Prospector Offshore Awaits New Rig

Prospector Offshore Drilling S.A. (PROS) expects that one of its subsidiaries will take delivery of PROSPECTOR 5, from the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co. Ltd Shipyard in Shanghai (SWS), China on June 16.

PROSPECTOR 5 is the second in the company’s series of five high specification, harsh environment jack-up drilling rigs built to the Friede and Goldman JU2000E design.

Upon delivery the rig will be mobilized to the UK sector of the North Sea where it is expected to begin its contracted work for Total E&P UK Limited and Elf Exploration UK Limited in September, in line with prior expectations.

PROS will draw down$140m of the Senior Credit Facility and $50m of the Bond Loan in order to take delivery of PROSPECTOR 5. The remaining $130m of the Senior Credit Facility and $50m of the Bond Loan will be used in July 2014 to refinance $129.5m of existing debt secured by PROSEPCTOR 1 and for general corporate purposes.

Robert W. Rose, PROS President and Chief Executive Officer said: “The delivery of PROSPECTOR 5 is an important milestone towards our goal of building and operating a modern fleet of high specification jack-up rigs that are capable of working in harsh environments.

At this time we would like to extend a special thank you to SWS for their unwavering dedication to this project. Also, we would like to thank everyone who has shown their support for the company by helping us to put in place a truly exceptional debt financing package.”

[mappress]
June 13, 2014