Shares in Norwegian rig company Odfjell Drilling fell nearly 3% today following the sinking of a £775million drilling rig at the weekend.
The Deepsea Aberdeen rig, which is set for use by BP on its major Quad 204 project west of Shetland, sank at a shipyard in South Korea.
The seven-year contract with BP, worth nearly £730million, is the largest in the drilling company’s 40-year history.
The rig was due to be delivered from the yard in the second quarter of 2014.
However, Odfjell head of investor relations Lasse Johannesen said completion of the rig was likely to be delayed, although he could not provide any more details until he found out more information from shipyard owner Daewoo.
The company declined to comment on how long a delay had to be before BP could cancel its contract with the firm.
“Both our contract with the yard and our contract with BP have relatively standard conditions attributing responsibility when it comes to cancellations and delays,” said Odfjell Drilling spokesman Gisle Johanson.
BP plans to use the rig as part of the Quad 204 deepwater scheme to redevelop the Schiehallion and Loyal fields in the UK North Sea. The project, located around 110 miles west of the Shetland Islands, will target an estimated 450million barrels of oil.
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