Ultra-Deepwater Drillships Delayed at DSME
Houston-based Atwood Oceanics says it has reached an settlement with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering to delay supply of two ultra-deepwater drillships Atwood has on order with the South Korean shipbuilder.
The settlement requires supply of the 2 newbuild drillships, the Atwood Admiral and Atwood Archer, be delayed to Septemeber 30, 2017 and June 30, 2018, respectively. Delivery of the drillships have been initially deliberate for 2015 and 2016, in response to Atwood Oceanics’ web site.
As a part of the settlement, Atwood has agreed to make funds of $50 million for every drillship on December 31, 2015, and DSME will lengthen all remaining milestone funds, $93.9 million for the Admiral and $305 million for the Archer, till their respective supply dates. Atwood can even retain the choice to take earlier supply of every vessel, topic to a forty five day discover interval to DSME.
For struggling DSME, the settlement is healthier than nothing. The shipbuilder has been hit onerous this yr by the slumping offshore business, resulting in large losses this yr as a consequence of supply delays and order cancellations. In October, collectors agreed to supply $3.7 billion in funds to assist the shipbuilder full offshore tasks and ease considerations about its money place. The firm can also be looking for to chop workers and promote its non-core enterprise items amid a ongoing restructuring plan.
Atwood Oceanics (NYSE: ATW) has been in enterprise since 1968 and presently owns 11 cellular offshore drilling items and has the 2 drillships underneath building.