Seadrill, the London-based listed drill ship and rig owner in John Fredriksen’s business empire, seeks to postpone further newbuilding deliveries on continued weak market, the company said in a statement.
Seadrill currently has 15 rigs under construction comprised of four drillships, three semi-submersibles and eight jack-ups.
“Total remaining yard instalments for these newbuilds are approximately USD4.3 billion and USD1.1 billion has been paid to the yards in pre-delivery instalments,” Seadrill said.
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In 2Q15, Seadrill deferred a number of its newbuilding deliveries. “The deliveries of two units currently under construction, the West Draco and West Dorado, have been deferred from 3Q15 and 4Q15 to the end of 1Q17,” Seadrill said.
“The expected 2015 deliveries of eight jack-ups currently under construction have been amended, deferring one unit to the end of December 2015, five units to 2016 and two units to 2017. Discussions with shipyards are ongoing in regards to the delivery dates for the remaining units,” the company said.
The moves come against the backdrop of a sharp reduction in both 2Q15 and 1H15 interims. In 2Q15, Seadrill recorded net profit of USD423 million, sharply down from USD653 million in the same period last year. Revenues fell to USD1.15 billion from USD1.22 billion.
In 1H15, the profit fell to USD871 million from USD3.74 billion a year earlier. However, the 1H14 figure was lifted by a USD2.4 billion sale gain from tender rig business of the company. Revenues decreased to USD2.39 billion from USD2.44 billion.
“Seadrill continues to believe that this challenging market will continue through 2016 and that visibility for 2017 and beyond is dependent upon commodity price stability, oil companies realising the benefits of their capital spending rationalisation programmes and continued fleet attrition,” the company said.
The company’s total order backlog fell to USD14 billion from USD18.2 billion in the same period last year.
“Commercial contract renegotiation discussions continue to advance with some customers and the company continues to look toward finding commercial agreements that are beneficial to both parties in order to be better positioned for future contract awards,” Seadrill said.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
