Transocean is stacking two of its ultra deepwater drillships due to current market conditions that will result in the reduction of about 200 jobs.
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The Transocean Champion. Image from Gusto MSC. |
Transocean notified the Texas Workforce Commission that the company expects to cut 130-140 jobs on the Discoverer Deep Seas drillship due to a contract cancelation, in addition to the reduction of 40-50 jobs on the Deepwater Champion.
Both vessels were operation in the Gulf of Mexico, but will now be stacked.
Last week, Murphy Oil elected for an early termination of its contract for the Discoverer Deep Seas, which was originally due to end in November 2016. Transocean will be compensated for the early termination through a lump-sum payment that includes adjustments for operating costs.
In December, Transocean received early termination notices from supermajor Shell and Norwegian giant Statoil.
Shell ended its contract for the harsh environment semisubmersible Polar Pioneer, which was used in the company’s highly anticipated return to the Arctic. The contract was set to end in June 2017, and the vessel is shown as stacked in Transocean’s February fleet status report.
Statoil opted for the early termination of the Discoverer Americas that was originally scheduled to end in May 2016, citing the current environment, which is unable to secure additional activity for the rig. Statoil had been using the vessel since 2009 to support its operations in East and North Africa, and the Gulf of Mexico. The vessel is classified as idle in Tranocean’s fleet report this month.
On a good note, Transocean’s Deepwater Thalassa newbuild commenced its 10-year contract with Shell for its Stones project in the Gulf of Mexico this month. The ultra deepwater drillship is operating at a dayrate of US$519,000.
Read more:
Shell ends Polar Pioneer contract
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