The writing's been on the hull for a while now.
First there was Petrobras'
In short, it should really surprise no one that Transocean has reported a record dayrate on its new five-year contract with Eni
The market for deepwater floating rigs remains incredibly tight. Petrobras, in an interesting twist, recently agreed to finance the construction of a new rig, to be operated by Transocean, and lease it for up to 20 years. Contract drillers usually self-finance their newbuild construction programs.
This sort of deal reflects the major, long-term nature of Petrobras' plans. If you read the company's Vision 2020 roadmap, you'll see that Petrobras is poised to become even more of a powerhouse than it is today.
You don't need to invest directly in the big dog, however. From Transocean and Noble