Ben Casselman at The Wall Street Journal is reporting (link may be firewalled):
Nearly three of every four incidents that triggered federal investigations into safety and other problems on deepwater drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico since 2008 have been on rigs operated by Transocean, according to an analysis of federal data. Transocean defended its safety record but didn't dispute the Journal's analysis.
In addition, an industry survey of oil companies that hired Transocean perceived a drop in its quality and performance, including safety by some measures, compared with its peers, though it still scored tops in one safety category. ...
From 2005 through 2007, a Transocean rig was involved in 13 of the 39 deep-water drilling incidents investigated by the MMS in the Gulf of Mexico, or 33%. That's roughly in line with the percentage of deep-water rigs, 30%, Transocean owned and operated in the Gulf then, according to data firm RigLogix.
Since the merger, Transocean has accounted for 24 of the 33 incidents investigated by the MMS, or 73%, despite during that time owning fewer than half the Gulf of Mexico rigs operating in more than 3,000 feet of water. ...
Transocean's 2009 safety record, as measured by injuries per hour worked, is better than the overall industry average. Companywide, Transocean had 0.77 injuries per 200,000 man hours, vs. 0.81 for all offshore rigs world-wide, including those in both deep and shallow water, according to statistics compiled by the International Association of Drilling Contractors. Still, its record was worse than those of some big deep-water competitors. Noble Corp. had 0.47 injuries per 200,000 hours, and Ensco PLC had 0.6.
Clients of Transocean said its 2007 merger with GlobalSantaFe seems to have precipitated the rise in "incidents."
The lackadaisical (or in-cahoots-with-industry) attitude toward regulation at the U.S. Mineral Management Service may or may not be contributing to Transocean's performance. But with every passing day since the BP blowout nearly three weeks ago, we're getting a clearer and clearer picture of an industry that needs far tighter oversight considering that there seems to be no will in Washington to back off from this disastrous approach to meeting our energy needs.