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COSL buys Norway's oil drilling company

By YOU NUO (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-09-23 20:57

China Offshore Oil Services Ltd (COSL) announced on September 22 of the successful completion of its 17.1 billion yuan takeover of the Norwegian publicly listed company Awilco Offshore.

At a COSL-hosted banquet in Oslo downtown, as Siguard Thorvildsen, former Chairman of Awilco, gave to Fu Chengyu, Chairman of China National Offshore Oil Corp and also Chairman of COSL, a model of the Viking ship, he asked the new owner of his company to “take care of the Viking spirt,” a Norwegian equivalent to entrepreneurship, in the company that has now part of China’s offshore oil industry.

And COSL certainly will, said Yuan Guangyu, CEO and President of the company, who told China Daily with this strategic move, COSL will own the world’s eighth largest fleet of drilling vessels, in addition to the global expertise of Awilco’s former executive team.

COSL is determined to join the world’s tier-one offshore oil service providers in 2020, Yuan said.

At the moment, the company will earn immediate access to offshore oil service in the North Sea, from the base it has inherited from Awilco.

In the future, Yuan said, COSL will continue to seek worthy M&A targets in the global market, especially in technology-intensive, high value-added areas which oil engineers call well service. 

According to COSL’s announcement of 2008 interim results, in the first six months of the year, the company’s net profit increased by 40.1 percent year-on-year to 1.53 billion yuan. While Awilco’s 1997 revenue was reportedly $189 million.