Transocean Ltd. announced today that two of its indirect, wholly-owned subsidiaries will relinquish their respective interests in two drillships under construction – the Ocean Rig Santorini and the Ocean Rig Crete – to Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (“SHI”), the company said in its release. Upon relinquishment of the Drillships, Transocean’s indirect, wholly-owned subsidiaries will not make further payments to SHI under the construction contracts. The total estimated future costs associated with the delivery and placing the Drillships into service would have been approximately $1.1 billion, which includes future payments to SHI under the construction contracts and costs related to spares, materials and supplies, and to the commissioning and mobilization of the rigs. The construction contracts are not guaranteed by Transocean Ltd. or any of its affiliates.
About Transocean
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 the highest specification floating offshore drilling fleet in the world.
Transocean owns or has partial ownership interests in, and operates a fleet of 45 mobile offshore drilling units consisting of 28 ultra-deepwater floaters, 14 harsh environment floaters, and three midwater floaters. In addition, Transocean is constructing two ultra-deepwater drillships.