Transocean rig lands new multi-million gig in Black Sea

Offshore drilling contractor Transocean has tucked a new deal under its belt with OMV Petrom for one of its semi-submersibles, enabling the rig to work in the Black Sea.

According to the rig owner, the Transocean Barents rig has been hired on a minimum 540-day contract by OMV Petrom in the Romanian Black Sea with a rate of $465,000 per day, excluding additional services.

This drilling assignment is expected to start in the first quarter of 2025 and is estimated to contribute approximately $251 million in backlog, excluding full compensation for mobilization and a demobilization fee. For each day over 540 days, including the two option periods, the offshore drilling player underlines that the operating day rate will be $480,000.

The rig is currently working for TotalEnergies. In July 2023, the French oil major booked the Transocean Barents semi-submersible rig for a one-well contract in Lebanon at a rate of $365,000. This deal contains three one-well options at rates that may vary between $350,000 and $390,000.

In addition, the energy giant exercised a one-well option for this rig in the East Mediterranean Sea at a rate of $370,000. The French player’s Benriach well, which is located in Block 206/05c West of Shetland, was spudded by this rig at the end of March 2023.

The 2009-built Transocean Barents rig is of Aker H-6e design. It was constructed at Aker Kvaerner Stord and can accommodate 140 people. The rig is capable of operating in water depths of up to 10,000 ft and its maximum drilling depth is 30,000 ft.

During 3Q 2023, Transocean extended its contract backlog for the sixth consecutive quarter, expanding it to $9.4 billion with several new assignments in the bag.

Recently, one of the rig owner’s semi-subs became the first semi-submersible to sport DNV’s Abate (Power+) notation, in the wake of upgrades to cut the rig’s greenhouse gas emission footprint during operations.