Transocean drillship extended again at over $500,000/day in GOM

Transocean Ltd. secured its second 365-day contract extension this year for its Deepwater Asgard drillship, the contractor announced June 26. The award ensures the drillship will collect day rates over $500,000 until mid-2026, though the pace of increases has slowed.

The latest program is expected to start in June 2025 in direct continuation of the rig’s current program with Hess Corp. in the Gulf of Mexico. Transocean estimates it will contribute $188 million in backlog, including additional services, calculating to a day rate of $515,000. The drillship was working for just $295,000/day as recently as May 2022.

In April, Transocean announced the Deepwater Asgard received a 365-day extension from Hess in the GOM starting in June. The $195 million contract consisted of an $11 million lump sum payment and $184 million of backlog. The backlog was equivalent to a $505,000 day rate, a $65,000 increase from the $440,000 day rate Hess paid from April 2023 to this June. The Deepwater Asgard’s assignment before that was a one-well contract for Murphy Oil at $395,000/day in early 2023.

Transocean also agreed to sell the semisubmersible Deepwater Nautilus and associated equipment for $53.5 million to an undisclosed buyer, the company reported in a June 24 SEC filing. The company said it will take a non-cash impairment of $140-150 million in Q2 on the sale as part of its efforts to dispose of non-strategic assets. The semisub, stacked since November 2022, was delivered in 2000, making it nine years older than any active rig in Transocean’s fleet.