Wachovia Capital Markets analyst Tim Curran says in a note to investors that Transocean will lease-purchase and manage a newbuild drillship that Brazil’s Petrobras is building to use for projects offshore the West African nations of Angola and Nigeria.
Curran says Transocean will run the drillship under a 10-year contract, with an option for a [...]

Major oil companies “have their backs against the wall” when it comes to getting offshore drilling contracts, according to Dahlman Rose & Co. managing director Omar Nokta.
Nokta says Brazil’s national oil company, Petrobras, has aggressively locked up a significant amount of rig capacity. As a result, dayrates have been pushed to record levels.
“We expect the [...]