Rig Contractor News

Offshore drilling rig contractor Seadrill has asked creditors to write off more than 85% of its debts in exchange for a 99% stake in the reorganized company, a court filing showed.The Oslo-listed firm controlled by Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen in February filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, the second time it has done so in four years.Seadrill has in the past year written off billions of dollars worth of assets due to a bleak outlook for the oil sector…

Offshore drilling rig contractor Seadrill has filed for bankruptcy protection at a court in the U.S. state of Texas, it said on Wednesday, the second time in four years the company has entered into so-called Chapter 11 restructuring.The Oslo-listed group controlled by Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen returned to court along with several subsidiaries after failing to win consent from bank lenders to postpone payments on $5.7 billion of debts.Its total debts and liabilities…

Deepwater drilling rig contractor Pacific Drilling has found more work for its Pacific Sharav drillship.The drilling company on Wednesday revealed that Murphy Oil had hired the drillship for work offshore Mexico. According to the fleet status report, Murphy has agreed to charter the unit for two firm wells and one optional well.The day rate for the 2014-built drillship has been set to $230,000, and the contract is expected to start in November and last until February 2021.Pacific Drilling on Wednesday said that its fourth-quarter 2019 contract drilling revenue was $33.1 million compared to $54.3 million in third-quarter 2019. The decrease…

Drilling rig contractor Maersk Drilling, which will soon list on the Copenhagen stock exchange, said the offshore drilling market is improving as oil firms generate more cash and look to boost reserves.A fall in oil prices in 2014 prompted a severe downturn in the industry as oil companies cancelled or postponed exploration plans, reducing demand for offshore drilling rigs."What drives our faith in a market recovery is to a high degree the higher activity we see from the oil companies…

Drilling rig contractor Borr Drilling aims to start paying dividends by 2020, the company's founder and chairman, Tor Olav Troeim, said on Wednesday.Troeim, a former business partner of Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen, founded Borr Drilling at the end of 2016 and the company has quickly grown into one of the largest owners of jack-up rigs which drill in the shallow waters.Schlumberger, the world's top oil service firm, is Borr Drilling's largest shareholder with a stake of 14.2 percent."We have an ambition to return a significant part of cash back to shareholders quickly ...

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc posted a smaller-than-expected loss on Monday, as a fall in revenue was offset by a 15 percent drop in costs.The Houston-based company's total operating expenses fell to $321.2 million from $378.5 million, a year earlier.As oil prices stay above $70 a barrel, oil and gas producers are again showing an interest in expensive offshore projects that can take up to a decade to develop.The rig contractor recorded a loss of $69.27 million, or 50 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, compared to a profit of $15.95 million, or 12 cents per share, a year earlier.Excluding items, the company posted a loss of 33 cents per share.

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc's fourth-quarter revenue beat analysts' estimates on Monday, helped by higher demand for its ultra-deepwater rigs. The company's revenue from its ultra-deepwater rigs rose more than 24 percent to $288.28 million in the fourth quarter. Total revenue fell nearly 12 percent to $346.21 million, but beat analysts' estimate of $331.91 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. "Although market conditions continue to be challenging, we were able to secure additional work for the Ocean Valor and Ocean Valiant…

Rig contractor Ocean RIG UDW Inc filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court amid a deep and prolonged downturn in the industry. Shares of the company plunged 36.4 percent to 46 cents in early trading on Tuesday. The Cyprus-based company, which had $3.25 billion in debt as of Dec. 31, filed for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for Southern District of New York on Monday. Under U.S. bankruptcy laws, Chapter 15 grants a foreign company protection from creditors looking to seize its assets in the country.

Rig contractor Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc's Chief Executive Officer Marc Edwards said on Monday oil prices needed to be "well over $60" to spur a recovery in offshore drilling. The company's shares reversed course and were down 2.3 percent at $16.67, with investors shrugging off a beat on quarterly profit and revenue. Global benchmark Brent crude prices have stabilized after a more than two-year slump, with prices hovering around $55 per barrel. "Offshore drilling is cyclical in nature…

Paragon Offshore Plc said on Friday it was evaluating its options after a U.S. judge rejected the offshore rig contractor's plan to exit bankruptcy, an unusual setback for a corporate Chapter 11 proceeding. In an oral ruling in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware, Judge Christopher Sontchi said the plan was not feasible because it removes too much cash from the company during the current downturn. The ruling does not preclude the company from a restructuring under a different plan, he said. "The company continues to believe, but cannot provide any assurances, that a positive resolution of the company's restructuring process can be achieved," Paragon said in a statement following the ruling.

Hercules Offshore Inc said it planned to file for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy, just six months after the rig contractor emerged from bankruptcy protection. The company said it had entered into a restructuring support agreement with some lenders, which will eventually allow it to place all its unsold assets into a wind-down vehicle until they can be sold. Hercules Offshore said its international units would not be included in the bankruptcy filing, but would be a part of the sale process. The company said in February that it was considering strategic options, including selling itself. Hercules filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 2015 and emerged from bankruptcy in November. "Since this time, the ongoing decline in oil prices, the consolidation of its U.S.

Rig contractor Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc said it expected a significant number of ultra-deepwater rigs to be idled across the industry by year-end as oil producers' capital budget is likely to be lowered by a fifth this year. The company also said it would not pay a special dividend as it had been doing since 2006 to save cash to take advantage of opportunities in a distressed market. "...This action saves the company about $415 million over the next year, potentially equivalent to the cost of an ultra-deepwater asset," Evercore ISI analyst James West wrote in a note.

Advances in drilling technology are reviving the prospects of oil companies in shallow parts of the Gulf of Mexico, helping to squeeze more from older fields while the U.S. shale bonanza lures others onshore. Apache Corp and a handful of smaller independent companies are using seismic surveying and horizontal drilling - techniques perfected during the onshore fracking boom - to tap mature fields and find hidden reserves on the shelf. The methods appeal to investors hungry for the quick profits that cannot be delivered by deepwater drilling, where a dozen years of planning and billions of dollars in investment can be required to get oil pumping.

Offshore Inland Marine & Oilfield Services, Inc. (OIMO) offers a unique combination of topside marine services throughout the U.S. and abroad. Positioned with US Gulf (primarily deep water) topside service centers in Pensacola, Mobile, Port Fourchon, Galveston, and Port Isabel as well as supporting topside services at additional locations in Mexico, Western Mediterranean, and West Africa. Offering a strong engineering and design capabilities supporting both traditional marine…

Northern Offshore, Ltd. (Oslo Bors: NOF.OL) announced that its subsidiary, Northern Offshore U.K. Ltd, was awarded a contract with Caspian Drilling Company Limited (CDC) for the provision of support services for drilling operations in the Caspian Sea. The contract runs to July 2011 and has an estimated value of approximately $21m, comprised of fees for technical and operational support in management of the Dada Gorgud semisubmersible drilling rig. Any direct costs incurred in providing the services will be reimbursed. CDC is a subsidiary of The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). The drilling operations will take place on acreage operated by BP, on behalf of a consortium consisting of BP, Chevron, SOCAR, INPEX, StatoilHydro, ExxonMobil, TPAO, Devon, ITOCHU and Hess.