Recently, offshore drilling giant -
Transocean Ltd.
(
RIG
) issued a monthly 'Fleet Update Summary' covering the company's
drilling rig status and contract information.
Per the report, the company's midwater floater GSF Rig 135 won a
two-year contract from
Total SA
(
TOT
) to work in the offshore region of Congo. The contract is
executable from March 2013 at a revised dayrate of $365,000 against
a prior dayrate of $340,000.
Another drillship - Transocean prospect - received a four-well
contract to operate in the U.K. waters of North Sea - from
ConocoPhillips
(
COP
). The dayrate for the first two wells is fixed at $405,000, while
the remaining wells will operate at a dayrate of $375,000.
Transocean's GSF Parameswara - got two-year extension from Total to
work in the Indonesian waters at a dayrate of $136,000, higher than
the previous dayrate of $122,000.
The contract for high specification floater - GSF Development
Driller I - was extended for 20 months at a better dayrate of
$580,000, versus prior one of $522,000. The rig was
contracted by
BHP Billiton
(
BHP
) and will work in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
Transocean also received a three-year contract for newbuild
drillship - Deepwater Invictus. This rig is currently being
manufactured at the DSME shipyard in Korea and will most likely be
operational from the second quarter of 2014, at a dayrate of
$595,000.
However, two deepwater floaters Jim Cunningham and Discoverer 534
have been sold for an undisclosed amount.
Last week, Transocean announced plans to suspend operations in the
standard jackup and swamp barge markets and hence, all associated
drillships have been put up for sale.
Since the last update on August 15, new contract and extensions
totaled a backlog of about $1.7 billion.
Transocean is the leading offshore drilling contractor and the
provider of drilling management services worldwide. Its current
contract drilling fleet comprises 115 mobile offshore drilling
facilities, which again include 48 high-specification deepwater
floaters, 25 midwater floaters, 9 high-specification jackups, 32
standard jackups and one swamp barge (these have been termed as
discontinued operations) in support of offshore drilling activities
across the globe.
We are maintaining our long-term Neutral recommendation on the
stock. Transocean currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank, translating
into a short-term Hold rating.
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