Theban stems from an oil spill last November in a field operated byChevron at a well drilled with a Transocean rig.
Transoceansaid it is “vigorously pursuing” the overturn or suspension of the preliminaryinjunction, including through an appeal to the Superior Court of Justice.
Absentrelief from the courts, the US-listed drilling giant will be required to complywith the preliminary injunction.
BarclaysCapital says that in the event the injunction stands, Transocean would be intechnical breach of contract – resulting in zero dayrate – and would havelimited recourse options.
The ban is related to civil lawsuitsseeking $20bn in damages from Transocean and Chevron for the Frade field spillin which 3,600 barrels of oil leaked into the sea off Rio de Janeiro.
Transoceanhas ten rigs under contract for work in Brazil which accounted for about 11% ofits revenues in the first half of 2012.
Eightof the Transocean rigs in Brazil work for Petrobras, including seven contractedto the state-led oil company and another subcontracted from BP.
Petrobraschief executive Maria das Gracas Foster has publically backed Transocean in itsbattle to remain in waters off Brazil.
She recently made it clear that the oil company would explicitly aideTransocean in its fight to overturn the injunction over the Frade fieldincident.
Shestated that the impact of a drilling halt “would be very bad” for Petrobras andwould force the company to stop exploration and development in some of its mostpromising deepwater oil fields.
Analystsat Dalhman Rose, led by James Crandell, believe that assistance from Petrobras “canonly help Transocean” in the Frade field matter.
“With the companyrepresenting a sizeable percent of Brazilian GDP, we expect the matter to beresolved before the injunction would force a cessation of activity.”
Transocean said it was now “evaluatingrig contracts and collaborating with customers to determine appropriate actionswith respect to operations.”
