 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| NYSE: RIG | |
| ISIN | CH0048265513 |
| Industry | Oilfield services,offshore drilling & equipment |
| Predecessor | Sonat |
| Founded | 1973; 53 years ago (1973) |
| Headquarters | Vernier, Switzerland |
Key people | Keelan Adamson,President &CEO Merrill A. Miller, Jr.,Chairman Mark L. Mey,CFO |
| Products | Lease and operation ofsemi-submersible andjack-updrilling rigs anddrillships |
| Revenue |  US$3.088 billion(2019)US$1 billion(2018) |
| −US$721 million(2019) | |
| −US$1.257 billion(2019) | |
| Total assets |  US$24.105 billion(2019) |
| Total equity | US$11.867 billion(2019) |
Number of employees | 6,600 (2019) |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
Transocean Ltd. is an Americandrilling company.[2] It is the world's largestoffshore drilling contractor based on revenue and is based inSteinhausen, Switzerland.[3][4] The company has offices in 20 countries, including Canada, the United States, Norway, United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.[5]
In 2010, Transocean was found partially responsible (30% of total liability) for theDeepwater Horizon oil spill resulting from the explosion of one of its oil rigs in theGulf of Mexico.[6]
The primary business of Transocean is contracts with otherlarge companies in the oil and gas industry. In 2019,Royal Dutch Shell accounted for 26% of the company's revenues, whileEquinor accounted for 21% of the company's revenues, andChevron accounted for 17% of the company's revenues.[1]
Transocean was formed as a result of the merger of Southern Natural Gas Company, laterSonat, with many smaller drilling companies.[7]
In 1953, theBirmingham, Alabama-based Southern Natural Gas Company createdThe Offshore Company after acquiring the joint drilling operation DeLong-McDermott from DeLong Engineering andJ. Ray McDermott. In 1954, the company launched Rig 51, the first mobilejackup rig, in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1967, the Offshore Company went public. In 1978, SNG turned it into a wholly owned subsidiary. In 1982, it was changed toSonat Offshore Drilling Inc., reflecting a change in its parent's name.[8][non-primary source needed] William C. O'Malley, an executive at Sonat's headquarters in Birmingham, was named the company's first Chief Executive Officer in 1992. In 1993, Sonat spun off the majority of its ownership in the company.[9] Sonat sold its remaining 40% stake in the company during a secondary public offering in late 1995.
In 1996, the company acquired Norwegian group Transocean ASA for US$1.5 billion.[10] Transocean started in the 1970s as awhaling company and expanded through a series of mergers. The new company was calledTransocean Offshore. The new company began building massive drilling operations with drills capable of going to 10,000 feet (as opposed to 3,000 feet at the time) and operating two drill operations on the same ship. Its first ship,Discoverer Enterprise, cost nearly US$430 million and was 834 ft (254 m).[11] The Enterpriseclassdrillship is the largest of the drilling ships.[12]
In 1999, Transocean merged with Sedco Forex, the offshore drilling subsidiary ofSchlumberger in a $3.2 billion stock transaction in which Schlumberger shareholders received shares of Transocean.[13][14]
Sedco Forex had been formed from a merger of two drilling companies, theSoutheasternDrillingCompany (Sedco), founded in 1947 byBill Clements and acquired by Schlumberger in 1985 for $1 billion[15] and French drilling company Forages et Exploitations Pétrolières (Forex) founded in 1942 inGerman-occupied France for drilling in North Africa.[9] Schlumberger first got a foothold in the company in 1959 and then assumed total control in 1964, and renamed it Forex Neptune Drilling Company.[16]
In 2005, the company'sDiscoverer Spirit rig set a world record for the deepest offshore oil and gas well of 34,189 ft (10,421 m).[17]
In 2007, the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a case against Transocean, alleging violations of theForeign Corrupt Practices Act. The case alleged that Transocean paid bribes through its freight forwarding agents to Nigerian customs officials. Transocean later admitted to approving the bribes and agreed to pay US$13,440,000 to settle the matter.[18]
In 2007, the company merged withGlobalSantaFe Corporation[19] in a transaction that created a company with an enterprise value of $53 billion.[20] Shareholders ofGlobalSantaFe Corporation received $15 billion of cash as well as stock in the new company for their shares. Robert E. Rose, who was non-executive chairman of GlobalSantaFe, was made Transocean's chairman.[19] Rose had been chairman of Global Marine prior to its 2001 merger with Santa Fe International Corporation.
In September 2009, itsDeepwater Horizon rig established a 35,050 ft (10,680 m) well, the deepest well in history – more than 5,000 feet deeper than its stated design specification.[17]
In 2012, the company sold 38 shallow water rigs and narrowed its focus on high-specification deepwater rigs.[21]
In October 2013, the company was added to theS&P 500 index, replacing Dell.[22][23]
In February 2015, CEO Steven Newman stepped down following a $2.2 billion quarterly loss.[24][25]
Effective on 30 March 2016, the company delisted its shares from theSIX Swiss Exchange, at which time its shares were removed from theSwiss Market Index.[26]
In February 2025, Transocean's drilling rig,Mighty Barents, began drilling gas wells in one of the EU's largest gas fields, with plans to begin gas production in 2027.[27]
In April 2025, Keelan Adamson, former COO of Transocean, took over as CEO of the company.[28]
Transocean sold four of its idle rigs to an undisclosed buyer in September 2025.[29] Included in the sale was theDiscoverer India,Discoverer Clear Leader,Discoverer Americas, andDeepwater Champion, all of which had been cold stacked for years prior to the sale.[29]
In 2000, Transocean acquired R&B Falcon Corporation, owner of 115 drilling rigs, in a deal valued at $17.7 billion. With the acquisition, Transocean gained control of what at the time was the world's largest offshore operation.[30] Among R&B Falcon's assets was theDeepwater Horizon.[citation needed]
In 2011, the company acquiredAker Drilling, which owned 4 harsh environment rigs used for drilling near Norway.[31]
Effective on January 30, 2018, the company completed its acquisition ofSonga Offshore.[32] Later that year in December, the company acquiredOcean Rig.[33]
Transocean was rated as a leader in its industry for many years. However, since the company's 2007merger with GlobalSantaFe, Transocean's reputation has suffered considerably, according to EnergyPoint Research, an independent oil service industry rating firm.[34] From 2004 to 2007, Transocean was the leader or near the top among deep-water drillers in "job quality" and "overall satisfaction." In 2008 and 2009, surveys ranked Transocean as last among deep-water drillers for "job quality" and next to last in "overall satisfaction." In 2008 and 2009, Transocean ranked first for in-house safety and environmental policies, and in the middle of the pack for perceived environmental and safety record.[34] TheDeepwater Horizon explosion and massiveoil spill, starting in April 2010, further hurt its reputation. "Transocean is dominant, but the accident has definitely tarnished its reputation for worker safety and for being able to manage and deliver on extraordinarily complex deepwater projects," said Christopher Ruppel, an energy expert and managing director of capital markets at Execution Noble, aninvestment bank.[35]
On 2 March 2002, a Scottish man was killed in an accident aboard theTransocean Leader drilling rig operated forBP, located about 138 kilometers (86 miles) west ofShetland, Scotland.[36]
On 17 June 2003, one worker was killed, four others were hospitalised and 21 were evacuated after an explosion on a Transocean gas drilling rig inGalveston Bay, Texas.[37]
On 24 August 2005, theUK Health and Safety Executive issued a notice to Transocean saying that, it had failed to maintain its "remote blowout preventor control panel … in an efficient state, efficient working order and in good repair."[38] On 21 November 2005, Transocean was found to be in compliance for this matter.[38]
On 12 April 2007, theBourbon Dolphin supply boat sank off the coast of Scotland while servicing theTransocean Rather drilling rig, killing eight people. TheNorwegian Ministry of Justice established a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the incident, and the commission's report found a series of "unfortunate circumstances" led to the accident "with many of them linked to Bourbon Offshore and Transocean."[39][40]
In 2008, two Transocean workers were reportedly killed on the company's vessels.[41]
On 20 April 2010, a fire was reported on a Transocean-ownedsemisubmersibledrilling rig,Deepwater Horizon.Deepwater Horizon was a RBS8D design of Reading & Bates Falcon, a firm that was acquired by Transocean in 2001. The fire broke out at 10:00 p.m. CDTUTC−5 in US waters of Mississippi Canyon Block 252 in theGulf of Mexico. The rig was 41 mi (66 km) off theLouisiana coast. TheUS Coast Guard launched a rescue operation after the explosion which killed 11 workers and critically injured seven of the 126-member crew.[42][43]
Deepwater Horizon was completely destroyed and subsequently sank.[44][45]
As theDeepwater Horizon sank, the riser pipe that connected the well-head to the rig was severed. As a result, oil began to spill into theGulf of Mexico. Estimates of the leak were about 80,000 barrels per day – for 87 days, resulting in 134 million gallons of oil being released into the Gulf.[46]
Louisiana GovernorBobby Jindal declared a state of emergency on 29 April, as the oil slick grew and headed toward the most important and most sensitive wetlands in North America, threatening to destroy wildlife and the livelihood of thousands of fishermen. The head of BP Group toldCNN's Brian Todd on 28 April that the accident could have been prevented and focused blame on Transocean, which owned and partly manned the rig.[47]
Transocean came under fire from lawyers, representing the fishing and tourism businesses that were hit by the oil spill, and theUnited States Department of Justice for seeking to use aLimitation of Liability Act of 1851 to restrict its liability for economic damages to $26.7 million.[48]
During Congressional testimony, Transocean and BP blamed each other for the disaster. It emerged that a "heated argument" broke out on the platform 11 hours before the accident, in which Transocean and BP personnel disagreed on an engineering decision related to the closing of the well.[49] On 14 May 2010, US PresidentBarack Obama commented, "I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle… executives of BP and Transocean andHalliburton [the firm responsible for cementing the well] falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else. The American people could not have been impressed with that display, and I certainly wasn't."[50]
Transocean later claimed that 2010, the year in which the disaster occurred, was "the best year in safety performance in our company’s history". In a regulatory filing, Transocean said, "Notwithstanding the tragic loss of life in the Gulf of Mexico, we achieved an exemplary statistical safety record as measured by our total recordable incident rate and total potential severity rate." They used this justification to award employees about two-thirds of the maximum possible safety bonuses.[51][52] In response to broad criticism, including from Interior SecretaryKen Salazar, the company announced that its executives would donate the safety portion of the bonuses to a fund supporting the victims' families.[53]
The offshore drilling facilitySedco 706, operated by Transocean under contract fromChevron, began to leak in November 2011 while working on the "Frade" oil field.[54] Oil began leaking from the seabed at a depth of approximately 1100 to 1200m. Damage included an oil slick (oil floating on the ocean surface) covering an area of approximately 80 km2 and growing. This put the oil at a distance of about 370 km from Rio de Janeiro, but other beautiful beaches are much closer (estimated 140 km). The Brazilian government sued Transocean and attempted to force the company to cease operations in Brazil, but a settlement was reached without a finding of fault or liability.[55]
In the early hours of Monday 8 August 2016, thesemi-submersible drilling rigTransocean Winner ran aground nearDalmore in the Carloway district of theIsle of Lewis in theOuter Hebrides,Scotland.[56] The rig had been under tow by the tugAlp Forward in winds of galeforce, when the tow line broke. The rig subsequently drifted ashore at Dalmore and became stuck fast on rocks at 07.30 BST. Continuing poor weather meant that a damage inspection by salvors has been practically impossible, as personnel require to be airlifted on to the rig, in spite of it being close to the shore.[57] The rig was carrying approximately 280 tons of diesel, to power its generators, of which 53 tons is thought to have leaked into the sea, and dispersed or evaporated in rough conditions.[58] Environmental monitoring of plant and animal life is on-going, particularly in view of the economically important fish farming operations in nearbyLoch Ròg.
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