The board of Golden Ocean Group Ltd, the world’s largest listed owner of large size dry-bulk vessels, has appointed Lars-Christian Svensen as the chief executive of Golden Ocean Management AS.

Mr Svensen had been the interim CEO of Golden Ocean Management AS, and prior to that, held the role as Golden Ocean’s chief commercial officer.

Chairman Ola Lorentzon said: "The board is delighted to have appointed Lars-Christian Svensen, who has demonstrated his abilities serving as interim CEO.

“We are confident Lars-Christian will be successful in his work, building shareholder value for Golden Ocean."

Mr Svensen said: “I would like to thank the board for the confidence and continued support. With the rest of the Golden Ocean team, I endeavour to keep driving us forward and to maintain our position as industry leaders.”

The group’s business involves transportation of dry-bulk cargo including ores, coal, grains and fertilisers through its fleet of owned and chartered vessels, bare boat vessels and commercial management vessels, chartered-out on fixed-rate time charters and index-linked time-charter contracts.

The Bermudian-registered company is Norwegian-based and Nasdaq-listed.

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Seadrill Limited, the Bermudian-based offshore drilling company, has announced that Petrobras, the Brazilian state-owned petroleum company, has awarded 1,064-day fixed-term contracts to each of the West Auriga and the West Polaris after a competitive bidding process.

The company said the contracts are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2024 and represent total contract value of approximately $1.1 billion, inclusive of additional services and mobilisation fees.

The West Auriga and the West Polaris will transition to Seadrill from the existing third-party managers before undertaking the campaigns with Petrobras.

Simon Johnson, Seadrill’s president and chief executive, said: “We have secured long-term contracts for the West Auriga and the West Polaris alongside our four, high-specification drill ships already working in Brazil.

“Petrobras are an important and long standing customer for Seadrill. We are excited to expand our contractual relationship with them and increase our rig count in this key geography.”

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Valaris Ltd, the Bermudian-based offshore drilling services company, has been awarded a 1,064-day contract for drill ship Valaris DS-4 with Petrobras offshore Brazil following a competitive bidding process.

Based on the firm contract term, the company said, total contract value is approximately $519 million, inclusive of mobilisation fees and additional services.

The contract is anticipated to commence late in the fourth quarter 2024, following completion of the rig’s existing contract with Petrobras, which is expected to finish in September.

Upon completion of its contract, the rig is expected to be out of service for approximately 90 days to complete customer-required capital upgrades prior to commencement of the new contract.

President and chief executive Anton Dibowitz said: “We are delighted to have secured further work for drill ship Valaris DS-4 with Petrobras for their upcoming Buzios programme and we look forward to continuing to partner with Petrobras on their programmes offshore Brazil, a market where we expect to see continued growth over the next several years.

“We have previously stated that we expect Valaris’s earnings and cashflow to increase meaningfully as rigs are recontracted at market rates.

“This contract award for Valaris DS-4 is a great example of how we are executing on the operating leverage inherent in our business, with the rig repricing from a day rate in the low $200,000s to an effective day rate in the high $400,000s.”