Frigstad Offshore exits from investment
Frigstad Offshore exits from investment in Frigstad Deepwater newbuilds and positions itself for industry recovery Frigstad Deepwater Holding Ltd, a subsidiary of Frigstad Offshore Group, has decided to sell all of its shares in Frigstad Deepwater Ltd to a subsidiary of China International Maritime Containers Group (CIMC) with effect from 6 December 2016. Frigstad Deepwater Ltd, which has been jointly owned by Frigstad Offshore Group and CIMC since 2012, has two 7th generation ultra deepwater drilling units of the Frigstad D90™ design under construction at the Yantai CIMC Raffles shipyard in Shandong, China. The units, “Frigstad Shekou” and “Frigstad Kristiansand”, are scheduled for delivery in Q1-2017 and Q3-2017 respectively. As a consequence of the above, Frigstad Deepwater Ltd will become a wholly owned subsidiary of CIMC and be renamed “CIMC Bluewhale Rig Ltd”. The operational management of the rigs will be taken over by Bluewhale Offshore Pte Ltd, also a subsidiary of CIMC, and the rigs will be renamed “Bluewhale I” and Bluewhale II”. A team from Frigstad Offshore, the current manager of the rigs, will continue to supervise the construction of the two rigs until completion. Harald Frigstad, Chairman and founder of the Frigstad Group, says in a comment: “The ultra deepwater market has been extremely challenging for a while and we have agreed with CIMC that it is in the best interests of both parties that our group exit from the investment in Frigstad Deepwater Ltd at this moment. We are doing this on friendly terms and will remain a close partner of CIMC also in the future. Our exit from Frigstad Deepwater Ltd gives us a good foundation to position the Frigstad Group for the industry recovery which we believe will come. As part of this, we are reorganising the group and strengthening the organisation in key areas, which includes expansion at our office in Kristiansand, Norway. We are investing heavily in research and development, and will be launching the next generation of our ultra deep-water semi-submersible rig design in 2017 to keep up with industry requirements for new technology and higher efficiency. We strongly believe that offshore oil and gas will still play a very important role in the global energy supply for a long time, and we will be a part of this promising industry in the years to come, both as rig designer and drilling contractor.”