Transocean adds $1.1bn to backlog with Equinor approval and Transocean Norge deal
Final approval covers Transocean Enabler, Encourage and Endurance; Norske Shell hires Transocean Norge for two wells worth about $62m
Transocean has added about $1.1bn to its firm contract backlog from two deals in Norway, the offshore driller said on 9 October.
The larger part is the agreement with Equinor for three harsh-environment semisubmersibles, Transocean Enabler, Transocean Encourage and Transocean Endurance. Announced on 30 June and conditional on approval by the licence partners, it received final approval from Equinor in late September. Its total value of about $1.0bn, covering seven rig years and excluding additional services, now sits in backlog.
Transocean Endurance is due to start a two-year campaign in the second quarter of 2027 after mobilising from Australia. Transocean Enabler has three years of work and Transocean Encourage two, both expected to start in the first quarter of 2028.
Separately, A/S Norske Shell has awarded Transocean Norge a two-well contract estimated at 120 days. It is expected to add about $62m to backlog, excluding additional services, and will follow directly on from the rig's existing programmes in Norway. The contract includes an option for one further well, as set out in the company's filing.
Transocean Norge is a sixth-generation semisubmersible of Moss Maritime's CS60 design, built at Jurong Shipyard in 2015 and upgraded in 2018.
The Norwegian harsh-environment market also produced a court ruling this month. Seadrill has been ordered to pay about NOK525m ($55m) to a subsidiary of SFL Corporation after Norway's Borgarting Court of Appeal unanimously found that it breached its contract when it redelivered the semisubmersible Hercules to its owner in December 2022. The Oslo District Court had ruled for SFL in February 2025 and awarded about $48m including interest and costs; Seadrill appealed, and had posted a guarantee of NOK574m as security for the judgment.
Transocean operates 27 mobile offshore drilling units, 20 of them ultra-deepwater floaters and seven harsh-environment floaters.
This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 15 October 2026.
