Oil and gas driller Pride International is looking at both small and large deals, company executives said on Thursday when they released quarterly earnings, adding more fuel to the notion that large-scale deals may finally be coming to the drilling sector. 

Consolidation among the drillers has been limited for the past year in part because of sky-high valuations. But a recent $18 billion deal in which Transocean agreed to buy GlobalSantaFe may have changed the landscape enough to force some companies to look more closely.

Pride pointed out that there are significant benefits to being larger, including helping offset labor constraints and improving negotiations with suppliers, according to a research note from Lehman Brothers.

Pride is interested both in small-scale consolidation, such as acquiring speculative newly built assets and also in exploring much larger “corporate-level” deals, Lehman wrote.

On that front, Pride may not stand alone.

“We believe most of the contract drilling companies are reevaluating their current size and strategic positions in the industry and are highly likely to be considering potential suitable merger partners,” Lehman wrote.

Other companies in the sector that analysts have pointed to as potential players are Noble Corp., Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc., Rowan Cos., Hercules Offshore Inc. and Ensco International Inc.