Transocean Ltd. announced today that the newbuild, harsh environment semisubmersible Transocean Norge was awarded a six-well contract (estimated 300 days) with Equinor in the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The contract is expected to commence in July 2019, following the shipyard delivery of the rig in early 2019.

Transocean will operate the Transocean Norge and has a 33% interest in the joint venture that owns the rig, with the remaining 67% interest owned by Hayfin Capital. The contract backlog is approximately $89 million, excluding a bonus opportunity and other services. The contract is denominated approximately 55% in U.S. dollars and 45% in Norwegian kroner.

Additionally, the contract includes four one-well options.

"We are very pleased to have so quickly secured a contract for the Transocean Norge, which we recently acquired through our joint venture with Hayfin," said Jeremy Thigpen, Transocean's President and Chief Executive Officer. "This contract provides further evidence of the strong demand for high-specification, harsh environment semisubmersibles, and of the relationship and history of solid performance that we have with Equinor."

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Transocean