Offshore staff
HOUSTON –Transocean Inc. has agreed with Petrobras and Mitsui to acquire a newbuild ultra deepwater drillship under a capital lease contract. Also, Petrobras has signed a 10-year drilling contract for the rig with Transocean. The agreement has an option to extend for another 10 years.
The drilling contract is expected to begin in 3Q 2009 following construction, sea trials, mobilization and customer acceptance. Contract revenues over the decade are estimated to be $1.68 billion.
The currently unnamed ultra-deepwater newbuild drillship is under construction at Samsung Heavy Industries Co Ltd. yard in Geoje, South Korea. The rig will feature Transocean's patented dual-activity drilling technology, will have a variable deck-load of over 20,000 metric tons (22,046 tons) and the capability of development and exploration drilling in greater than 10,000 ft (3,048 m) of water depth, upgradeable to 12,500 ft (3,810 m) of water depth and 37,500 ft 911,430 m) of total drilling depth
According to the agreement, after the 20-year capital lease contract has expired, Transocean can purchase the vessel for $1.
06/23/2008
