Transocean has announced a two-year binding letter of award for the Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 drillship with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, India’s largest government-owned oil-and-gas explorer and producer.

The campaign is expected to commence in the first quarter of next year and contribute approximately $300 million in contract value, inclusive of additional services and mobilisation fees.

The contract includes two years of priced options that, if fully exercised, would result in the drillship working in India into early 2031.

Transocean is an international provider of offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells. It specialises in technically demanding sectors of the global offshore drilling business with a particular focus on ultra-deepwater and harsh environment drilling services.

“Transocean operates the highest-specification floating offshore drilling fleet in the world,” a spokesman said.

The company owns — or has partial ownership interests in — and operates a fleet of 27 mobile offshore drilling units, consisting of 20 ultra-deepwater floaters and seven harsh-environment floaters.