Offshore driller Ensco Plc said it would shut down an ultra-deepwater rig as demand dwindles due to a slump in crude prices, a day after it slashed its quarterly dividend by 80 percent. The company’s shares fell nearly 8 percent to their lowest in six years. Ensco reported a fourth-quarter loss on Wednesday, compared with year-ago profit, hurt mainly by a $3 billion goodwill impairment charge. Rival Transocean Ltd also said on Wednesday it wrote down the value of its contract drilling business by $992 million in the December quarter, and has no goodwill remaining on its balance sheet. Ensco will shut down or cold stack a rig by mid 2015, Chief Executive Carl Trowell said on a conference call with analysts on Thursday. The move will cost the company about $12 million over the first and second quarters. Ensco, which is looking to sell […]