Rig owner Seadrill is realigning its ownership of a deepwater drilling unit operating for BP in the US Gulf.

Seadrill Limited is selling to one of its own subsidiaries, Seadrill Capricorn Holdings LLC, all of the ownership interests in legal entities that own and operate the West Auriga drillship. Seadrill Capricorn Holdings is a 51% owned subsidiary of Seadrill Partners. Seadrill Limited owns the remaining 49% equity in Capricorn Holdings.

The sale price of the West Auriga is $1.24 billion, less $443.1 million outstanding under the debt facilities related to the drillship. Based on the Seadrill Partners’ 51% ownership of Seadrill Capricorn Holdings, its portion of the net purchase price after debt will be $355.4 million.

Built by Samsung, the West Auriga is a sixth generation drillship which has been operating since last October for BP in the GoM. The drillship is on a long term contact with BP until October 2020 at a dayrate of US $565,000 per day.