Fredriksen expands offshore rig involvement

John Fredriksen continues to expand his offshore drilling rig interests.

Today, Jurong Shipyard, a wholly owned subsidiary of SembCorp Marine announced it had secured an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract to build two ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rigs worth a total project value of US$780 million for John Fredriksen's Seatankers Management Co. Ltd (Seatankers).

Seatankers will give the public drilling company SeaDrill Ltd the right to acquire the rigs at existing contract terms.

Meantime, changing our focus from semis to jackups, in Norway, SeaDrill today said it had entered into agreements of purchase of a total of 3,515,000 Shares in Petrojack ASA equalling 6.69% of the outstanding share capital to a price of NOK 10 per share.

Simultaneously, SeaDrill entered into purchase agreements for a total of 18,709,920 shares in Odfjell Invest Ltd. equalling 23.38% of the outstanding share capital to a price of NOK 16 per share. In order to finance the purchases Seadrill has raised a total of US$ 51,791,185 through a private placement of 11,534,785 shares in SeaDrill at an issue price of US$4.49. A significant part of this capital has been subscribed by investors who have sold their Odfjell and PetroJack shares.

PetroJack ASA is building a Baker Marine Pacific Class 375 jack up at Jurong and has options for two more, one of which has been exercised. Odfjell Invest Ltd.is building two jackups at Keppel FELS and has an option for a third

Under the contract with Seatankers, Jurong Shipyard will build the two sixth generation ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rigs based on a Friede & Goldman (F & G) design.

The F & G ExD designed semi-submersible rig is capable of operating in challenging deepwater arena, in particular in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Brazil and West Africa, and in dynamic positioning mode in water depths up to 10,000 feet. The semi-submersible rig is engineered for stability and versatility with operational displacement of 43,400 metric tons at 17 meters draft and 46,750 metric tons at 20 meters draft. The rig will also have 18,000 square feet of usable deck space and more than 7,000 metric tons of variable deck load.

Construction of the first semi-submersible rig takes immediate effect with delivery scheduled in the first quarter of 2008. The second semi-submersible rig, on a three-month option, takes effect in October 2005 with delivery scheduled in the first half of 2009.

Mr Don Lee, Senior General Manager of Offshore Division said "Jurong Shipyard is pleased to be awarded this prestigious project, which followed hot on the heels of the successful delivery of two such similar units of ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rigs to a reputable U.S. drilling contractor in the first quarter of this year. This award by Seatankers is testimony of Jurong Shipyard as a premier rig builder and a recognized global player in the offshore market."

"We are very privileged to have the opportunity to work with Seatankers and R. S. Platou, a leading offshore broker in concluding this important contract," added Mr Lee.

John Fredriksen of Seatankers Management Co. Ltd said "We have chosen to build the rigs in Jurong Shipyard based on the shipyard's proven track record in building quality rigs. We are extremely pleased to be able to work with such a first class shipyard. It has been of vital importance for us that Jurong is delivering a turnkey project including full completion tests of the units."

"We have worked on this project for some time," added Fredriksen. "With only three other semi-submersible newbuildings presently under construction and with limited yard space available, we see this as a very interesting market position."

Seatankers Management Co. Ltd, based in Cyprus has through its direct affiliation with the investment company Greenwich Holdings, a majority stake in t Bermuda based SeaDrill Ltd. which currently owns and operates seven offshore rig units including two Jack Up newbuildings presently under construction

MORE NEWS STORIES

---