Offshore driller Transocean has announced several new contracts and extensions in what it says is an improving market. The contracts, made up of five new contracts and five extensions, are worth $352.9m.
In the US Gulf of Mexico, drillship Discoverer Inspiration has gone on contract with Talos for 120 days at $210,000 per day while drillship Deepwater Asgard has gone on contract to Beacon for 200 days at $220,000 per day.
Another drillship, Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2, has been contracted by Woodside for operations in Myanmar at a rate of $250,000 per day for 180 days.
Transocean also sealed two new contracts for semi-submersibles. Leiv Eiriksson has been contracted by ConocoPhillips in Norway for 125 days at a rate of $235,000 per day, while Development Driller III has been contracted in Trinidad for a period of 365 days at $250,000 per day.
On the extensions front, Deepwater Invictus has been extended by BHP, Equinor has taken two extension options on Transocean Norge, Deepwater Nautilus has been extended by Petronas in Malaysia, and Deepwater Asgard has been extended by Beacon.
Transocean says the offshore drilling market continues to improve, and that “the company is observing an increase in contract opportunities for its ultra-deepwater and harsh environment drilling services”.
Jeremy Thigpen, president and CEO of Transocean, commented: “Customer demand for the highest specification ultra-deepwater floaters now equals or exceeds the number of marketable rigs currently available in many areas. As a result, new contracts more consistently reflect materially increased dayrates, which will generate significantly improved cash flow.”
