TheUS listed company said shareholders had approved distributions of up to $152m for2015 at its annual general meeting.
“Theapproved proposal provides for cash distributions to commence with an initialpayment expected in the first quarter of 2015,” Pacific Drilling said.
“The subsequent timing, amount and form of thedistributions will be subject to the discretion of the company’s board of directors.”
Last week PacificDrilling reported a strong start to 2014 with a 47% jump in earnings to $22.2mversus the $15m seen a year earlier.
Earnings pershare (EPS) were 10 US cents beating a consensus of analyst’s estimates of 9 UScents per share.
Revenue for thethree months ended 31 March 2014 were $225.6m compared to $175m for the sameperiod last year.
PacificDrilling operates five drillships and has three further drillships underconstruction at Samsung Heavy Industries.
Chief executiveChris Beckett said the company had seen “an increase in bidding activity”compared to the previous quarter; but this activity has yet to translate intosigned contracts.
