WATCH: Transocean crew talks about first 8th-gen drillship’s voyage from shipyard to ops in Gulf of Mexico

February 17, 2023, by Melisa Čavčić

Offshore drilling contractor Transocean has posted a short video, featuring the rig crew from the world’s first eighth-generation drillship, which is hard at work at its inaugural contract in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Deepwater Atlas drillship; Source: Transocean (video)

Following a naming ceremony, which was held in late April 2022, Transocean welcomed the Deepwater Atlas drillship, the world’s first eighth-generation drillship, to its fleet of rigs in June 2022. The rig was built by Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine and its Jurong Shipyard as the first of two newbuild drillships for Transocean. The second one, Deepwater Titan, was delivered to Transocean at the end of December 2022.

Designed and equipped to optimise fuel consumption, reduce emissions and minimise the associated carbon footprint of each offshore project, both drillships come with a 3,000,000-pound hook-load and are capable of operating at 12,000 feet of water depth and drilling to depths of 40,000 feet.

Before taking delivery of the Deepwater Atlas drillship, Transocean secured a drilling assignment for the rig in August 2021 with Beacon Offshore on the Shenandoah project located 160 miles off the coast of Louisiana in the Walker Ridge area of the Gulf of Mexico.

The drillship started working for Beacon in August 2022 with a day rate of $315,000, which will remain in force until June 2023. Afterwards, the drillship will get the 20,000 psi BOP installation and, starting from September 2023, the day rate will increase to $455,000. The end date is set for June 2024.