Transocean sends another four rigs to scrapyard

Transocean Ltd. has issued its monthly Fleet Update Summary according to which the company intends to scrap four of its rigs. 

In December last year, Transocean also announced it is scrapping seven lower-specification deepwater and midwater floaters.

Transocean intends to scrap the Deepwater Expedition, Transocean Legend, Transocean Rather, and GSF Arctic III. The company says that these rigs are classified as held for sale.

As a result, Transocean expects its first quarter 2015 results to include an estimated non-cash charge of $300 million to $325 million, net of taxes. Including these four rigs, Transocean has announced plans to scrap a total of 16 floaters.

New contract

According to Transocean, the total value of new contracts since the last report is approximately $9 million.

Sedco Express was awarded a one-well contract extension offshore Nigeria at a dayrate of $300,000 ($9 million estimated backlog).

Idle & stacked

High Specification Floater rig Henry Goodrich is idle.

Ultra-deepwater floaters Discoverer Spirit, GSF Jack Ryan, Deepwater Discovery, and Deepwater Pathfinder are stacked. The rigs were previously idle.

Estimated 2015 planned out-of-service time decreased by a net 102 days, mainly associated with the Henry Goodrich.

Transocean also informed that the company declared Force Majeure on February 24, 2015 for its midwater floater Transocean Amirante due to the deteriorating security situation in Libya. Eni subsequently terminated the contract and Transocean is contesting the termination.

The rig was under contract with Eni from December 2014 and the expiry date was set for March.