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 [...]

Shares of Allis-Chalmers Energy dropped about 5 percent in afternoon trading, after the oilfield drilling and services company raised its offer for Bronco Drilling by 12 percent, to $18.25 a share from $16.33.
Bronco shares have risen since the buyout was first announced in January. They closed at $18.10 Friday, but lost some ground in Monday [...]

Brazil’s Petrobras plans to hire 40 deep and ultradeepwater rigs by 2017. That’s good news for drilling and oilfield services companies, although it’s not entirely clear what Brazil’s state-run oil company has in mind.
“We’re investigating the (1) expected mix of existing, already under construction, and yet-to-be-ordered rigs; (2) expected mix of drillships and semis; (3) [...]

Wachovia Capital Markets analyst Tom Curran says Allis-Chalmers Energy’s drilling and completion operations in Argentina are being impacted by a labor dispute between labor unions and oil companies.
“Our source said that, thus far, the strike has prevented Allis-Chalmers from driving to certain locations and delivering equipment, but did not quantify how many or to what [...]