GlobalSantaFe Corporation, which traded on the NYSE as GSF was an offshore oil

Oil

An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

 and gas

Gas

Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...

 drilling contractor

General contractor

A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...

, which owned or operating a fleet of 59 marine drilling rigs

Offshore drilling

Offshore drilling refers to a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled through the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently produce hydrocarbons which lie in rock formations beneath the seabed...

. With its principal executive offices in Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

, GlobalSantaFe was one of the largest international drilling contractors, providing offshore drilling services to the world's leading oil and gas companies.

On 23 July 2007, a merger between GlobalSantaFe and larger rival Transocean

Transocean

Transocean Ltd. is one of the world's largest offshore drilling contractors. The company rents floating mobile drill rigs, along with the equipment and personnel for operations, to oil and gas companies at an average daily rate of US$282,700...

 was announced. The merger was completed on 27 November 2007. The combined company is known as Transocean.

Overview

GlobalSantaFe was the successor to two companies, Global Marine Inc.

Glomar

Glomar may refer to:* The former Global Marine Inc., a drilling contractor, which merged with Santa Fe International Corporation to form GlobalSantaFe Corporation, which in turn merged with rival Transocean in 2007....

 and Santa Fe International Corporation, which merged in November 2001. Both companies shared a common history of providing quality drilling services dating back to the Union Oil Company of California in 1946. As of June 18, 2007, the Company's fleet included 43 cantilevered jack-up rigs, 11 semi-submersible rigs, three Drillship

Drillship

A drillship is a maritime vessel that has been fitted with drilling apparatus. It is most often used for exploratory offshore drilling of new oil or gas wells in deep water or for scientific drilling. The drillship can also be used as a platform to carry out well maintenance or completion work such...

s and two additional Semi-submersible Platforms it operated for third parties under a joint venture

Joint venture

A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

 agreement.

Products and services

GlobalSantaFe provided offshore oil and gas contract drilling services to the oil and gas industry worldwide on a daily rate basis. It also provided oil and gas drilling management services on either a day rate or completed-project, fixed-price basis, as well as drilling engineering and drilling project management services, and it also participated in oil and gas exploration and production activities.

GlobalSantaFe provided a range of offshore drilling services to domestic and international oil and gas companies. The company's primary business was providing fully manned mobile drilling rigs to drill offshore. Known as contract drilling, this segment prices its services on a per-day basis, is capital intensive, fixed cost and highly cyclical. All of the company's rigs were designed for international operations and were deployed in most of the significant offshore rig markets in the world, including the U.S. Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

, West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

, the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

, South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

/Mediterranean and South East Asia.