Transocean Reports $2.2 Billion Quarterly Loss

Transocean offshore drilling reported on Sunday a net loss of $2.217 billion this quarter, or $6.12 per diluted share.

Considering the Zug, Switzerland-based offshore drilling firm has a current market cap of USD $10.8 billion, this quarterly loss will most certainly leave a large dent. So far this year, the company’s share value has plummeted 43 percent.

The one-time loss was almost entirely due to a write-down of the value of the company’s fleet of drilling rigs.

With oil majors spending less on deepwater exploration the demand for offshore drilling services is moderating while at the same time a plethora of new high specification rigs are coming into the market.

Deepwater drillers like Ocean Rig Seadrill, Ensco and Diamond Offshore have all fallen over 30 percent this year as focus is put on less capital intensive sourcing of hydrocarbons.

Putting things in perspective, land-based drilling contractor Pioneer Energy Services has ended up largely even this year after its share value had more than doubled mid-summer when oil prices were at their peak.  Nabors Drilling has had similar results.

Transocean notes revenue efficiency and fleet utilization were both slightly lower in the third quarter, yet the good news is the Transocean Amirante will be headed back to work for a 1-year contract at $335,000 per day. The rig was previously idle.

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