Transocean has completed the previously disclosed transaction to sell its jack-up fleet to Borr Drilling for a total consideration of $1.35 billion.
The sale, announced in March, included the company’s 10 high-specification jack-ups and five jack-ups under construction at Keppel FELS Limited’s shipyard in Singapore.
According to its statement on Wednesday, the company received cash of approximately $320 million associated with the sale. Additionally, the transaction transfers to Borr the company’s remaining financial obligations related to the five jack-ups under construction at Keppel.
Transocean is expected to continue operating the three jack-ups working in Thailand until the current drilling contracts expire and will reflect the associated revenue and expenses in income from continuing operations.
“The sale of our jack-up fleet is consistent with our strategic goal of remaining the industry’s undisputed leader in the ultra-deepwater and harsh environment markets, where our high quality assets, unmatched operational experience and trusted customer relationships provide us with a clear competitive advantage,” said Jeremy Thigpen , President and Chief Executive Officer.
“Further,” added Mark Mey , Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, “this transaction is consistent with our goal of enhancing liquidity to provide greater strategic optionality. We have taken an impairment of approximately $1.6 billion in relation to the sale of the jack-up fleet to Borr, but continue to remain comfortably within our debt to tangible capitalization ratio in our revolving credit facility.”
Norwegian offshore drilling contractor Borr Drilling, formerly known as Magni Drilling, was formed last year with the ambition of acquiring and operating drilling assets in order to take advantage of opportunities in a rapidly changing oil and gas industry.
Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services provider, recently acquired stake in the company “to demonstrate our openness to new types of business relationships.”
Late last year, Borr bought a pair of 2013-built jack-up drilling rigs from the bankrupt Hercules Offshore. The rigs were delivered to the Norwegian driller in January.
Offshore Energy Today Staff