Seadrill (OSE: SDRL, NYSE: SDRL) says it has felt a surge in long-term demand for tender rigs in the last year and thus plans to further increase its rig availability from 2014 onwards. For starters it is ordering two new ultra-deepwater drillships from Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea. The estimated price per drillship is under 600 million USD, which isn’t any higher than its last three orders from the company, but the drillships come with additional features.
Chairman John Fredriksen hinted it is likely that other commitments to tender and ultra-deepwater new buildings will be made in the coming weeks. The company thinks that rig availability will be a bottleneck for deepwater ramp-ups in the coming years as industry safety standards and other stringent demands following the Gulf of Mexico disaster have had an impact.
Seadrill’s Board of Directors is convening to approve Q4 and 2011 preliminary results tomorrow after the close of business and thus will release its Q4 earnings on Wednesday February 29th before market open.
A 463 million non-cash impairment charge will be taken on investment in Archer Limited (OSE: ARCHER) to match the market value of Archer on December 31st. Currently Archer is trading at around 15 NOK where as it was at 16.1 NOK on that date. Seadrill says it is disappointed in the recent developments in Archer but feels there is fundamental strength in the business model that the new management should be able to unlock. Seadrill’s stock was up slightly for the day.
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