Transocean Delays Drillships at DSME

Transocean drillship Deepwater Thalassa under construction at DSME. Photo: Lappino

Drilling contractor Transocean announced Monday that the delivery of two newbuild drillships currently under construction in South Korea will be delayed by 12 months each.

The newbuilds impacted are the ultra-deepwater drillships Deepwater Pontus and Deepwater Poseidon.

Trancocean said it has reached agreements with its customer Shell and the shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering to delay the operating and delivery contracts.

The company’s website showed that operating contracts for the Deepwater Pontus and Deepwater Poseideon were originally scheduled to commence in Q1 2017 and Q2 2017, respectively.

Transocean says that the delay has no impact on the duration or dayrate of the original 10-year operating contracts for each of the two drillships. The delivery and operating agreements for Shell’s two other contracted Transocean newbuild, ultra-deepwater drillships, the Deepwater Thalassa and Deepwater Proteus, are not impacted by the agreement, Transocean said.

“We are pleased that the strength of our relationships with both Shell and DSME has enabled us to reach this mutual agreement,” said Transocean President and Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Thigpen. “We are excited by the progress that we have jointly made with Shell on all four high-specification, ultra-deepwater drillships, including the Deepwater Thalassa, which was delivered this September, and the Deepwater Proteus, which is scheduled for delivery this December.”

Transocean currently has seven ultra-deepwater drillships and five high-specification jackups under construction.

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