Report: COSL buys 42-year-old drilling rig Stena Clyde for $11 million

Chinese offshore drilling company COSL has reportedly bought the 1976-built offshore drilling rig Stena Clyde for $11 million.

The info has been sourced from Bassoe Offshore’s analytics tool, which shows the deal was signed earlier this month, and it also shows that the rig is expected to continue drilling despite its age, and the recent lack of work.

Apart from Bassoe, VesselsValue also shows the Chinese drilling company now owns the rig. According to VV, the rig was actually sold on November 19.

VesselsValue also shows the sale price was $11 million, which is higher that VV had valued the rig at the time of the reported sale – around $9 million. For comparison, the rig’s value ten years ago, per VV, was $116 million.

Stena Clyde, its spec sheet shows, is a self-propelled, twin pontoon, column stabilized drilling unit, built in the Rauma Repola in Mäntyluoto, Finland in 1976. The rig has since been updated twice.

Offshore Energy Today has reached out to the rig’s owner Stena Drilling seeking confirmation and more details on the reported sale. The driller did not reply.

As previously reported, Stena Drilling said in October it had decided to remove the Stena Clyde semi-submersible drilling rig from active service and retire the rig from its fleet, after a three-year-long spell without work. After having been stacked in Australia for three years, the offshore drilling rig was recently moved to Singapore.

Stena Drilling at the time noted that, while there had been some recent interest in operating the rig in the region, “these opportunities have not materialized to the extent necessary to continue supporting the rig.”

The rig entered the Stena Drilling fleet in 1996, working the North Sea before making its way to Asia and Australia.

The rig was modified in 1985 and 1997 to with an additional six stability columns to provide adequate operating deck load for operations in 1,640ft water depths.  The Stena Clyde has an SBOP capability for a water depth of 5,000 ft.

Offshore Energy Today Staff