Transocean Stacks Six Rigs and Lands New Deals
Offshore drilling contractor Transocean has stacked six rigs and has received new rig contracts as well as changed dayrates for several of its rigs.
In the company’s latest fleet status report, covering a period from April to July 2016, the driller revealed that six rigs have been stacked; the 1999-built drillship Deepwater Millennium, the 2001-built semi-submersible Cajun Express, and 2005-built semi GSF Development Driller I, the 1991-built semi Transocean Driller, the 2004-built jack-up GSF Constellation II, the 2012-built jack-up Transocean Honor.
Furthermore, in May, the newbuild ultra-deepwater drillship Deepwater Proteus started operations on its 10-year contract with Shell in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico at a current dayrate of $498,000. In accordance with the drilling contract, this dayrate reflects adjustments for reduced operating costs. Starting in August this year, the rig’s dayrate will be slashed to $486,000.
The dayrate for Transocean’s other 2016-built drillship, the Deepwater Thalassa, has been reduced from $499,000 to $488,000 starting from July. The rig is under a ten-year contract with Shell in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that started in February 2016.
The dayrates for two 2009-built drillships Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1 and Petrobras 10000 have increased from $402,000 to $410,000, and from $423,000 to $429,000, respectively. Both rigs are under a contract with Petrobras offshore Brazil; the first one until December 2017, and the second until August 2019.
The 1986-built semi-sub Jack Bates has been awarded a two-year contract with ONGC offshore India at a dayrate of $127,000 ($93 million estimated backlog). The contract starts in October 2016.
Semi-submersible rig Transocean Spitsbergen, built in 2010, has been awarded a one-well contract in the U.K. sector of the North Sea with Hurricane Energy starting in October and a one well contract in the Norwegian North Sea with Repsol starting in March 2017. Both contracts are at an undisclosed dayrate.
The dayrate for the 1983-built semi-sub Transocean Winner, working for Marathon, has been increased to $498,000 from $495,000.
The 2003-built jack-up GSF Constellation I has received a one-month extension with Bunduq in the UAE with a dayrate of $85,000. The rig is under a contract until January 2017.
The deepwater floater Sedco 702 is classified as held for sale. The rig will be recycled in an environmentally responsible manner, Transocean said.
