Aker Drilling Agrees Drillship Option Extension with DSME, South Korea

Aker Drilling, through its subsidiary Aker Drilling Offshore Services Public Ltd., has agreed with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. an extension to the time limit for declaring its first optional drillship from end of June 2011 to the end of October 2011.

The terms of the options remain otherwise unchanged, however Aker Drilling will now commit one million dollars which will form part of the initial payment in the event of an eventual declaration of the first option.

In January 2011 Aker Drilling placed orders for two ultra deepwater drillships with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. for delivery in Q4 2013. The company continues to believe that the underlying fundamentals in its targeted ultra deepwater and harsh environment segments of the offshore drilling industry remain positive and strong.

Aker Drilling is a fully integrated offshore drilling contractor, owning and operating two of the world’s largest, most advanced and most robust 6th generation semisubmersible drilling units of the Aker H-6e design. In addition, the company has two ultra deepwater drillships of the DSME design under construction at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. shipyard in South Korea. Aker Drilling is based in Stavanger, Norway, and has approximately 440 employees, of which 400 offshore. Long experience and strong focus on HSE characterise both the management and the operating organisation.

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Source: Aker Drilling , June 24, 2011.