 4 avg Change Rigs now Rigs trailing 4 Change Reading
2207 380 720 −47% 11 12 −8% Lost share
4471 210 400 −48% 4 8 −50% Activity fell
9034 610 590 +3% 9 9 0% Steady

Operators 2207 and 4471 both halved their rental days. One is drilling almost as much as before and renting from someone else; the other stacked half its rigs. The report separates them, and only one is a sales call.

Where it goes wrong

Utilisation from the fleet manager's count. Not reconciled to revenue; wrong in the direction of optimism.

Maintenance and transit counted as available. Utilisation understated; the fleet looks bigger than it is.

Operator trend without activity. Every operator in a downturn looks like lost share.

Basins reported separately. The idle units and the shortage are in two reports.

Every month, utilisation that reconciles

Mapped once, the rental ledger, the fleet register and the activity data produce utilisation per class and basin, the operator trend against activity, the redeployment list and the identity every month. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The oil and gas page describes the setup, and the activity-weighted coverage guide covers the activity data the operator trend relies on.

Questions people ask

What are available days?

Fleet units in the class and basin times days in the period, less units down for maintenance or in transit, from the fleet register's status history. A unit counted available while it was in the workshop makes utilisation look worse than it is; a unit in transit counted on rent makes it look better.

How is lost share separated from lower activity?

By putting the operator's rig or permit count beside its rental days. An operator whose rigs fell and rental days fell in proportion has less to rent for. One whose rigs held and rental days halved is renting from someone else.

How is the redeployment valued?

Idle units in the surplus basin times the rate and the utilisation the shortage basin is achieving, less the transit cost. It is an estimate at stated assumptions, and the report shows it as one.