End of drilling ban boosts Transocean shares

Shares in the Swiss-based drilling contractor Transocean rose on Wednesday, after the United States lifted its moratorium on deep-sea oil drilling.

The company hit the headlines in April, when the Deepwater Horizon rig it had leased to BP exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, triggering billions of dollars of damage.

Transocean shares were up by 3.86 per cent at the end of the trading day at the Zurich stock exchange.

A broker told the French news agency AFP that the US announcement had come seven weeks earlier than expected, and although drilling would not restart straight away, the sector could now start preparing to go back into production.

BP has accepted some of the responsibility for the Deepwater Horizon explosion, but claims Transocean also bears some of the blame.

Transocean is the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor.

Although it was established in the US, its headquarters have been in the Swiss city of Zug since 2008.