Transocean is due to placate the Outer Hebrides communities impacted by the grounding of the dead rig Transocean Winner.
But I have a question; in fact a string of questions.
For a start, who actually owns the rig?
It is to be scrapped somewhere … location not disclosed. That means a deal has been struck with someone.
So who owns it now?
Is it Transocean or some other entity?
If some other entity, then at what point does Transocean’s involvement cease?
Has it already ceased but Transocean is providing window dressing, because this is “switched-on” North West Europe and the world’s largest drilling company has its brass plate in Zug, Switzerland, though it remains American at heart?
Does Transocean’s interest cease in Malta because that’s where the rig was bound prior to the grounding whilst under tow?
I’ll warrant that Malta is a staging post, a place to take a short break and maybe sign papers, do a handover. Malta does not scrap ships or rigs; at least not to my knowledge.
Or does Transocean’s interest cease upon delivery to the eventual scrapyard, presumed to be in Turkey.
The company decommissioned a number of units last year and all were scrapped in Turkey at Aliaga, which has scrapped a number of UK Royal Navy vessels including two aircraft carriers.
So, it seems likely that the Transocean Winner will end up at Aliaga, in line with our original speculation.
This doesn’t happen with ships. Owners sell and that’s that. The buyer sees to the removal. So why would drilling rigs be any different? I think someone else now owns Transocean Winner but Transocean is keeping quiet.
I ask these questions because the business of scrapping ships is among the most dangerous in the world and it is well known to be riddled with shady practices.
Most ships when they reach the end of their service are sold to middlemen … companies who buy the vessels for cash, strike a deal with a breaker … and mainly make their money by speculating on the value of the steel in the structure going up between the point of purchase and the ship hitting the beach. This is usually in unregulated locations like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan or some other destination for chopping up where there is scant regard for health and safety.
According to Patrizia Heidegger, executive director of The NGO Shipbreaking Platform Secretariat in Belgium, there are two really big players in this market and that these guys package each vessel into a post box company registered somewhere like the Virgin Islands.
You never get to see the identity of the Mr Bigs and the one-boat PO box companies just evaporate.
She is worried about the emerging market for rig disposal and that it has gone the same way.
She told me that a number of clapped out drilling rigs had been dragged through Suez and on to Far East breakers. Turkish yards are well run compared with Middle East counterparts.
I suggest that Transocean comes clean about this rig with a statement.
It must state which breakers yard in which country it has been sold to.
And I want to know who really owns the Transocean Winner right now. Lloyd’s List mentions Transocean as the one and only owner of the vessel, but is that really the case?
Someone has to pay for this mess and that responsibility lies with the owners. That’s why I’m asking this most basic question.
In fairness to Transocean, it is taking concrete steps to alleviate the problem. But there needs to be transparency. And that is something Transocean is poor at.
It’s time to smarten up and to stop being so unnecessarily secretive.