ZUG, SWITZERLAND-Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) (SIX: RIGN) last Thursday issued a comprehensive Fleet Status Report, which provides the current status and contract information for the company's entire fleet of offshore drilling rigs. The value of new contracts or extensions since the March 14, 2013 fleet update summary is approximately $1.2 billion, the Company's press release said.
The newbuild, ultra-deepwater drillship, Deepwater Asgard, was awarded a three-year contract with a major integrated international oil company for work offshore Indonesia at a dayrate of $600,000. The contract is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2014 following shipyard delivery and customer acceptance and will contribute an estimated backlog of $657 million, excluding mobilization. The Deepwater Asgard, currently under construction at the DSME shipyard in Korea, will be capable of operating in water depths up to 12,000 feet and drilling wells up to 40,000 feet deep. With this award, all of the company's newbuild rigs are under contract.
Highlights are as follows:
- Cajun Express - Awarded a one-year contract for work offshore Morocco and Senegal. The dayrate for Morocco is $600,000 ($219 million estimated contract backlog). The rig's prior dayrate was $520,000.
- Transocean Arctic - Customer exercised a five-well option for work in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea at a dayrate of $422,000 ($127 million contract backlog).
- Transocean Prospect - Customer exercised a six-month option for work in the U.K. sector of the North Sea at a dayrate of $425,000 ($77 million contract backlog).
- GSF Magellan - Awarded a one-year contract extension for work offshore Nigeria at a dayrate of $168,000 ($61 million contract backlog). The rig's prior dayrate was $160,000.
- On March 26, 2013, the newbuild high-specification jackup, Transocean Siam Driller, commenced its five-year contract for work offshore Thailand.
- Estimated 2013 out of service time decreased by a net 6 days.
- The company sold the standard jackup, Interocean III, which was previously held for sale. The details of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Transocean is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells. The company specializes in technically demanding sectors of the global offshore drilling business with a particular focus on deepwater and harsh environment drilling services, and believes that it operates one of the most versatile offshore drilling fleets in the world. Transocean owns or has partial ownership interests in, and operates a fleet of, 83 mobile offshore drilling units consisting of 48 High-Specification Floaters (Ultra-Deepwater, Deepwater and Harsh-Environment drilling rigs), 25 Midwater Floaters and 10 High-Specification Jackups. In addition, we have six Ultra-Deepwater Drillships and two High-Specification Jackups under construction.