GlobalSantaFe Corporation 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 ter ...

contractor headquartered in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. It owned 59 marine drilling rigs. In November 2007, the company was acquired by

Transocean Transocean Ltd. is an American drilling company. It is the world's largest offshore drilling contractor based on revenue and is based in Steinhausen, Switzerland. The company has offices in 20 countries, including Canada, the United States, ...

History

The company was formed in 2001 by the merger of Global Marine and Santa Fe International Corporation. In March 2003, the company temporarily suspended operations in

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

ahead of the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

. In May 2004, the company sold its worldwide land drilling assets to

Precision Drilling Precision Drilling Corporation is the largest drilling rig contractor in Canada, also providing oil field rental and supplies. History Precision Drilling Ltd. was founded in 1951. In 1987, Precision Drilling was acquired by Cypress Drilling, ...

for $316.5 million. In August 2004, one of the company's rigs sank in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

about 25 miles offshore

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

after a fire broke out on the rig. In June 2006, the company contracted with

Saudi Aramco Saudi Aramco ( ') or Aramco (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a majority state-owned petroleum and natural gas company that is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia. , it is the fourth- l ...

for 4 of its

jackup rig A jackup rig or a self-elevating unit is a type of mobile platform that consists of a buoyant hull fitted with a number of movable legs, capable of raising its hull over the surface of the sea. The buoyant hull enables transportation of the unit ...

s. In November 2007, the company was acquired by

References

{{Reflist, 1 2001 establishments in Texas 2007 disestablishments in Texas Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Defunct oil companies of the United States Transocean