Aban Offshore selling four jack-ups and two drillships

India’s offshore drilling contractor Aban Offshore is selling two jack-up rigs, a drillship, and a floating production unit (FPU) owned by the company and two jack-ups and another drillship owned by its subsidiaries.

At a meeting held on 5 March 2021, the board of Aban Offshore approved the proposed sale of rigs Aban V, Aban VI, drillship Aban Ice, and Floating Production Unit (FPU) Tahara owned by the company.

The board also approved the proposed sale of Aban VII, Deep Driller 3, and drillship Aban Abraham owned by its subsidiary/stepdown subsidiaries.

The sale will be to the prospective buyer as may be decided in due course subject to the execution of definitive documents in relation to the sale of rigs.

The proposal is subject to necessary approval of the shareholders and other relevant authorities as may be required under applicable laws.

The approval of the shareholder is being sought through an Extraordinary General Meeting, which is scheduled to be held on 29 March 2021 through video conferencing due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The rig owner also said that the proceeds from the sale will be used for repayment of debts of the company and its subsidiaries.

According to the company’s fleet status report, the Aban V, VI, and VII jack-up rigs were built in 1982, 1975, and 1973, respectively, and they are all currently stacked in UAE.

The 2006-built jack-up Deep Driller 3 is operating for ADNOC offshore Abu Dhabi.

The drillships, Ice and Abraham, were built in 1975 and 1976, respectively, and they are both stacked. The FPU Tahara is also stacked.