Avista & SEACOR Tankers in Jones Act Shipping J/V
Private equity firm Avista Capital Partners informs it has invested in a newly-formed joint venture (J/V) with SEACOR Tankers Inc., a subsidiary of SEACOR Holdings Inc. that operates a fleet of 7 U.S.-flag Jones Act vessels (5 owned and 2 chartered-in) in the U.S. coastwise trade transporting crude oil, petroleum and specialty chemical products. Under the terms of the joint venture, ACP III Tankers LLC, a wholly owned entity of Avista, will fund a portion of the equity required for the design and construction of three 50,000 deadweight ton product carriers, each with 330,000 barrel cargo capacity, which SEACOR has contracted to build at General Dynamic's National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) shipyard in San Diego…
R&B Falcon Announces Deepwater IV Contract with Texaco
R&B Falcon Corporation has confirmed a three-year drilling contract with Texaco for its newbuild 10,000-ft. water depth dynamically positioned drillship Deepwater IV, as a substitute for previously contracted Peregrine VIII. Texaco expects to begin a drilling program offshore West Africa shortly after the vessel's delivery, which is scheduled for the third quarter of 2000. Steve Webster, R&B Falcon's president and CEO, stated, "We are pleased to work with Texaco on its ultra-deepwater drilling program. This contract commitment, recently following the commitment by another deepwater operator for our 5th generation ultra-deepwater semisubmersible RBS8-D, reaffirms our view of the relative strength of the deepwater sector of the offshore drilling industry.
