ODECO (Ocean Drilling & Exploration Company) was an
offshore drilling
Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently extract petroleum that lies in rock formations beneath the seabed. Most commonly, the te ...
company. In 1992, it was acquired by
Diamond Offshore Drilling
Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. is an offshore drilling contractor. The company is headquartered in Katy, Texas, United States, and has major offices in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Scotland, Singapore, and Norway.
The company operates 15 drilling ...
.
History
In 1953, the company was founded by Alden J. "Doc" Laborde, who also founded
Tidewater, and John Hayward. Hayward was the builder of the Barnsdall rig and holder of the patent on
submersible drilling A submersible drilling rig is a marine vessel design that can be floated to location and lowered onto the sea floor for offshore drilling activities.
Design and operation
The submersible drilling platform is supported on large pontoon-like struc ...
barge methodology. Charles Murphy Jr. of
Murphy Oil
Murphy Oil Corporation is a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration headquartered in Houston, Texas.
The company is ranked 625th on the Fortune 500 and 1860th on the Forbes Global 2000.
As of December 31, 2020, the company had of estimate ...
invested $500,000 in the company and assisted Laborde in finding additional investors.
Alexander Shipyard in
constructed the company's first rig, which was delivered in 1954 and immediately contracted to
Shell Oil. The rig was named ''Mr.Charlie'' after Charles Murphy. ''Mr. Charlie'' was retired in 1986.
After noticing the stability of submersible rigs when they were only partially submerged for relocation and the success of Shell's conversion of the Blue Water rig, Laborde designed and constructed the first purpose-built V-shaped
semi-submersible
Semi-submersible may refer to a self-propelled vessel, such as:
* Heavy-lift ship, which partially submerge to allow their cargo (another ship) to float into place for transport
*Narco-submarine, some of which remained partially on the surface
* ...
drilling rig, ''Ocean Driller'', delivered in 1963.
In 1982, ''
Ocean Ranger
''Ocean Ranger'' was a semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit that sank in Canadian waters on 15 February 1982. It was drilling an exploration well on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, east of St. John's, Newfoundland, for Mobil Oil o ...
'', one of the company's
oil platform
An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...
s, sank in a violent storm in Canadian waters east of
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
, killing 84 people.
Also in 1982, the company took delivery of ''
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...
''. The rig suffered a
blowout in 1988.
In 1991, Murphy Oil acquired the company.
In 1992,
Diamond Offshore Drilling
Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. is an offshore drilling contractor. The company is headquartered in Katy, Texas, United States, and has major offices in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Scotland, Singapore, and Norway.
The company operates 15 drilling ...
acquired the company from Murphy Oil for $358 million.
References
{{Authority control
Defunct energy companies of the United States