Transocean to operate drillship for duo

Transocean will operate a new deep-water drillship currently being built under a joint venture between Japan's Mitsui and Brazil's state-controlled Petrobras.

The dynamically positioned Samsung TBN-1 drillship is being built at Samsung Heavy Industries' Geoje yard in South Korea. It will provide drilling services under a 50/50 joint venture called P&M Drilling International. The drillship, costing $750 million, has been dubbed the Petrobras 10,000 and is scheduled for delivery in the third quarter of 2009. The unit will start its life working for Petrobras in Angolan and Nigerian waters, and will be operated by a subsidiary of Transocean. The question of which company will operate the rig has been under negotiation for several months. At one time, Brazilian rig company Schahin Engenharia seemed close to an equity agreement, but no deal was concluded. Petrobras will build a second rig in its 10,000 series at the same yard, but does not have an equity partner in place. The second rig will be used in the Gulf of Mexico, but is not yet clear which rig company will operate the unit and under which terms.

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