Diamond Offshore: Two rig deals won, two lost

Diamond Offshore Drilling, a Houston-based driller, has agreed to terminate contracts with Petrobras on the semi-submersible rig Ocean Alliance and the drillship Ocean Clipper.

In exchange for the early termination, Petrobras will extend the contract for the semi-submersible Ocean Courage for an additional 875 days.

Separately, the Ocean Guardian drilling rig was awarded a contract for a one-year term in the UK North Sea beginning in March of 2016 at a rate of $220,000 per day. The additional term will be at a rate of $380,000 per day, representing revenue backlog of $333 million, and will extend the contract into mid-2020.

After export from Brazil, the Ocean Alliance will be cold-stacked and the Ocean Clipper will be retired and scrapped.

The terminated portions of the contracts represent a loss to revenue backlog of approximately $91 million.

Also, the company today reported net income of $136 million in the third quarter of 2015, compared to $53 million, in the third quarter of 2014.

Revenues in the third quarter of 2015 were $610 million, compared to revenues of $738 million in the third quarter of 2014.

“I am pleased with our solid third quarter results, which demonstrate Diamond Offshore’s ability to execute on managing our costs and controlling downtime,” said Marc Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer.

“During the quarter, our three newbuild drillships delivered operational efficiency of 99.3 percent, which directly benefits our topline and improves project economics for our clients.”

Offshore Energy Today Staff