North Atlantic Drilling News

Hundreds of workers on Norwegian offshore oil and gas rigs went on strike on Tuesday after rejecting a proposed wage deal, leading to the shutdown of one Shell-operated field and helping send Brent crude prices higher.One union said hundreds more workers would join the strike on Sunday if an agreement over union demands for a wage increase and pension rights was not reached.Royal Dutch Shell said that due to the strike it was temporarily closing production at its Knarr field, which has a daily output of 23…

Statoil and its partners have contracted the West Phoenix rig for exploration drilling on the U.K. and Norwegian continental shelves from the summer of 2018. The contract is awarded to the two Seadrill companies North Atlantic Drilling UK Ltd. and North Atlantic Norway Ltd. The semi-submersible rig West Phoenix will first drill an exploration well for the Ragnfrid North license on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), followed by three wells on the U.K. Continental Shelf (UKCS). The rig has been approved by authorities for use both on the NCS and UKCS. “We needed a high capacity rig, because we will be drilling wells in high-pressure, high-temperature formations. We chose the Phoenix, which is a modern 6th generation dual-derrick rig.

Sembcorp Marine announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd (JSPL) has signed an agreement for the sale of the semi-submersible rig West Rigel (Rig) to a buyer at a price of US$500 million. Under the terms of the agreement, the Sale is subject to conditions precedent being met by both parties before the delivery of the Rig and the payment of the price. Once the conditions precedent are fulfilled, the buyer will take delivery of the Rig but the Rig will remain in the Company’s yard for certain works to be undertaken for reactivation. West Rigel was originally contracted by North Atlantic Rigel Ltd (NARL), a subsidiary of North Atlantic Drilling Ltd (NADL) and Seadrill Ltd. Both Seadrill Ltd and NADL have applied for restructuring under Chapter 11 in the United States.

North Atlantic Drilling has been awarded a contract extension for the semi-submersible rig West Phoenix by Total E&P UK Limited. The contract will commence mid-March 2016 and secure work for the unit through the end of August 2016. The total revenue potential for the contract extension is approximately $62 million. "A portion of the $62 million will be paid during the currently anticipated idle period from the beginning of September 2015 to the middle of March 2016. The Company has the ability to market the rig for alternate work during this period," North Atlantic Drilling said in the press release. As part of the agreement to extend the West Phoenix…

North Atlantic Drilling (NADL), a subsidiary of Seadrill, will delay the closing of a deal with Russia's Rosneft by two years and has agreed to renegotiate the terms of the agreement, reports Reuters. NADL will also be permitted to delay the construction, delivery, or shipyard stay of any of those rigs. Western sanctions levied against Russia for its actions in Crimea have raised concerns over the future of the $4.1 billion agreement and have already forces Rosneft to terminate several North Atlantic Drilling contracts. North Atlantic Drilling said in a statement, "Today, all parties have mutually agreed to extend the termination date ... The two companies also agreed to renegotiate the terms following the collapse of rig rates caused by the 50% fall in the oil price since June 2014.

Russian oil firm Rosneft has cancelled a contract for a two-and-a-half year rig contract with Northern Offshore and Seadrill's North Atlantic Drilling Ltd, the Norwegian offshore driller said. Western sanctions against Russia, and Rosneft in particular, have led the Russian oil group to cancel a North Atlantic Drilling vessel earlier this month and raised concerns whether a larger agreement would go through.. The contract, worth about $150 million, was for Northern Offshore's jack-up rig…

For its efforts to promote young employee development, marine insurer GARD has been awarded the 2014 YoungShip Young Corporation Award. The shipping industry is acknowledged as one of Norway’s key strategic industries. If shipping is to stay ahead in global competition, and solve tomorrow’s challenges, we are fully dependant on attracting the brightest brains and the hardest-working employees, in order to compete with other core industries for critical competence. As an organization for young professionals…

Revenues for the second quarter of 2014 were US$1,222 million compared to US$1,221 million in the first quarter of 2014, according to the company's financial report. Operating profit for the quarter was US$476 million compared to US$890 million in the preceding quarter. The decrease is primarily due to inclusion of the gain on sale of the West Auriga sale of US$440 million in first quarter results. Net financial and other items for the quarter showed a gain of US$71 million compared to a gain of US$2,239 million in the previous quarter. The gain is primarily related to the sale of SapuraKencana shares and income received from Seadrill Partners of US$59 million, partially offset by a loss from Archer of US$5 million and a loss on derivative positions of US$95 million.

Rosneft, Seadrill Limited and North Atlantic Drilling Limited (NADL) signed a Framework Agreement that envisages long-term cooperation in the sphere of oilfield development projects. The document foresees the acquisition by Rosneft of NADL shares through an exchange of assets and investments in NADL charter capital. Moreover agreement’s options contemplate a possibility for Rosneft to increase its stake in NADL according to the development of the cooperation. The deal is implemented within the Rosneft’s strategy aimed at strengthening and expanding its service business potential, increasing its technological capabilities and will allow the Company to acquire a fleet of platforms and drilling rigs for the conduction of on and offshore drilling operations.

The 'West Alpha' platform, owned by North Atlantic Drilling, has begun drilling the Universitetskaya-1 well in the Kara Sea as part of a joint Rosneft and ExxonMobil project, reports Russian official news agency 'Arctic-info'. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who took part in the launch of works by videoconference, called it an important step in the development of prospective fields in the Arctic. He noted the uniqueness of the project in terms of technologies applied in exploration and environmental enterprises. Earlier, the head of the Russian oil company, Igor Sechin, said that the beginning of the implementation of the joint project between Rosneft and ExxonMobil in the Kara Sea is the most important event for the company in 2014.

The International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC), North Sea Chapter once again recognized the very best in safety performance at its annual Safety Awards Ceremony held in Aberdeen. Julian Hall of Ensco, North Sea Chapter Chairman, said that it was important to recognize the contributions of individuals, teams and companies to the continuing safety of the industry. “It has not been an easy year, with safety dominated by understandable concerns regarding helicpter reliability.

North Atlantic Drilling Limited (NADL), a leading offshore harsh environment drilling company in which Seadrill Limited currently holds a 74 percent ownership interest, to file for independent listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The company states that it has filed its first amended registration statements with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with its initial public offering and concurrent offer to exchange previously issued unregistered common shares, other than the common shares owned by affiliates of NADL, for common shares that have been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Morgan Stanley will act as the Global Coordinator and Lead Bookrunner for the initial public offering.

Seadrill and North Atlantic Drilling announce strategic partnership to develop their business for drilling in harsh environments. The basis for the establishment of NADL in 2011 was to carve out a premium specialist operator with a superior safety standard in harsh environment areas and to use this as a platform to grow the business substantially. NADL builds on a 40-year history of drilling operations and a best-in-class track record in challenging areas. The recent discoveries and activities in harsh environment areas like Norway…

North Atlantic Drilling ("NADL") and Ship Finance International Limited ("Ship Finance") agree a combined a combined sale & leaseback arrangement for the harsh environment jack-up rig 'West Linus'. Ship Finance will acquire the harsh environment jack-up drilling rig West Linus from a subsidiary of NADL. The West Linus is currently under construction at Jurong Shipyard in Singapore with scheduled delivery in December 2013. The total acquisition cost will be US$600 million and the drilling rig will be chartered back to NADL on a bareboat contract for a period in excess of 15 years.

Cat C280-16 generator sets with an increased power rating have been selected by Jurong Shipyard, to power West Rigel drill rig. The West Rigel is a semisubmersible drilling rig newbuild under construction for North Atlantic Drilling Limited, a subsidiary of Seadrill Limited. Eight C280-16 generator sets, each with rated power of 5,500 ekw (5,730 bkw @ 900 rpm), will be used as the main power for the semisubmersible rig, with two of the generator sets serving as emergency power as well. The C280 has a stellar reputation in the oil and gas industry as a trusted provider of power for decades. The new uprate provides a 12% increase in overall power.

Seadrill - North Atlantic Drilling Ltd. announces extension of Statoil contract for the harsh environment jack-up rig 'West Epsilon'. North Atlantic Drilling Ltd., a majority owned subsidiary of Seadrill Limited, announce that Statoil has exercised its option to extend the contract for the heavy-duty harsh environment jack-up rig West Epsilon by two years from December 2014 to December 2016. The estimated value of the contract extension is US$215 million. Seadrill is a leading offshore deepwater drilling company…

To benefit from the current strong demand for high specification drilling units Seadrill announced that it has entered into a turnkey construction contract with Hyundai Samho Shipyard for the construction of a new harsh environment semisubmersible drilling rig. The new rig will be a sister rig of the harsh environment semi-submersible unit Seadrill's subsidiary North Atlantic Drilling currently have under construction at Jurong Shipyard in Singapore. The new rig will be of a Moss CS60 design, N class compliant and be fully winterized to meet the harsh and demanding weather conditions in the North Atlantic areas. In addition, the new rig will have premium ultra deepwater capabilities including water depth of up to 10,000 feet.

Sembcorp Marine, Jurong Shipyard gets US$ 568-million contract for semi-submersible deepwater rig for North Atlantic Drilling Ltd. The new rig will be constructed based on the Moss Maritime CS60 design – an enhancement of the Moss Maritime CS50E MKII harsh-environment ultra-deepwater semi-submersible rigs West Pegasus and West Leo which were delivered by Jurong Shipyard to Seadrill in March 2011 and January 2012 respectively. Delivery is scheduled no later than the first quarter of 2015.