Drilling contractor Ocean Rig is chasing a termination fee after France’s Total quashed a long-term charter with a high-specification drillship off Congo-Brazzaville.
The Nasdaq-listed rig owner revealed this week that it had received notice from Total “to terminate for convenience” the deal for the seventh-generation ultra-deepwater unit Ocean Rig Apollo.
Total took the drillship from March last year, when it was delivered by Samsung Heavy Industries, and was to hold onto it off Congo-Brazzaville until the second quarter of 2018, Ocean Rig’s latest fleet status report shows.
