West Polaris

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Sale of the ultra-deepwater drillship “West Polaris”

30 Dec 2014

Ship Finance International Limited (NYSE:SFL) (“Ship Finance” or the “Company”), today announced that Seadrill Limited (“Seadrill”) has exercised a purchase option for an ultra-deepwater drilling unit.

Ship Finance acquired the West Polaris in 2008 and it was chartered to a subsidiary of Seadrill on a long-term bareboat charter where Seadrill was granted certain purchase options, first time in 2012. The purchase option price is $456 million and the transaction will be effected as a sale of the shares in the asset-owning subsidiary.

Ship Finance will receive approximately $108 million in net cash proceeds from the sale, and we do not expect a material book impact from the transaction. The cash proceeds are expected to be reinvested in new assets, and the sale of West Polaris is not expected to impact the dividend capacity going forward.

Following this transaction, we will have two ultra-deepwater drilling rigs on charter to Seadrill, and next purchase options will be in November 2016 and February 2017 for the West Hercules and the West Taurus, respectively.

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Aquadrill Announces Contract Awards for the Polaris and T-15

May 31, 2022

Aquadrill LLC and a subsidiary of Vantage Drilling have reached an agreement to provide the Polaris, a 6(th) generation drillship, for a 9 month contract for operations in India with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited. The total contract value is expected to be approximately $66.5 million and work is expected to commence in fourth quarter of 2022 following relocation of the rig from Sri Lanka to Malaysia for reactivation, contract preparation and upgrades, including equipping the rig with the piping required for future use of a Managed Pressure Drilling system. In addition, Aquadrill and a subsidiary of Energy Drilling Management have reached an agreement to provide the T-15, a tender assisted drilling barge, for a 5 month contract plus a three month priced optional period for operations in Thailand.

The total contract value of the firm portion of the contact is expected to be approximately $11.6 million and work is expected to commence in August 2022 following reactivation and contract preparation. In the event the optional period is exercised, the total additional contract value is expected to be approximately $5.4 million.

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Seadrill Announces Contracts for West Auriga and West Polaris in Brazil

HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)--December 22, 2023-- Seadrill Limited ("Seadrill" or the "Company") (NYSE & OSE: SDRL) today announced that Petrobras has awarded 1,064-day fixed-term contracts to each of the West Auriga and the West Polaris following a competitive bidding process. The contracts are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2024 and represent total contract value of approximately $1.1 billion, inclusive of additional services and mobilization fees. The West Auriga and the West Polaris will transition to Seadrill from the existing third-party managers before undertaking the campaigns with Petrobras.

Commenting on the awards, Simon Johnson, Seadrill’s President & Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We have secured long-term contracts for the West Auriga and the West Polaris alongside our four high-specification drillships already working in Brazil. Petrobras are an important and longstanding customer for Seadrill. We are excited to expand our contractual relationship with them and increase our rig count in this key geography.”