Transocean picks up new deals. Newbuild drillship starts Shell ops

Offshore drilling contractor Transocean has been awarded several new contracts for its drilling rigs. In addition, the driller’s newbuild drillship started a contract with Shell. 

In the company’s latest fleet status report covering a period from October 2015 till February 2016, Transocean said that in February its newbuild ultra-deepwater drillship Deepwater Thalassa started operations on its 10-year contract with Shell. The drillship is operating in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico at a dayrate of $519,000.

The rig is designed to operate in water depths of up to 12,000 feet and drill wells to 40,000 feet. The drillship is upgradeable to accommodate a 20,000 psi BOP system.

New deals

Midwater floater GSF Rig 140, built in 1983, has been awarded a one-well contract offshore India at a dayrate of $158,000 ($18 million estimated backlog). The contract starts in April and ends in August 2016.

Further, Inpex exercised a 90-day option offshore Australia for the deepwater floater Jack Bates at a dayrate of $195,000 ($18 million estimated backlog).

Deepwater floater M.G. Hulme, Jr. has been awarded a one-well contract in an undisclosed location at a dayrate of $163,000 ($16 million estimated backlog). The contract starts in April and expires in July 2016.

Another deepwater floater, Sedco 702, has been awarded a 45-day contract extension with Shell, offshore Nigeria, at a dayrate of $275,000 ($12 million estimated backlog).

Transocean’s ultra-deepwater floater Cajun Express has been awarded 80 days offshore Ivory Coast. The offshore driller did not disclose the dayrate for this rig’s contract.

Transocean Arctic, a harsh-environment floater, has been awarded three contracts with three separate customers in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

Namely, Transocean Arctic has been awarded a one-well contract with Faroe Petroleum in the North Sea, but the driller did not disclose the rig’s dayrate for this deal. Furthermore, Transocean Arctic has been awarded a one-well contract with Engie at a dayrate of $179,000. Finally, the rig has been awarded a four-well contract at a dayrate of $170,000 with Det norske.

Estimated 2016 out-of-service time increased by a net 126 days due primarily to the reactivation of another harsh-environment floater, the Henry Goodrich. The rig is expected to start its two-year contract with Husky in Canada at a dayrate of $275,000 in the second quarter of 2016.

The Deepwater Navigator and GSF Grand Banks are classified as held for sale.

Stacked

Transocean stacked a number of its drilling rigs since its previous fleet status report in October 2015. The company stacked three drillships: 2011-built Deepwater Champion; 2001-built Discoverer Deep Seas; and 1999-built Deepwater Frontier.

Ultra deepwater semi-sub GSF Development Driller II, built in 2005, has also been stacked.

In addition, Transocean’s harsh-environment semi-sub Polar Pioneer, built in 1985, has also been stacked after the termination of its drilling contract with Shell.

Furthermore, Transocean stacked two of its midwater floaters built in 1982, Sedco 711, and Transocean John Shaw. The latter was recently hired by the North Sea-focused oil and gas company, Independent Oil and Gas (IOG), to drill the company’s Skipper appraisal well in the North Sea.

However, the contract was later deferred when IOG delayed the Skipper well drilling following oil price movements and bad weather in the North Sea.

Offshore Energy Today Staff