“Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO), the largest U.S. deep-water oil driller, signed contracts worth as much as $1.8 billion with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) for two new drillships and settled a dispute over a third rig stemming from a Gulf of Mexico drilling moratorium last year.
Anadarko will lease two drillships for five years, starting in 2013 and 2014, Houston-based Diamond Offshore said in a statement today. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. is preparing to build the two rigs in South Korea, Diamond Offshore said.
The companies have also agreed to dismiss all claims related to the Ocean Monarch rig, according to the statement. Anadarko, based in The Woodlands, Texas, filed suit to void its contract for the rig last year after the U.S. government halted deep-water drilling in the Gulf following BP Plc (BP/)’s record offshore oil spill.
The announcement was made before regular trading began on U.S. markets. Diamond Offshore rose 85 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $71.17 at 7 a.m. in New York. Anadarko fell 66 cents to $73.40 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.”
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