Transocean announces retirement of six floaters
Transocean Ltd. plans to retire the ultra-deepwater floaters GSF Jack Ryan, Sedco Energy, Sedco Express, Cajun Express, and Deepwater Pathfinder, and the deepwater floater Transocean Marianas. The rigs will be classified as held for sale and will be recycled in an environmentally responsible manner. All six rigs were previously cold stacked, the Company said in a press release.
The company will recognize an impairment charge of approximately $1.4 billion during the third quarter of 2017 associated with these actions.
“We continue to enhance the quality of our fleet through the addition of new, high-specification assets, and the retirement of older, less competitive rigs,” said Jeremy Thigpen, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We remain committed to providing our customers with the most technically capable and highest quality ultra-deepwater and harsh environment assets in the industry, and will continue to objectively evaluate our rigs and high-grade our fleet as the market evolves.”
About Transocean
Transocean is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells. The company specializes in technically demanding sectors of the global offshore drilling business with a particular focus on deepwater and harsh environment drilling services, and believes that it operates one of the most versatile offshore drilling fleets in the world. Transocean owns or has partial ownership interests in, and operates a fleet of 38 mobile offshore drilling units consisting of 25 ultra-deepwater floaters, seven harsh environment floaters, two deepwater floaters and four midwater floaters. In addition, Transocean has four ultra-deepwater drillships under construction or under contract to be constructed. The company also operates two high-specification jackups that were under drilling contracts when the rigs were sold, and the company continues to operate these jackups until completion or novation of the drilling contracts.
