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 ter ...

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. It operates 15 drilling rigs incl ...

History

In 1953, the company was founded by Alden J. "Doc" Laborde, who also founded

Tidewater Tidewater may refer to: * Tidewater (region), a geographic area of southeast Virginia, southern Maryland, and northeast North Carolina. ** Tidewater accent, an accent of American English associated with the Tidewater region of Virginia * Tidewater ...

, and John Hayward. Hayward was the builder of the Barnsdall rig and holder of the patent on submersible drilling barge methodology. Charles Murphy Jr. of

Murphy Oil Murphy Oil Corporation is an American energy 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 ...

invested $500,000 in the company and assisted Laborde in finding additional investors. Alexander Shipyard in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

constructed the company's first rig, which was delivered in 1954 and immediately contracted to

Shell Oil Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Y ...

. 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 *S ...

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 (also called an oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, etc.) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms w ...

s, sank in a violent storm in Canadian waters east of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

, killing 84 people. Also in 1982, the company took delivery of ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

''. The rig suffered a

blowout Blowout or Blow out may refer to: Film and television *''Blow Out'', a 1981 film by Brian De Palma * '' The Blow Out'', a 1936 short film * ''Blow Out'' (TV series), a TV series on Bravo * "Blow Out" (''Prison Break''), an episode of ''Priso ...

in 1988. In 1991, Murphy Oil acquired the company. In 1992,

acquired the company from Murphy Oil for $358 million.

References

{{Authority control Defunct energy companies of the United States