Eni rig on way from Gulf to West Africa

MILAN, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Italy's oil and gas major Eni (ENI.MI: Quote) is moving its deepwater rig from the Gulf of Mexico to West Africa and will keep the contract with Transocean Ltd (RIG.N: Quote) (RIGN.VX: Quote) until its expiry, an Eni spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Transocean's Marianas rig departed last week, bound for Nigeria, Transocean's spokesman said on Wednesday. It is the first rig to move from the Gulf after the Obama administration's deepwater drilling moratorium on U.S. offshore oil and gas operations. [ID:nN01152276]

"I can confirm that the rig is moving to West Africa, where we expect it to work until the end of the contract in December 2011," Eni's spokeswoman said without adding further details. The U.S. Interior Department imposed the six-month ban after an explosion earlier this year sank Transocean's Deepwater Horizon rig, ruptured an undersea well and spilled huge amounts of oil into the Gulf. (Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova; editing by Keiron Henderson)