Switzerland-based offshore drilling contractor Transocean has secured a new long-term ultra-deepwater drillship assignment with an undisclosed operator in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, where the rig is already carrying out drilling operations for an oil major.
The new one-year contract for the Deepwater Conqueror drillship is expected to begin in October 2025 and contribute approximately $193 million in backlog, including additional services.
The rig has been working for Chevron in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico since April 2023 and is due to stay with the U.S. energy giant until April 2025 based on the rig owner’s fleet status report from July 2024.
The 2016-built Deepwater Conqueror DSME 12000 ultra-deepwater drillship, which can accommodate 240 people, is capable of working in water depths of 12,000 feet or 3,658 meters and its maximum drilling depth is 40,000 ft or 12,192 m.
This drillship contract comes a month after Transocean won another one in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico with BP for the first of two eighth-generation drillships to join its rig fleet.
Recently, the firm also got a multimillion-dollar contract for another drillship for work off the coast of India.