Seadrill to sell drillship to Ship Finance

Seadrill (OSE: SDRL), a Norwegian-Bermuda offshore drilling company, is going to sell its yet-to-be-built drillship to Ship Finance.

Photo: Seadrill to sell drillship to Ship Finance

The deal is worth of $850 million and presupposes that Seadrill can lease it back for 15 years.

The company agreed to conduct the deal in order to restructure debt, taken on to build new rigs during a boom in the oil services industry.

The deal provides Seadrill with the opportunity to repurchase the ultra-deepwater West Polaris drillship, which is under construction in South Korea during the charter and the ship will continue to be listed as its asset.

The company has operations in Brunei, the Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway, Thailand and the United Kingdom. The company operates Semi-submersibles, Jack ups, Tender rigs, Semi Tenders and Drillships. The company is domiciled in Bermuda and is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange. Operational headquarter is situated in Stavanger, Norway. Other major company locations are found in Singapore, Houston and Aberdeen. John Fredriksen has a major ownership in the company.