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Seadrill and Northern Ocean reach settlement over rig payments

Offshore driller Seadrill Limited has reached a settlement agreement with Northern Ocean (NOL), a spin-off company of Northern Drilling, predominantly concerning balances outstanding from Seadrill’s preparation of the West Mira and West Bollsta rigs.

The settlement agreement closes all outstanding balances, claims and counter-claims between the companies and their subsidiaries by way of set-off as a full and final settlement.

Further, the settlement agreement sets out that Seadrill will provide certain transition services to any prospective new managers in respect of Northern Ocean’s rigs and requires Seadrill to restart bareboat lease payments for the West Bollsta rig from August 10, 2021, alongside Seadrill’s continued operation of the rig on the Lundin contract.

The West Mira rig is now idle in a yard near Bergen with PSW Technology and Captar Holdings providing various services, and the rig is expected to remain stacked in a condition to return to service efficiently when new employment is secured.

The settlement agreement is subject to certain conditions, including, but not limited to, obtaining approval by the US bankruptcy court under Seadrill’s chapter 11 protection.

Grant Creed, Seadrill CFO, commented: “Conclusion of this uncertainty around claims and counterclaims with NOL is an important pre-requisite to Seadrill being able to proceed with its chapter 11 filing.”

Adis Ajdin

Adis is an experienced news reporter with a background in finance, media and education. He has written across the spectrum of offshore energy and ocean industries for many years and is a member of International Federation of Journalists. Previously he had written for Navingo media group titles including Offshore Energy, Subsea World News and Marine Energy.
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