Transocean announced that an agreement has been reached with the incumbent customer to amend the drilling contract on the harsh environment semisubmersible Transocean Leader.
The rig experienced equipment breakdown that could not be repaired timely, providing the customer with the right to cancel the contract.
However, given the otherwise efficient performance of the rig, the customer elected to complete its program with the Leader and Transocean agreed to amend the drilling contract, signed today and effective January 13, 2018, whereby the dayrate and contract duration were modified.
The rig is currently in the shipyard for these repairs and will not earn a dayrate during the first quarter of 2018. It is expected to return to work in April of 2018, for approximately 300 days, 210 of which are with the incumbent customer and 90 days with Dana Petroleum.
Contract backlog is reduced by approximately $112 million ($73 million in 2018 and the remainder in 2019) as a result of the contract renegotiation and a new fixture with Dana Petroleum.
Transocean is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells. The company specializes in technically demanding sectors of the global offshore drilling business with a particular focus on deepwater and harsh environment drilling services, and believes that it operates one of the most versatile offshore drilling fleets in the world.