Statoil Cancels Diamond Offshore Rig Contract 8 Months Early

Ocean Vanguard, image (c) Statoil/Harald Pettersen

OSLO, June 4 (Reuters) – Norway’s Statoil has cancelled a rig contract with Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc eight months earlier than expected, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday, confirming a report by energy news portal Offshore.no.

The Ocean Vanguard rig was expected to remain on contract for Statoil until next February at rate of $454,000 per day, Offshore.no said.

“We confirm that we have terminated the contract with Diamond Offshore. The termination is due to technical aspects of the rig,” Communication manager Oerjan Heradstveit said without providing further detail due to confidentiality issues.

The Ocean Vanguard was supposed to move to the U.K to drill a well in June before returning to Norway.

“The contract was valid until February 2015. Apart from this, we don’t want to comment any further,” Heradstveit said.

(Reporting by Henrik Stolen, edting by Balazs Koranyi)

(c) 2014 Thomson Reuters, All Rights Reserved

UPDATE:

Diamond Offshore notes in a statement:

“Diamond Offshore disputes Statoil’s basis for terminating the contract and intends to defend its rights under the drilling contract.”

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