Awilco Offshore was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 drilling rig

Drilling rig

A drilling rig is a machine which creates holes or shafts in the ground. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to drill water wells, oil wells, or natural gas extraction wells, or they can be small enough to be moved manually by one person...

 owner. In 2008 the company operated five jackup rig

Jackup rig

A jack-up rig is a type of mobile platform that is able to stand still on the sea floor, resting on a number of supporting legs. The most popular designs use 3 independent legs, although some jackups have 4 legs or more...

s and two semi-submersible

Semi-submersible

A semi-submersible is a specialised marine vessel with good stability and seakeeping characteristics. The semi-submersible vessel design is commonly used in a number of specific offshore roles such as for offshore drilling rigs, safety vessels, oil production platforms and heavy lift cranes.The...

 accommodation rigs, with several others on order. Awilco was founded in 2005, headquartered in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 and was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange

Oslo Stock Exchange

The Oslo Stock Exchange serves as the main market for trading in the shares of Norwegian companies. It opens at 9:00am and closes 5:30pm local time...

. Operation of its rigs was done by the company Premium Drilling, owned by Awilco and Sinvest

Sinvest

Sinvest is a Norwegian oil drilling investment company, with headquarters in Kristiansand. The company is a long-term financial and strategic investor in oil resources and offshore companies and has been listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange since 2001....

. The company was acquired by China Oilfield Services

China Oilfield Services

China Oilfield Services is an oilfield service. It is a majority owned subsidiary of Chinese state owned company CNOOC Group. It also has a listed sister company in Hong Kong, CNOOC Limited....

 in 2008 and merged into its existing operations.

History

The company was founded in February 2005 when it took over the offshore rig assets of Anders Wilhelmsen Group and at the same time acquiring NOK

Norwegian krone

The krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...

 1 billion in new capital

Capital (economics)

In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...

. In August 2005 Awilco bought 20.7% of Petrojack

Petrojack

Petrojack is a Norwegian offshore drilling rig operator. The company has two jackup rigs under order from Jurong Shipyard in Singapore, while it sold its two former rigs Petrojack I and Petrojack III to Maersk Drilling. The company was founded in 2004 and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange the next...

 and at the same time performed a new capital expansion. In December 2005 Awilco merged with Offshore Rig Services, taking over the company while issuing new shares to the Offshore Rig Services owners.

Takeover

The company accepted a $

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

2.5 billion

1000000000 (number)

1,000,000,000 is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001.In scientific notation, it is written as 109....

 acquisition offer from industry peer China Oilfield Services

China Oilfield Services

China Oilfield Services is an oilfield service. It is a majority owned subsidiary of Chinese state owned company CNOOC Group. It also has a listed sister company in Hong Kong, CNOOC Limited....

 on 7 July 2008. The deal was approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission

China Securities Regulatory Commission

The China Securities Regulatory Commission is an institution of the State Council of the People's Republic of China , with ministry-level rank...

 in September and a compulsory acquisition of outstanding shares was completed that November. Awilco Offshore was fully integrated into the firm's local subsidiary

Subsidiary

A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...

COSL Norwegian AS.