French energy major TotalEnergies has acquired control of a drillship for $199m.
The company said it has bought a 75% stake in a new joint venture set up to own the 65,000-dwt Tungsten Explorer (built 2013).
Seller Vantage Drilling International will have 25%.
The joint venture has assigned operation of the ultra-deepwater vessel to Vantage for another 10 years.
The Tungsten Explorer was ordered by Vantage in 2011 for $585m.
“TotalEnergies is pleased to enter into this agreement with Vantage to take shared ownership of a drillship, the Tungsten Explorer, which we already used in exploration and development activities in Namibia, Cyprus and Congo,” chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said.
“Through this innovative partnership, TotalEnergies will be able to hedge deep-offshore drilling costs: the JV will provide us with both value and flexibility,” he added.
The Tungsten Explorer is designed for deep offshore drilling.
With a power capacity of 42MW and thrust capacity of 33MW, the rig can operate in a wide range of meteorological conditions and has a proven track record of safe drilling operations worldwide, the new owner said.
The drillship is currently operating in Namibia on the Mangetti-1X well.
Transformative transaction
Vantage CEO Ihab Toma called the deal “transformative” for his company.
“The proceeds from the sale of the Tungsten Explorer will completely deleverage our balance sheet while putting in place a meaningful, long-term revenue stream leveraging our strong management expertise,” he added.
Vantage has two drillships and two jack-up drilling rigs.
TotalEnergies owners a fleet of 11 production vessels and tankers, plus an LNG carrier through a joint venture with BW Gas.
