India’s offshore drilling company Aban Offshore is planning to sell some of its assets and subsidiaries in a bid to repay the dues towards various banks and financial institutions.
The company has identified four units to be put on sale to raise funds:
• Aban V – Friede and Goldman L-780, 300 ft jackup built at Ingalls shipyard in Pascagougla, Mississippi in 1982.
• Aban VI – 250 ft Jubilee Class jackup built in 1975 by FELS in Singapore.
• Aban Ice – Moored drillship originally built in 1958 as an ore carrier and converted to drilling in Bremerhaven, Germany, in 1975. Aban Ice currently ready stacked in India was the the oldest drillship in operation.
• Tahara – Tahara is a floating production unit (FPU). The semi-submersible was originally the SEDCO K drilling rig built by Levingston in Orange, Tx, in 1973. The drilling rig was converted to Early Production System in 1988 and upgraded in 1997.
Aban has also identified additional units, the drillship Aban Abraham, jack-up rigs Aban VII and Deep Driller 3 for sale from its subsidiaries.
“At Aban, our priority will be to continue enhancing the utilisation of our assets, which would strengthen cash flows. We believe that this will strengthen our market respect and standing, which will be one decisive step towards business sustainability,” Reji Abraham, managing director, Aban Offshore
Aban Offshore (formerly Aban Loyd Chiles Offshore based in Chennai, is India’s largest offshore drilling services provider to oil companies, mainly for ONGC. It is now ventured into international waters as one of its five rigs is doing work for an Iranian oil company.
Aban Offshore operates a fleet of 15 jackups, two drillships and one FPU
The group has also ventured into construction, offshore and onshore drilling, wind energy and power generation, Information Technology enabled services, hotels and resorts, tea plantations and in marketing.
(Source and image: Aban Offshore – Aban Ice drillship)