Transocean in $400 million-plus ultra-deepwater drillship deal



New York-listed rig owner Transocean has scored a contract worth upwards of $400 million for its ultra-deepwater drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 for operations offshore Brazil.

Transocean on Tuesday confirmed the Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 has been awarded a 910-day contract by a mystery national oil company for work offshore Brazil. The estimated $392 million order backlog, which equates to a dayrate of $430,769, excludes a mobilisation fee of 90 times the contract dayrate.

This new contract is expected to start in the third quarter of 2023.

The 2010-built Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 can operate in water depths of up to 12,000 feet and drill to a depth of 35,000 feet. The drillship has been idle since January 2022, according to Transocean’s most recent fleet status report.

The drilling contractor already has ultra-deepwater drillships Deepwater Corcovado, Deepwater Mykonos and Petrobras 10000 working offshore Brazil for the nation’s very own Petrobras.

Transocean owns or has partial ownership interests in and operates a fleet of 38 mobile offshore drilling units, comprising 28 ultra-deepwater floaters and 10 harsh environment floaters. The company is also constructing one ultra-deepwater drillship and has a partial ownership interest in a company that is constructing another ultra-deepwater drillship.