The world's largest deep-water driller Transocean has confirmed being awarded a three-year contract for a brand new drillship that averages out at a dayrate of nearly $450,000.

Transocean said on Thursday the contract for the newbuild ultra-deepwater drillship Deepwater Aquila was for offshore Brazil with a national oil company.

The contract is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2024 and represents $486 million in firm backlog, excluding a mobilisation fee of 90 times the contract dayrate.