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Transocean Cancels Rig Deal on Client’s Cash Shortage (Update2) Email | Print | A A A By Joe Carroll Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Transocean Inc., the world’s largest offshore oil driller, canceled a record $550,000-a-day rig lease and said a second vessel has been idled after the client ran out of cash. Transocean, based in Switzerland and run from offices in Houston, disclosed the termination of its contract with Burgundy Global Exploration Corp. today in the monthly fleet-status report on its Web site. Calgary-based Oilexco Inc. halted operations aboard Transocean’s Sedco 712 rig after its North Sea subsidiary sought protection from creditors, the report said. Oil exploration companies are having difficulty borrowing money to lease rigs and hire roughnecks after crude tumbled 74 percent in the past six months and global credit markets seized up, said Truls Olsen, an analyst at Fearnley Fonds AS in Oslo. More contract terminations are imminent as energy prices decline and cash-strapped producers reduce or cancel projects. “We will likely see more of this,” Olsen, who rates Transocean shares a “buy” and doesn’t own any, said today in a telephone interview. “Counterparty risk is on the increase. It’s a matter of whether or not you are able to raise cash.” Oilexco demobilized the Sedco 712 rig on Jan. 5, two days before a London court appointed administrators to oversee operations of the company’s North Sea unit. The $340,000-a-day contract for the rig that runs through March 2010 “remains in full force and effect,” Transocean said in today’s report. Tough Times “Credit’s tight and times are tough,” said Michael Drickamer, an analyst at Morgan Keegan and Co. in Memphis, who rates Transocean shares “outperform.” Burgundy, based in Makati City, Philippines, agreed last month to lease Transocean’s C. Kirk Rhein Jr. rig to search for oil in Filipino waters. The contract represented a 52 percent increase from the previous rate and the first time that type of rig commanded more than $500,000 a day. Transocean said it’s pursuing “appropriate remedies” against Burgundy and Oilexco, without elaborating. A telephone call to Burgundy’s corporate office after normal business hours wasn’t answered. Transocean spokesman Guy Cantwell didn’t return a telephone message left at his Houston office. South African energy producer Sasol Ltd.’s current $362,000- a-day contract to use the Rhein rig off the coast of Mozambique expires this month. The Rhein is in a class of rigs known as midwater floaters that can operate in seas 1,000 feet (305 meters) to about 4,000 feet deep. The Rhein, built in 1976 and refurbished in 1997, can bore wells 25,000 feet below the surface of the ocean. Sedco 712 The Sedco 712 is a 26-year-old vessel that can operate in 1,600-foot waters and drill to 25,000 feet. Transocean had a $41.1 billion backlog of orders as of Sept. 30. The record lease for any type of rig is the $652,000 daily rate agreed to by Italy’s Eni SpA in July 2008 for Transocean’s Deepwater Pathfinder ship. Exxon Mobil Corp. signed a contract to rent a vessel yet to be built in October at an identical rate. Transocean fell $3.48, or 6.4 percent, to $51.02 at 12:07 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has fallen 63 percent in the past year as crude tumbled from an all-time high of $147.27 a barrel in July, prompting concern about faltering demand for equipment and personnel used to find and develop oil fields. To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Carroll in Chicago at jcarroll8@bloomberg.net. |
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| aus der Diskussion: | Transocean - Rig-Betreiber |
| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | meinolf67 (12.01.09 18:39:12) |
| Beitrag: | 4 von 633 (ID:36357791) |
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