Samsung Heavy Industries sells drillship to Italian oilfield services firm Saipem

Industry

Published: 06 Dec. 2022, 14:48

Samsung Heavy Industries sells drillship to Italian oilfield services firm Saipem

A drillship made by Samsung Heavy Industries. [SAMSUNG HEAVY INDUSTRIES]

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) sold one drillship to Saipem, an Italian multinational oilfield services firm, for 299 billion won ($230 million).

SHI made the announcement through a statement Tuesday and said that the drillship was a vessel named “Santorini,” which was leased to Saipem in June 2021 with an option to sell. A drillship is a vessel with drilling equipment used to explore deep waters for oil and gas wells.

Back in May, SHI sold four drillships to Curious Crete, a domestic private equity fund, for approximately one trillion won. Curious Crete then sold two of the four due to the increase in demand for drillships caused by strong international oil prices. Negotiations on the sale of the other two drillships are proceeding smoothly, according to SHI.

“This sale has relieved the burn of management of drillships,” said a spokesperson for SHI Tuesday. “As we have secured additional liquidity and we plan to make more effort to normalize management.”

SHI's net loss was 201.6 billion won in the third quarter, compared to a loss of 123.8 billion won the previous year. Sales fell 5.7 percent on-year to $1.06 billion, despite hitting $9.2 billion in total orders this year and exceeding its order target.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]