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Transocean Spitsbergen News

23 Oct 2023

Transocean Sees Multiple Offshore Rig Deals Awarded, One Terminated in Q2

Offshore drilling contractor Transocean on Wednesday released its quarterly offshore drilling rig fleet status report, which shows one contract terminated in Norway, and several new deals secured Norway, U.S. Gulf, Brazil, Angola, Brunei, and, possibly, Myanmar. The rig owner's total backlog is now around $7.3 billion.While some of the contracts were already announced as they were coming in during the quarter, Transocean shared some new information, too.It said Thursday that the Hungarian oil firm MOL had in July terminated the Transocean Barents semi-sub drilling contract for convenience. The drilling rig was supposed to stay with MOL between May and December 2021…

21 Sep 2018

Transocean Bags Equinor Contract Off Norway

Equinor has awarded Transocean a contract for drilling six wells on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) by use of the Transocean Norge mobile rig. Drilling start-up is scheduled for the summer of 2019.The rig has also been awarded a contract option for drilling four additional wells and is intended for subsequent continuing options. Transocean has previously signed a framework agreement with Equinor.Transocean Spitsbergen was the company’s first rig to be included as per the framework agreement terms, and Transocean Norge will be the second.The contract value for the six wells is estimated at approximately USD 89 million. The services covered by the contract include drilling services such as slop treatment and cuttings handling…

10 Jul 2018

Hundreds of Oil Workers Strike in Norway

Photo: Harald Pettersen / © Equinor

Hundreds of workers on Norwegian offshore oil and gas rigs went on strike on Tuesday after rejecting a proposed wage deal, leading to the shutdown of one Shell-operated field and helping send Brent crude prices higher.One union said hundreds more workers would join the strike on Sunday if an agreement over union demands for a wage increase and pension rights was not reached.Royal Dutch Shell said that due to the strike it was temporarily closing production at its Knarr field, which has a daily output of 23…

22 Dec 2017

Transocean Gets Statoil Contracts

Transocean announced  that the harsh environment semisubmersible Transocean Spitsbergen was awarded a 22-well contract with an estimated duration of 33 months; plus two one-well options in the Norwegian North Sea with Statoil Petroleum ASA. The estimated firm backlog associated with the contract is approximately $286 million, which excludes opportunities for performance incentives. The contract is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2019. “We are extremely pleased to have once again contracted the Transocean Spitsbergen with Statoil,” said Jeremy Thigpen, President and Chief Executive Officer. “This contract is a testament to the capability…

24 Apr 2017

Statoil Downplays Risks Ahead of Arctic Drilling

File photo: Ole Jørgen Bratland / Statoil

Norway's Statoil on Monday played down concerns that drilling in the Arctic is risky, days before it kickstarts its drilling campaign in the Barents Sea, where the country believes around half of its remaining resources could be located. "We will start drilling the first well, Blaamann, during May ... followed by Kayak, Gemini (Nord), Korpfjell and Koigen (Central)," said a Statoil spokesman, adding each might take about a month to drill. All the wells are in areas free of sea ice thanks to the warm Gulf Stream…

10 Feb 2017

Transocean's contract backlog $11.3 Bln on February 9

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) today issued a quarterly Fleet Status Report that provides the current status of and contract information for the company's fleet of offshore drilling rigs. As of February 9, 2017, the company's contract backlog was $11.3 billion. On December 31, 2016, the newbuild ultra-deepwater drillship Deepwater Conqueror commenced operations on its 5-year contract in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico at a dayrate of $589,000. The customer has elected to exercise its contractual option to terminate the contract for the ultra-deepwater drillship Deepwater Asgard effective January 2017. The company will be compensated for the early termination through a lump-sum payment of approximately $79 million, which is based on the operating dayrate less the operating cost per day.

28 Nov 2016

Hurricane Exercise option over Drilling Rig

Hurricane Energy, the UK-based oil and gas company focused on hydrocarbon resources in naturally fractured basement reservoirs, announces that, further to the rig contract amendments entered into with Transocean, the Company exercised its option over the Transocean Spitsbergen drilling rig on 25 November 2016 in order to drill the Halifax prospect. The Halifax well will be drilled after completion of the Lincoln well. A further announcement will be made once the Halifax well has been spudded.

23 Jun 2015

Transocean Delays Drillships

Transocean Ltd, the world’s largest offshore driller, has delayed delivery of two new ultra-deepwater drillships, the company announced. The company amended its drillship construction contracts ($540 million each) with Jurong Shipyard, a subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine, by 24 months. The two drillships are now expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020, respectively. Transocean has won contracts worth $109 million from mid-May to mid-June. The amount is the highest for the Swiss-based oil major in 2015 and comes at a time when crude oil prices are at a downward. The figure is more than twice that reported in May—$52 million—and about five times more than the $22-million average of the first five months of 2015.

07 Nov 2014

Statoil: Barents Sea Exploration Completed

the Barents sea map. (Photo: courtesy Statoil)

Statoil has completed the extensive 2013-2014 exploration programme in the Barents Sea. This represents an all-time high exploration activity and 10% of all exploration wells drilled in the Barents Sea since its opening in 1980. “This is a unique exploration programme. A commitment of this size and complexity requires geological, technological and organisational muscle, and the data collected are important for the future understanding of the oil and gas potential in the Barents Sea,” says Irene Rummelhoff, senior vice president for exploration on the Norwegian continental shelf.

26 Sep 2014

Statoil: Gas discovery in Pingvin

Operator Statoil has together with PL713 partners made a gas discovery in the Pingvin prospect in the Barents Sea. The discovery is a play opener in a frontier unexplored area of the Barents Sea northwest of Johan Castberg. The discovery well 7319/12-1, drilled by the drilling rig Transocean Spitsbergen, proved a 15-metre gas column in the well path. Statoil estimates the volumes in Pingvin to be in the range of 30-120 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent. The discovery is currently assessed as non-commercial.

30 Aug 2014

Too Eager to Drill for Arctic Oil - Greenpeace

Greenpeace's ship, the Esperanza, is still on station in the Arctic to expose renewed Norwegian efforts to drill for oil in this pristine environment. Last week Greenpeace successfully headed off attempts by an oil company to complete controversial seismic testing, commissioned by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate in the absence of any political discussion, by revealing it in prime time TV news. Norwegian oil interests are persistent but Greenpeace say that they are determined to stop them. This week the Esperanza approached the Statoil oil rig Transocean Spitsbergen located over the Isfjell well, just south of Bear Island in the Barents Sea. "They are really eager to drill, too eager," pointed out Erlend Tellnes, an Arctic campaigner with Greenpeace Nordic.

18 Aug 2014

Rosneft & Statoil to Explore Norwegian Continental Shelf

18th of August, Rosneft together with Norwegian company Statoil Petroleum AS started exploration operations at the Pingvin License PL713prospect in the Norwegian section of the Barents Sea. The first exploration well Pingvin-1 will be drilled by the Transocean Spitsbergen rig. The water depth is 422 meters and the drilling target total vertical depth (TVD) is 1516 meters. The companies expect to analyse the drilling results until the end of 2014. RN Nordic Oil AS is partner in the licence (PL713) with Statoil (that is the operator), North Energy ASA and Edison International Norway Branch. RN Nordic Oil AS, a subsidiary of Rosneft, will be involved in the operations on the project.

15 Jul 2014

Kværner Yard to Upgrade H-6e Offshore Drill Rig

Norway's Kværner ASA informs that the  H-6e drilling rig 'Transocean Barents' will arrive Kvaerner's facilities at Stord this week for a two month yard stay. The main purpose of the stay is the five year classification of the rig, as well as upgrade and modification work. When the rig arrives, it will first spend a couple of days in the fjord outside Kvaerner's Stord facility. Once quayside, the campaign is expected to last for approximately two months. After the inshore work, there will be a short period of sea trials in Klosterfjorden. The Transocean Barents is an Aker H-6e sixth generation dual activity dynamically-positioned semi-submersible drilling rig designed to operate in harsh environments and water depths up to 10 000 feet.

17 Jun 2014

No Middle Ground for Environmental Lobby

When dealing with the environmental lobby, there’s really only one thing you need to know. The nautical definition of middle ground is a length of comparatively shallow water having channels on both sides. In everyday language, we might call it a position of compromise between two opposing views or parties. That’s typically what reasonable folks try to achieve when resolving disputes or disagreements. For some in the environmental lobby, however, there’s no such thing as middle ground. And, there never will be. The sooner the maritime industry and its oil & gas cousins wake up to this reality, the better. I must admit that I am increasingly not a fan of the environmental lobby. That’s not to say I don’t support some of its collective goals and missions. I do.

29 May 2014

Greenpeace Activists in Hands of Police

The activists on board the Transocean Spitsbergen are now in the hands of Norwegian police. The rig was on its way for planned exploration drilling in the Hoop-area in the Barents Sea when Greenpeace activists boarded the rig in the early hours of Tuesday, 27 May. Statoil is very pleased that the illegal action on the rig now has ended without anyone being injured. The rig will now prepare for transit to the drilling site for the Apollo well in the Hoop area. Statoil has a permit to start the drilling operations, but awaits a final decision on a Greenpeace appeal to the Norwegian Ministry of climate and environment before drilling into oil-bearing layers.

27 May 2014

Greenpeace board Transocean Spitsbergen

Greenpeace activists boarding the drilling rig Transocean Spitsbergen.Photo credit: Transocean.

On the morning of 27 May Greenpeace activists boarded the drilling rig Transocean Spitsbergen. The rig was en route to the Hoop area in the Barents Sea. On Monday Statoil got approval from the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment to start drilling operations tied to the Apollo prospect in the Hoop area. The company is not allowed to drill into oil-bearing layers until the complaint from Greenpeace has been dealt with by the ministry. Statoil respects the right for legal protests and believes it is important with a democratic debate on the oil and industry.

17 Jul 2012

Offshore Communications VSAT Contract for RigNet

RigNet has signed a two-year contract extension to continue delivering managed communications for two world-class semi-submersible offshore drilling rigs: Transocean Barents and Transocean Spitsbergen, both operating in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. A high-performance and secure network is a high priority for the oil and gas community, ensuring effective and reliable communications, both offshore and onshore, and access to business-critical IT applications. As part of the contract extension, RigNet will deliver a fully-managed end-to-end IP network solution, relying on VSAT technology for last-mile connectivity, to ensure that the rigs derive greater value from its network services through increased standardization and innovation.