Vantage Drilling International Ltd, the Bermudian-registered exempted company, has announced a joint venture with TotalEnergies, the French-headquartered multinational energy and petroleum organisation.

Vantage said the joint venture has been named Teva Ship Charter LLC.

Subsequent to the completion of the current Tungsten Explorer contract in Congo, the company said Teva will acquire the Tungsten Explorer from Vantage subject to customary sale and purchase conditions precedent.

It added that TotalEnergies, Vantage and Teva have executed all definitive agreements in support of the rig acquisition and joint venture management including a sale and purchase agreement by which Teva will acquire the rig and a management agreement pursuant to which Vantage will operate the Tungsten Explorer for a ten-year term with the option to extend for an additional five years.

Ihab Toma, chief executive of Vantage, said: “We are proud to partner with TotalEnergies in this joint venture, marking a significant milestone for both companies.

“The creation of Teva and the execution of all definitive agreements reinforce our shared commitment to value creation through collaboration and creative business models in offshore drilling.

“We look forward to leveraging our expertise to ensure the long-term success of this partnership.”

Vantage is an offshore drilling contractor whose primary business is to contract drilling units, related equipment and work crews primarily on a day rate basis to drill oil and natural gas wells globally for major, national and independent oil and gas companies.

The company also markets, operates and provides management services in respect of drilling units owned by others.

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Vantage has announced that William L. Thomson will assume the additional role of chief operating officer.

Mr Thomson, who will report directly to Mr Toma, will continue to be based in Vantage’s Dubai office.

The appointee, who is the company’s chief commercial and chief technology officer, has been with Vantage since 2008 serving in several capacities in engineering/projects, technical support, marketing and managed services.

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Bermudian-based Golden Ocean Group Ltd, the world’s largest listed owner of large-size dry bulk vessels, has purchased 80,000 of the company’s own common stocks on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Following completion of the transactions, GOGL owns 1,787,328 of its own shares, corresponding to 0.89 per cent of the company’s share capital.

The purchases were made for an average price of 99.15 Norwegian krone (approximately $8.72) per share.

Golden Ocean announced in October that it had renewed its share buyback programme of a maximum $100 million to purchase up to an aggregate of ten million of the company’s common shares in a 12-month period from the announcement.

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Seadrill Ltd, the Bermudian-based offshore drilling company, has completed the sale of the jack-up rig West Prospero for cash proceeds of $45 million.

President and chief executive Simon Johnson said: “With the sale of the West Prospero, we have monetised a noncore asset that has been stacked since 2016 and successfully executed on our strategy to exit the benign jack-up market.”