Awilco Drilling voiced its disappointment as a tribunal ruled against it in a long-running legal battle over cancelled rig construction contracts.
The Aberdeen driller has been locked in arbitration cases with shipyard Keppel FELS over a pair of cancelled rig orders from 2018 and 2019.
The shipbuilder has been demanding $693 million over the orders for the Nordic Spring and Nordic Winter rigs (worth $424.9m and $268.9m respectively).
The first of these arbitration cases – concerning hull B379, the Spring – completed on January 13, with the tribunal last week delivering its verdict in favour of Keppel.
In a statement Awilco (OSE:AWDR) said it was “disappointed with the tribunal’s decision” and is currently reviewing the award to see if there are grounds for appeal – and what the merits of such an appeal would be.
“We will revert with further information as soon as the detailed review of the arbitration award has been completed,” the company added.
Awilco Drilling, a now rig-less firm having sold the remains of its fleet last year, has already raised $7.7m for its legal case against Keppel via share placing, and last month sought a further $5m to maintain the battle.
Investment group Awilhelmsen Offshore – Awilco’s largest shareholder – and fund manager QVT have been backing the firm in its arbitration, have already guaranteed $2m in new debt.
Meanwhile, it has entered counter-claims against Keppel in respect of deposit and other variation payments of $97.7million which it claims to be recoverable.
The arbitration process for the Winter rig remains ongoing, with a decision now expected in Q4 2023 or Q1 2024.
Both rigs have since been taken up by Dolphin Drilling, whose headquarters are also in Aberdeen.
Sembcorp Marine announced a $3.3bn takeover deal for Keppel last month.