| Ocean Rig delays drillship deliveries from SHI |
| George Economou’s Ocean Rig is delaying the deliveries of two drillships it ordered at Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI). The two drillships, ordered in April, were originally scheduled for delivery in February and June 2017. However, in a Korea Exchange filing on 28 April, SHI said the customer had requested to defer the delivery until 31 January 2019. SHI did not identify the customer but IHS Maritime’s Sea-web.com data suggests that Ocean Rig is the owner of the vessels, labelled Samsung 2119 and Samsung 2120. In return for agreeing to push back the construction of the vessels, Ocean Rig has agreed to top-up the contract value from KRW1.34 trillion (USD1.246 billion) to KRW1.405 trillion. The plunge in oil prices has compelled oil companies to slash investments in exploration and production, which has in turn hit the demand for drillships, rigs and offshore support vessels. Also on 28 April, SHI announced that its net profit for 1Q15 plunged 73% year-on-year to KRW11.6 billion. |