Offshore drilling giant Transocean has managed to secure new contracts and extensions for eight offshore drilling rigs since its last rig fleet status report issued in October 2019.
"Since its last Fleet Status Report issued in October 2019, the company has secured an additional $352.9 million of contract backlog from new contracts and extensions to existing contracts," Transocean said Wednesday.
The new contracts were signed for the Leiv Eiriksson (ConocoPhillips in Norway), Discoverer Inspiration (Talos Energy in USGOM), Deepwater Asgard (Beacon in USGOM), Development Driller III (Undisclosed client in Trinidad), and Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 rig (Woodside in Myanmar).
Also, options were exercised for Deepwater Invictus (BHP in USGOM), Transocean Norge ( two one-month options exercised by Equinor in Norway), Deepwater Nautilus (Petronas in Malaysia), Deepwater Asgard (Beacon in USGOM)
The company headquartered in Switzerland said Wednesday said that as the offshore drilling market continues to improve, the company is observing an increase in contract opportunities for its ultra-deepwater and harsh environment drilling services.
“Customer demand for the highest specification ultra-deepwater floaters now equals or exceeds the number of marketable rigs currently available in many areas,” said Transocean President and Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Thigpen. “As a result, new contracts more consistently reflect materially increased day rates, which will generate significantly improved cash flow.”
Below is a chart shared by Transocean, showing day rate details for the recently secured contracts and exercised options.