DEEPWATER PONTUS COMMENCES TEN-YEAR CONTRACT WITH SHELL

Transocean 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 October 26, 2017, the company’s contract backlog is $9.4 billion.
The newbuild ultra-deepwater drillship Deepwater Pontus commenced operations in late October on its 10-year contract with Shell in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
The company agreed with SembCorp Marine’s subsidiary, Jurong Shipyard, to enhance the two Jurong Espadon class, newbuild drillships by increasing the hook load capacity to three million pounds. With the upgrade, the company has further delayed the delivery dates on each rig. The drillships are expected to be delivered in the second and fourth quarter of 2020.
The report also includes the following contracts:
Deepwater Invictus a DSME 12000 UDW drillship delivered in 2014 was awarded a two-year contract plus three one-year priced options. The drillship is presently drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for BHP Billiton.
The ultra-deepwater semi-submersible Deepwater Nautilus actually ready stacked in Malaysia was awarded a four-well contract plus 11 one-well priced options offshore Southeast Asia
The mid-water semi-submersiblePaul B. Loyd, Jr. was awarded two contracts, both in the U.K. North Sea
two-well contract plus three one-well priced options;l two-well contract plus two one-well priced options. The rig is actually drilling in the UK North Sea for BP. (Source: Transocean)