Aban arm terminates Angolan contract; to redeploy rig in India, elsewhere
22 Apr 2010
Venture Drilling AS, a 50 per cent joint venture of offshore drilling major Aban Offshore, today announced the termination of a drilling contract with Maersk Oil in Angola under a mutual agreement.
Aban Offshore said it will redeploy the rig in offshore India under a one year-plus contract.
Venture Drilling AS, a 50 per cent indirect joint venture of Aban Offshore Ltd has reached an agreement with Maersk Oil Angola A/S (Maersk 0il) to amend their drilling contract relating to drillship Deep Venture, bringing the specified term of the contract to midnight of 20 April 2010, Aban Offshore Ltd said in a filing with the Bombay Stock exchange.
Maersk Oil will deliver the drillship `Deep Venture' back upon completion of the Chissonga 2 well in Angola, by the end of April 2010, against an early termination fee of $64 million, Aban Offshore said in the release.
Early this month, Aban Offshore had reported a contract from a "leading exploration and production company for the deployment of the jack-up rig `Deep Driller 1' in offshore India for a firm period of one year plus two optional periods of six months each.
The estimated revenues from the firm period of the deployment is about $41 million (equivalent to Rs185 crore). The deployment is likely to commence during the second quarter of calendar year 2010, according to a company press release.
The company has also signed a contract for the deployment of the jack-up rig Aban VII, as an accommodation unit offshore Qatar for a 6-week period. This is expected to bring in estimated revenues of $2.5 million (equivalent to Rs11 crore). The deployment is likely to commence in the second quarter of calendar year 2010.
Aban Offshore has also signed a contract with Brunei Shell Petroleum Sendirian Berhad for the deployment of the jack-up rig `Deep Driller 8' in offshore Brunei for a firm period of 4 years plus four optional periods of one year each. The company expercts revenues of about $159 million (equivalent to Rs716 crore) from the firm period of the deployment. The deployment is likely to commence during the third quarter of calendar year 2010, Aban said in the release.
