Deepwater Titan and Atlas are what the original 2013/14 Singapore spec rigs became. They were ordered but then delayed a few years, then delayed again, then cut enough hull blocks to try and lock in the class/reg rules for the design, then delayed again. Then they started all the change orders to upgrade the capabilities, BOPs, drilling package etc, got Chevron onboard to contract one of them, and gave them the names they are known by today.
1 Like
Shorting is good for exposing lousy companies.
There are some crooked shorters of course but the experienced hedgers never directly short themselves and the SEC doesn’t have the people and at times the will to track them down. Someone of Ichan’s stature may have a LLC in Panama, owned by a LLC in Grand Cayman which is a subsidiary of a company in Cyprus short RIG stock and when its cashed in the money goes to pay off a loan made by another LLC in Switzerland. Hiding financial transactions is just smart and the risk is small. The ICIJ has done some excellent investigations exposing such shenanigans which are rarely pursued by governments as most governments including the USA are outgunned.
How much the SEC goes after Senators for trading on insider information and that is some really low hanging fruit?
Having those hulls played well for CVX. They needed a 20K rig to complete the Anchor discovery and what sold the rig was the ability to execute those change orders without the need to physically change anything. TOI just needed to finish construction of the rig to the required specifications, to include the subsea deliverables.
Senators are insulated from SEC’s jurisdiction by way of a Senate ethics panel, keeping it all in the clubhouse. They live in a special bubble with special health care and other protections the rest of us don’t have - a totally different situation. If you are making the rules, accountability comes in the form of a press leak and reporting about improprieties, apparently. I’m sure savvy businessmen have 100 ways from Sunday to move/hide funds. Their tax lawyers will certainly provide them with the best strategy to minimize every burden possible. But, the scenario as you described it (for someone that practically owns two seats on the board of a public company), and the increased liability that comes with it; it would be pretty stupid to short and manipulate one’s stock. Besides the legal consequence, you would more than likely be constrained by board covenants. I believe Shipengr was on point with taking the loss for taxes over illegal activities.
Not entirely correct. Transocean goes back a lot further than to when it became Norwegian:
That company owned some old 6-legged jack-up rigs operating off Germany and Holland, as well as some newer rigs in the Middle East.
In the 1970s a lot of Norwegian shipping companies got into drilling, each with a couple to rigs that was operated in cooperation with different American drilling contractors, since they did not have the necessary drilling expertise.
One of these were Rosshavet AS that had originally been a whaling company, but when whaling in the Southern Ocean stopped in the early 1960s they concentrated on their shipping side and entered into drilling in the late 1970s.
It became clear that the Norwegian market was too small for all of them and not as lucrative as first envisaged, so many of them sold out their rig and got out of drilling, As those remaining gained expertise they wanted to get out of the constrain of the North Sea and merged into larger groups.
One of the larger Norwegian drilling contractors were Aker Drilling AS, who bought Transocean Ltd. from Kerr McGee and adopted the name:
Many of the remaining drilling rig owners joined, or sold their drilling division that continued to operate under the name Transocean ASA until Sonat Offshore Drilling. came knocking and bought Transocean ASA with a large fleet of modern semisubs, platform drilling rigs and a few older jack-up rigs.
Since Sonat Inc. had sold out of the drilling business they were looking for a suitable name and took the Transocean name:
The history of merger and acquisitions that happened in the US drilling business before and after this should be well known.
PS> Another group formed around Smedvig and became Seadrill.
3 Likes
True, you have Transocean ASA which I am told was originally a Norwegian whaling company and then Transocean Offshore was born some how thru the convoluted mergers. Transocean Offshore, the “USA company” somehow ended up headquartered in Switzerland where most of the companies officers do not live. 
Transocean’s corporate HQ moved from Delaware to Cayman Islands in 1999 and to Zug, Switzerland in 2010.
Few, if any, of it’s office holders have live in any oy of these places.
Another US drilling contractor is getting ready to exit Chapter 11 soon:
At least until the next big bill fall due (??)
Seadrill Partners files for Chapter 11:
This is different from Seadrill Ltd., which filed for Chapter 11 already in 2017.
I guess the creditors saw thru the ringfence. Goodness, just liquidate and move on. Employees of Seadrill Partners are already getting a 20+% pay cut in January. They’ll be working for wages that were paid in the 1990’s or thereabouts once adjusted for inflation.
If any bright side at all, working for 20% less is better than no work at all. Still sucks no matter how you look at it.
That’s how they looking at it. As one guy said to me. What choice do I have? We’re in the middle of a pandemic and there are no jobs to be had. It’s this or losing the house.
1 Like
Seadrill has taken 100% ownership in Asia Offshore Drilling from Mermaid:
PS> This is different from Seadrill Partners.
What do you mean by warm stacked? Ocean Blacklion and Ocean Blackrino are under contract and drilling with BP right now. I also didn’t see any mention of West Auriga or West Vela. West Auriga just got put on standby by the LOOP , but West Vela is still on the job with BP and drilling.
Denmark is to end oil and gas production by 2050, how many other countries are going to do the same?
Not too many.
Denmark may be long term smart. If fossil fuels are a finite energy source as the energy experts say, keeping your reserves in the bank may be a good long term plan. The value of your reserves goes up as others deplete theirs. Denmark is a small country so transitioning to electric vehicles should not burden the citizens.
On the other hand in the USA the oil is mostly located on government land which is leased to the oil companies for a pittance because that’s the way the US works. They will deplete the low cost reserves in the USA before moving on to other countries, that’s a good business decision. Additionally, electric vehicles are just not practical for the average citizen who lives in a rural area in the USA. I test drove a EV and liked it. Acceleration was great but where can I stop in for a fill up? How can I get from Florida to NC or Virginia? Haven’t seen any electric charging stations at any rest areas on I-95. There’s a lot of work to be done before EVs are feasible.
1 Like
In the long term… we will all be dead !
The same will be the fate of the fabulous Norwegian Oil-Tresor.
Who knows today, what will happen tomorrow?
Denmark is looking ahead to 2050. Ample time to install charging stations around in place of Petrol Kiosks. (Gas Stations)
In Norway there are already public charging available throughout the country, incl. on both public and private parking lots. Already 50% of new cars sold are EV.
Petrol cars to be phased out of the new car market by 2025
BTW: There are long distances in Norway too.
Oslo - North Cape: as the craws fly: 1410 km.
Oslo - North Cape by road (Shortest route through Sweden): 1944 km.
2 Likes
The Norwegian goverment pulled in 2 - 3 times as much taxes on alchol last year then Denmark earned on the Oil Industry. So I think it was an easy decision to close a more or less non existing Industry in 30 years.