Offshore drilling contractor Transocean has sold four idle rigs for demolition, according to a weekly market report from Wirana Shipping.
The units were sold in “as is” condition to an undisclosed buyer in Greece, Singapore-based ship recycler Wirana said in its report, citing demolition sales data from 1 September through 19 September.
Transocean sold the Discoverer India, Discoverer Clear Leader, Discoverer Americas and Deepwater Champion. All were built in 2010, except for the Discoverer Clear Leader, which was built in 2009, according to Wirana.
All four units were ultra-deepwater drillships that had been cold stacked for at least a half decade each, according to Transocean’s fleet status reports.
The Discoverer India had been cold stacked since 2020, while the Discoverer Clear Leader went idle in 2019. Both the Discoverer Americas and Deepwater Champion were cold stacked in 2016.
The Wirana report did not reveal the value of the vessel sales. Upstream has approached Transocean for more information about the deals.
Upstream’s sister publication TradeWinds first reported the sales.
Transocean chief executive Keelan Adamson had signalled in August that the company was looking to ditch four rigs.
“We expect a tighter global market to develop in the next two years,” Adamson said on Transocean’s second quarter earnings call.
“However, at this time, we do not see a compelling case for reactivations of cold stacked units. Hence, our decision in the second quarter to remove four lower specification rigs from our fleet.”
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