Eni to pay $185 million to Transocean after settling drillship dispute

Posted On: 06-07-2020

Offshore drilling contractor Transocean and Italian oil company Eni have reached an agreement in a dispute related to a contract for the Deepwater Pathfinder drillship. Under the agreement, Eni will pay Transocean $185 million in four equal instalments. On 1 July 2020, Transocean announced that Transocean Offshore, a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of the company, entered into a settlement agreement and mutual release with Eni US, providing for the mutual settlement of disputes related to drilling services provided by Transocean Offshore to Eni US. The services were provided under a drilling services contract that started in 2008 using the 1998-built Deepwater Pathfinder drillship. The contract start date was in 2010 and estimated revenues for the five-year contract amounted to $1.2 billion. However, several years into the contract, Eni repudiated the contract for the Deepwater Pathfinder drillship. Transocean, in turn, contested the termination costume hermione and took legal action to recover its lost profits. In January 2018, Transocean secured a multi-million-dollar litigation victory in the case related to the Deepwater Pathfinder contract with Eni. Eni was ordered to pay Transocean over $185.7 million in damages and pre-judgment interest. However, Eni in July 2018 Eni urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to overturn a decision against the company, saying that the trial court misinterpreted the contract when it ruled Eni was in breach for terminating its agreement with Transocean.
(Credits: www.offshore-energy.biz)