North Atlantic Drilling Takes Delivery of Jackup West Elara

- North Atlantic Drilling Takes Delivery of Jackup West Elara

Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Seadrill Ltd.

North Atlantic Drilling Ltd., in which Seadrill has a 75 percent ownership, has taken delivery of the new harsh environment jackup drilling rig, West Elara from Jurong Shipyard in Singapore. The rig is expected to depart Singapore on August 11th and arrive at Westcon Shipyard in Olen, Norway in early October in order to undertake final contract preparation activities. The West Elara is expected to begin operations for Statoil on a five- year contract during late November 2011.

The West Elara is the first of two Gusto MSC CJ70 150A rigs to be constructed for North Atlantic Drilling Ltd. The rig is an advanced, ultra large, harsh environment, high specification drilling unit, specifically built for Norwegian requirements and matching the specifications of the largest jackup drilling units in the world. The unit can operate in water depth up to 150 meters with a higher variable deck load and a higher operating efficiency compared to earlier generation jackups. The size of the unit allows for additional opportunities in terms of logistics, well testing and early production.

Alf C. Thorkildsen, Chief Executive Officer in Seadrill Management AS and Chairman of North Atlantic Drilling Ltd, said, "We are pleased to take delivery of the West Elara, the first of two new ultra large and harsh environment jackups to be added to the North Atlantic Drilling fleet. We look forward to seeing this new and advanced drilling unit operating on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, creating growth for North Atlantic Drilling ahead of its listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange, increasing our presence in this key region and further strengthening our relationship with Statoil, one of our most important customers."

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North Atlantic Drilling Awarded Contract for West Alpha

- North Atlantic Drilling Awarded Contract for West Alpha

Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Seadrill Ltd.

North Atlantic Drilling Ltd., in which Seadrill has a 75 percent ownership, has received a letter of award for the semi-submersible drilling rig West Alpha for operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

The letter of award covers a two-well commitment in the Balder field, with an estimated firm contract period of 210 days and an estimated value of US $100 million. Commencement of the assignment is scheduled for the third quarter 2012, in direct continuation of the present contract. The contract has provisions at the operators sole discretion for extension of up to four additional wells.

Alf C Thorkildsen, Chief Executive Officer in Seadrill Management AS and Chairman of North Atlantic Drilling Ltd. said, "We are pleased to report a new contract for the drilling unit West Alpha. The contract demonstrates the continued strong demand for quality drilling units in the North Atlantic - Norway area and further enhances the value of North Atlantic Drilling."

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Atlantic Petroleum to Enter Next Phase at Faroes License

Atlantic Petroleum to Enter Next Phase at Faroes License

Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Atlantic Petroleum P/F

Atlantic Petroleum has approved the work program that enables Faroes License 014 to progress into the next exploration phase.

Following technical work over the last two years, and an assessment of the prospectivity of Faroes Licenses 013 and 014, the Company has decided to approve the work program that enables Faroes License 014 to progress into the next exploration phase.

The work carried out identified which areas should be retained and which had high impact exploration structures. Based on the studies, the southern area of the license 014 will be retained, which contains the Marselius structures. The northern part of License 014 will be relinquished as this area has no mapped structures. License 013 will also be relinquished in accordance with the license terms and conditions as the prospectivity on the blocks within this license is limited in Atlantic Petroleum's view.

The work commitment on License 014 consists of acquiring a new infill 2D seismic survey to complement the seismic data shot in 2006 and to create a pseudo 3D volume over the retained area. This work program will be carried out before January 17, 2013. Atlantic Petroleum holds 40% equity in License 014 while Sagex holds the remaining 60% and is the operator of the license.

Ben Arabo, CEO, commented, "Atlantic Petroleum is committed to exploration in the Faroe Islands, so in line with focusing on acreage with high impact potential we are pleased to be moving forward with License 014 where we hope to progress towards drillable prospects by January 2013. The further work on License 014 will compliment Atlantic Petroleum's active program on the Faroese shelf where technical work on Faroes License 016 is on-going and with a planned well to be drilled on License 006 this summer with partners Statoil and ExxonMobil."

Atlantic to Farm-In to Orchid Prospect

Atlantic to Farm-In to Orchid Prospect

Wednesday, April 13, 2011
P/F Atlantic Petroleum


Atlantic Petroleum has reached an agreement to acquire a 10% stake in P.1556, Block 29/1c containing the Orchid Prospect from Summit Petroleum in return for carrying a share of the cost of the initial exploration well.

The Orchid Prospect is a four-way dip closure in the Tertiary and Chalk and is located in the Central North Sea surrounded by the producing Banff, Kyle, Bittern and Gannet fields. The Orchid prospect is located close to acreage awarded to Atlantic Petroleum in the 26th Round.

Summit, the operator, is currently seeking a semi-submersible rig to drill the prospect in the second half of this year.

Ben Arabo, CEO, commented, "This is an important addition to our 2011 program. We are pleased to join Summit in the Central North Sea which is an area of growth for Atlantic Petroleum. We look forward to working with this new partner group on the Orchid project."

Seadrill Finalizes $4.1B Deal with North Atlantic Drilling

Seadrill Finalizes $4.1B Deal with North Atlantic Drilling

Monday, April 04, 2011
Seadrill Ltd.

Seadrill announced that North Atlantic Drilling's acquisition of our harsh-environment drilling activities was successfully completed on March 31, 2011. Closing of the transaction took place in line with the initial agreement after North Atlantic Drilling successfully completed a private placement of 250,000,000 new shares in February and secured a US $2.0 billion loan facility.

The US $4.1 billion purchase price to Seadrill was settled by North Atlantic assuming approximately US $2.0 billion in existing debt and payment obligations. This will be refinanced by drawing down the loan facility mid April.

The loan facility will have a six-year tenor with a balloon installment of US $1.0 billion at maturity. The loan will have a cost of Libor plus 2.0% margin, which is lower than anticipated in the original presentation.

Furthermore, North Atlantic Drilling has issued a US $500 million seven-year bond loan with a coupon of 7.75%, subscribed for in full by Seadrill as part of the settlement. Seadrill intends to resell the bond in the market.

The remaining part of the purchase price has been paid in cash and shares.
As a consequence of the closing, the right for North Atlantic Drilling's shareholders to put their North Atlantic Drilling shares to Seadrill at the original issue price of US $1.70 per share will expire at close of business Oslo time on April 14, 2011, i.e. 10 working days after closing of the Acquisition Agreement.

All 1,050 employees involved in the operations of the five existing operating units have accepted to be transferred from Seadrill to North Atlantic Drilling.

North Atlantic Drilling will, effective from April 1, have five drilling units in operation. North Atlantic Drilling's sixth rig, the West Elara, is expected to be delivered from the Jurong Shipyard during the second quarter 2011 and will then commence drilling operations under a contract with Statoil in the North Sea. Seadrill has furthermore decided to offer the recently ordered harsh environment jack-up drilling rig West Linus, which will be delivered in 2013, to North Atlantic Drilling at its cost. The unit has a five year drilling contract in place for operations in Norway for ConocoPhillips. It is anticipated that the acquisition of West Linus including the contract coverage can be completed without raising additional equity.

North Atlantic Drilling has issued 750 million new shares to Seadrill at a subscription price of US $1.70. North Atlantic Drilling has after the transaction 1.0 billion shares issued of which Seadrill holds 75%. The company has currently 1,190 shareholders. Of which 391 are employees in North Atlantic Drilling.

The Board of North Atlantic Drilling has subsequent to the successful completion of the acquisition agreement decided to proceed with a listing of the company's shares on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The aim is to complete the listing in the third quarter 2011.

Alf C Thorkildsen, CEO in Seadrill Management AS, said, "We are pleased to have secured the necessary financing for North Atlantic Drilling and completed the acquisition agreement in line with an ambitious schedule. This marks an important starting point for North Atlantic Drilling which will now commence operations with its rigs. We look forward to develop North Atlantic Drilling further and believe the company is well positioned to take active leadership in a further consolidation of the fast growing market for harsh-environment drilling units."