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Tuesday, 02 December, 2008, 00:40 GMT | more >>

Patriot mussels nibble Diamond profits



By Upstream staff 

Photo by NZOG


Green-lipped mussels that made their home on the hull of Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Patriot semi-submersible drilling rig on the Taranaki basin off New Zealand have proved costly, the US company said.

Describing the infestation as a "new issue" for the company, Diamond told analysts on a conference call yesterday it had to hire divers and blasters to remove the mussels, resulting in $5 million in cost overruns for the quarter.

The mussels were discovered after the Ocean Patriot wrapped up drilling of OMV’s Moana-1 well last year and was preparing to move to spud for Anzon off Australia, the company said.

The rig, which was out of commission for 23 days, could not be moved to Australia with the mussels because they are considered a nuisance in that country, Reuters reported Les Van Dyke, director of investor relations, said.

Van Dyke said the Ocean Patriot would earn $350,000 a day under its new contract in Australia, making the maintenance delay costly.

The Houston-based company reported a 26% year-on-year decline in fourth-quarter net earnings to $164.9 million, or $1.19 per diluted share, as the drop in rig utilisation weighed on results.

Revenues for the period rose to $666.7 million from $578.2 million in the same period in 2006.

For the full year Diamond reported net earnings of $846.5 million, or $6.12 per diluted share, up from $706.8 million, or $5.12 per diluted share, in 2006.

Full year revenue rose to $2.57 billion from $2.05 billion previously.


Friday, 08 February, 2008, 02:03 GMT  | last updated: Friday, 08 February, 2008, 02:03 GMT

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