Transocean, one of the largest drilling contractors in the world recently announced that its drillship, Deepwater Expedition, was awarded a two-year contract with an undisclosed customer commencing December 2012 .
The initial dayrate of the contract is $650,000 ($475 million contract backlog). Additionally, the contract includes three priced eight-month option periods.
Specifications
The Deepwater Expedition is a 5th Generation Ultra-deepwater drillship built in Khersons Shipyard in 1989. Keppel rebuilt the 171 m long vessel, which sails under the Marshall Islands flag, in 1999.
It has been designed to operate in water depth in excess of 8,500 ft (2,591 m) and it is able to drill in water depths of up to 30,000 ft (9,144 m). To keep the vessel steady while drilling, the Deepwater Expedition is equipped with a dynamically positioned system.
[mappress] Offshore Energy Today Staff, March 20, 2012