Statoil Renegotiates for the Discoverer Americas as Transocean’s Deepwater Asgard Arrives in the GoM

Updated: December 21, 2015 (Originally published April 16, 2015)

In Transocean’s latest fleet update summary released this afternoon, their 6th generation drill ship Discoverer Americas will be officially heading back to the Gulf of Mexico this summer after her contract was renegotiated with Statoil.  Its current day rate, while operating off the coast of Tanzania is $735,000 per day, however in May, her new rate has been reduced to $611,000 per day and it expires in 2016.

In addition, their DSME 12000-design ultra-deepwater drillship Deepwater Asgard has just arrived in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX), the operator of the rig.

Chevron says the rig has been contracted to work under a two-year contract commencing this month in the Mississippi Canyon area south of Louisiana.  She is the sixth drillship operating for Chevron in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico and is earning USD $623,000 per day according to Transocean’s latest fleet update summary.

The vessel is Marshall Islands flagged, DNV-classed and has a dual activity derrick with a 2.8 million pound hook load capacity enabling it to drill in waters up to 10,000 feet deep and a drilling dept up to 35,000 feet. 40,000 feet.

Chevron says that last year, net daily production in the Gulf of Mexico averaged 133,000 barrels of crude oil, 320 million cubic feet of natural gas and 15,000 barrels of NGLs. As of early 2015, Chevron has an interest in 587 leases in the Gulf of Mexico, 386 of which are located in water depths greater than 1,000 feet (305 m).

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