Murphy Oil drops Transocean’s drillship contract

Transocean, an offshore drilling contractor, has received an early contract termination for one of its drillships. 

Namely, Murphy Exploration & Production Company – USA, a subsidiary of Murphy Oil Corporation, has elected to terminate the contract for the 2001-built ultra-deepwater drillship Discoverer Deep Seas.

According to the offshore driller, the rig’s contract was scheduled to end in November 2016.

The drillship started working for Murphy Oil in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in October 2013.

Transocean will be compensated for the early termination through a lump-sum payment that includes adjustments for operating costs.

The Discoverer Deep Seas is an ultra-deepwater drillship of a Transocean Enterprise class built by Astano, Spain.

This is yet another one in line of early terminations for Transocean as the company also received the early termination notice for its drillship Discoverer Americas from Statoil in December 2015, and another one from Shell for the Polar Pioneer semi-sub, also in December.

Offshore Energy Today Staff