Transocean Relinquishes Ownership in Drillship Pair Under Construction

File Photo. Transocean drillship Deepwater Champion. Photo: Transocean

Offshore drilling contractor Transocean has decided to walk away from two drillships under construction at South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industry.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Switzerland-based company said it was relinquishing their respective interests in two drillships under construction – the Ocean Rig Santorini and the Ocean Rig Crete to SHI.

The decision means that Transocean will not make any additional payments to SHI under the construction contracts.

Transocean estimates that the total estimated future costs associated with the delivery and placing the drillships into service would have been approximately $1.1 billion, which includes future payments to SHI under the construction contracts and costs related to spares, materials and supplies, and to the commissioning and mobilization of the rigs.

Transocean owns or has partial ownership interests in, and operates a fleet of 45 mobile offshore drilling units consisting of 28 ultra-deepwater floaters, 14 harsh environment floaters, and three midwater floaters. In addition, Transocean also two additional ultra-deepwater drillships under construction.

The company has reported a net loss of $379 million in the first half of 2019.