Diamond Offshore Drilling

Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. is a deepwater drilling contractor which provides drilling services to the oil and gas industry. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has major offices in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Scotland, Singapore and Norway.

Current Operations

As of 2015, Diamond Offshore Drilling operates 33 drilling rigs in all areas of the world. The fleet includes 24 semisubmersibles, 5 drillships, and 6 jackups.

History

Diamond Offshore's beginnings can be traced back to the earliest days of the offshore drilling industry. Its predecessor companies were ODECO, Zapata Corporation, and Diamond M Drilling Co.

Diamond Offshore’s roots date back to May 1953, when Alden J. (Doc) Laborde founded Ocean Drilling and Exploration Co. (ODECO) in New Orleans. Laborde had designed what was probably the first submersible drilling rig. After finding a financial backer in Charlie Murphy of Murphy Oil Co., a grateful Laborde built the rig in 1954 and named the unit Mr. Charlie in honor of his benefactor. Today, the Mr. Charlie is a museum and training facility in Morgan City, Louisiana.

Offshore company

The term offshore company or offshore corporation is used in at least two distinct and different ways. An offshore company may be a reference to:

The former use (companies formed in offshore jurisdictions) is probably the more common usage of the term. In isolated instances the term can also be used in reference to companies with offshore oil and gas operations.

Companies from offshore jurisdictions

In relation to companies and similar entities which are incorporated in offshore jurisdictions, the use of both the words "offshore" and "company" can be varied in application.

The extent to which a jurisdiction is regarded as offshore is often a question of perception and degree. Classic tax haven countries such as Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands are quintessentially offshore jurisdictions, and companies incorporated in those jurisdictions are invariably labelled as offshore companies. Thereafter there are certain small intermediate countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore (sometimes referred to as "mid-shore" jurisdictions) which, whilst having oversized financial centres, are not zero tax regimes. Finally, there are classes of industrialised economies which can be used as part of tax mitigation structures, including countries like Ireland, the Netherlands and even the United Kingdom, particularly in commentary relating to corporate inversion. Furthermore, in Federal systems, states which operate like a classic offshore centre can result in corporations formed there being labelled as offshore, even if they form part of the largest economy in the world (for example, Delaware in the United States).