EQNR - Equinor extends contracts for two Transocean drilling rigs

2023-03-28 14:24:55 ET

Transocean ( NYSE: RIG ) +6% in Tuesday's trading after Equinor ( EQNR ) awarded new contracts for two of the company's harsh environment semisub drilling rigs offshore Norway.

The Transocean Encourage , for use mainly in the Norwegian Sea, and Transocean Enabler , for use at the Johan Castberg field, have been on eight-year contracts with Equinor ( EQNR ) that expire on December 1, 2023 and April 1, 2024, respectively, and will be the first contract extensions since the units were built.

The drilling program for the Transocean Encourage includes nine wells on the Tyrihans, Verdande, Andvare and Vigdis fields in the Tampen area of the North Sea; the contract for the nine wells totals $191M, with the drilling campaign expected to start in December.

At the Johan Castberg field, the Transocean Enabler will have a fixed drilling program of 19 wells and options on another eight wells; the contract value totals $415M, with the new contract coming into effect between April and July 2024.

Transocean's ( RIG ) reported backlog additions do not support the stock's current valuation, Thomas Prescott writes in an analysis published recently on Seeking Alpha .

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