Transocean stacks 3 rigs in Africa, another likely

SAN FRANCISCO, May 5 (Reuters) - Transocean Ltd (RIG.N) said on Tuesday it had set aside two shallow-water rigs that had been working in Angola and one from Egypt, with another in Egypt likely to be stacked and waiting as well due to a contract dispute.

The announcement by the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, ahead of its first-quarter results report on Wednesday, comes amid a slump in worldwide demand for jackup rigs in particular, due to lower oil and gas prices.

GSF Adriatic I and GSF Adriatic V, jackups which had been contracted in Angola by Chevron Corp (CVX.N) for $193,000 a day until March, have been stacked in Gabon, Transocean said.

Zeitco, operator of the Interocean III in Egypt, had exercised its right to terminate early and pay the lump sum remainder of its $122,000-per-day contract, which was due to run until June.

A fourth jackup, GSF Rig 103, is the subject of a dispute between Transocean and Petzed, the operator previously listed as having the rig under contract at $116,000 a day until February 2011.

"The client has to date refused to acknowledge that the contract is in effect, and the rig is accordingly expected to be stacked for an undetermined period of time," the company said in its fleet update.

Transocean also said its GSF Compact Driller would be contracted by Chevron in Thailand until April 2012 at $120,000 a day, down from the previous contract's $196,000.

Shares of Transocean closed 1.35 percent lower at $72.97 on Tuesday, prior to the announcement. (Reporting by Braden Reddall, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)