Seadrill Limited has announced that an agreement with DSME shipyard has been reached to defer the delivery of two ultra-deepwater drillships, the West Aquila and West Libra, until the second quarter of 2018 and first quarter of 2019 respectively.
Under the terms of the original construction contracts, the units were to be delivered by the end of the second quarter of 2016 and the total final yard instalment for both units of over US$800 million was due at that time. This agreement significantly improves the company's near term liquidity position by deferring these capex commitments to 2018 and 2019 with no further payments to the yard until that time.
Adapted from a press release by Louise Mulhall