New York, May 24, 2026, 15:04 (EDT)
- Transocean ended Friday at $6.81, down 0.15%. Shares touched a 52-week high of $7.66 this week.
- NYSE will be closed Monday, May 25, for Memorial Day. Regular U.S. trading picks up again on Tuesday.
- Oil closed up Friday, but crude posted a weekly loss. Offshore drillers stayed cautious after more news on U.S.-Iran talks and the Strait of Hormuz.
Transocean Ltd. heads into the holiday week with its shares little changed. The stock slipped after an earlier rise, with oil prices up and down and deal activity heavy. Merger risk weighed on investors.
Offshore driller shares in New York wrapped up Friday at $6.81, down a cent. The stock climbed as high as $7.66 on Tuesday following a 7.7% jump Monday, but then lost ground four sessions straight, according to market data.
RIG is back in focus as traders lean on it as a high-beta offshore driller. The stock is seen as a play on steady oil prices, with the outlook depending on producers sticking with deepwater contracts. U.S. markets are closed Monday for Memorial Day, so attention is shifting to Tuesday, when oil news has the potential to move RIG.
S&P 500 rose 0.9% last week, with the Dow up 2.1% and Nasdaq gaining 0.5%, according to AP market data. Transocean shares did not keep up and ended Friday below those moves.
Peers slipped. Valaris, set to merge with Transocean, edged down 0.3% Friday. Noble Corp. dropped 0.7%. The VanEck Oil Services ETF, which tracks oilfield-services names, shed 0.3%.
Oil kept traders watching. Brent settled at $103.54 a barrel Friday, while U.S. crude was $96.60, Reuters reported. Both benchmarks fell this week. Market players tracked progress on U.S.-Iran negotiations and possible shipping trouble in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We have so many headlines back and forth, it’s hard to keep up,” Phil Flynn at Price Futures Group told Reuters. John Kilduff at Again Capital said the market is “very much subject to the headlines.” Reuters
Transocean shares are moving as traders look at new contract wins and the Valaris deal. In its newest fleet status update, the company reported more contract work for its rigs. Transocean Barents landed a 1,095-day contract with Vår Energi offshore Norway.
Transocean reported contract drilling revenue of $1.08 billion for the first quarter. Net income was $71 million and adjusted EBITDA came in at $440 million. Adjusted EBITDA excludes interest, taxes, depreciation and certain other items.
Transocean CEO Keelan Adamson said the company delivered an “exceptional performance to start the year.” Adamson reported $1.6 billion in new backlog at a weighted average dayrate around $410,000. That’s the daily rate for a drilling rig. Deepwater
Valaris is back in the spotlight this week, following Transocean’s February agreement to acquire the company in an all-stock transaction. The offer values each Valaris share at 15.235 shares of Transocean. The two drilling firms project a combined enterprise value of about $17 billion. They said they expect to close the deal in the second half of 2026, if they get the green light from regulators.
Deal risk for RIG is getting hard to ignore. Transocean and Valaris both received a second request from the U.S. Department of Justice on May 4, which means the antitrust review drags on. The waiting period is now set to expire 30 days after both companies are in substantial compliance, unless regulators close it early or push the timing back again. Any extra delay, stricter terms, lower oil prices, or weaker offshore demand from customers would all add risk to the bull side.
Traders are keeping an eye on the Tuesday open, crude prices after the weekend, and any filings or Valaris regulatory moves. RIG closed Friday near its recent high. It has less downside after a strong rally but is still tied to tight rig supply, high dayrates, and hopes for sustained offshore spending, just like earlier this year.
