Suncor signs $119M offshore contract for Transocean rig

Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil industry will be getting a Swiss visitor in 2017.

Switzerland-based Transocean announced Monday it had signed a 15-month contract with Suncor for the use of its TransoceanBarents rig.

The Transocean Barents is a harsh-environment, ultra-deepwater floater, and is expected to begin operations in the third quarter of next year.

The rig's rate is $260,000 a day, making the contract worth $119 million.

Transocean ownedthe DeepwaterHorizon, which sank off the coast of Louisiana in 2010 after an explosion and fire that killed 11 workers. A movie adaptation of the disaster is currently in theatres.