Market speculation that Italy’s Saipem could have its offshore drilling division snapped up by Norway’s Seadrill has been rife, although nothing has of course been confirmed or denied by either of the named parties.

Saipem expects to report year-end turnover for its drilling business of €1.1 billion (US $1.48 billion) with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of €590 million, while it had a contract backlog for the first nine months of $3.3 billion. Although a disposal has been mooted before, Saipem has always shied away from truly looking into offloading the rig division, so a move to do so now would be a surprise to most.

Much of the speculation has arisen due to Seadrill’s expected proceeds from its planned New York listing of its 74%-owned harsh-environment rig subsidiary North Atlantic Drilling Ltd. This could be used to fund such an acquisition, with a possible sale price of €3.9 billion for Saipem’s drilling division, not forgetting also that Seadrill is backed by Norway’s billionaire shipowner and investor John Fredriksen.

Offshore