New capital makes Atlantis ready to grow in exiting market

The company Atlantis Deepwater Technology Holding As (ADTH), who controls a technology that makes it feasible to apply shallow water drilling rigs for deep water operations, is now preparing itself for further growth. The New York based investment company Drillinvest LLC and some minor co-investors are investing about NOK 33 mill. in ADTH. For this investment the investors gets hold of 14% of ADTH, which puts a price tag on the company of about NOK 220 million. With the availability of new capital ADTH is also using the possibility to secure 100% ownership to the Atlantis technology.
ADTH is now making the final preparation to transport the first full scale Atlantis unit from Norway to China, where the first real application of the technology will take place.

The company Drillinvest is owned by Peter Georgiopoulos, who also previously has invested in other Norwegian offshore companies. ADTH is of the opinion that Georgiopoulos, who will become a member of the board of directors, will provide valuable experience to the further development of the company, and in particular related to the US market. With the new capital ADTH can focus on getting the first deep water trial well drilled in China in 2006 and to secure a commercial contract for this and future Atlantis units.

With the access to fresh capital ADTH is also using its possibility to acquire the remaining 51% of the shares in the company Atlantis Deepwater Technology AS, which is the company that owns the rights to the Atlantis technology and with whom ADTH has an excusive license agreement, but only previously owned 49% of the shares.

ADTH is also these days making the final preparations to transport the first full scale Atlantis unit from Stavanger to China, where it will be outfitted for the first trial well. A heavy lift vessel is scheduled to arrive in Stavanger 26th May, which will then use about 40 days to transport the 360 tonnes unit to China. In accordance with an agreement with the largest offshore service company in China, China Oilfield Services Ltd. (COSL), the unit will then be finally outfitted at a local yard before it will be ready for the first trial well. The exact timing for this well is dependant upon the availability of a drilling rig and the well location. Together with COSL, who is a subsidiary of the Chinese state oil company China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), a 50 / 50 joint venture company is currently being established in China, which will be responsible for the commercialization of the technology in South East Asia, including Australia.

COSL is the leading provider of oilfield services in the offshore China market. Their services cover each phase of offshore oil and gas exploration, development and production. The company owns and operates offshore drilling rigs, marine support vessels, oil tankers, seismic vessels, geo-technical survey vessels and offers a comprehensive range of well services and project management solutions.

ADTH is a technology development company located in Norway. The company has developed the Atlantis technology, which basically is a “tool” that allows drilling rigs normally rated for shallow and medium water depths, to be used for deepwater drilling operations. This can be done without taking the rigs out of service for costly yard modifications. With the use of more shallow water rigs considerably cost reductions can be achieved and the availability of rigs for deep water operations is improved. In today’s market most deep water rigs are on contract for several years ahead.

A patent for the Atlantis technology has been granted for most deep water areas worldwide.

Following the issue of new shares in ADTH the main shareholders will be the Norwegian ship owners Jan Olaf Toennevold (19%) and Andreas K. L. Ugland (18%), Tematek Invest AS (15%), Drillinvest LLC (14%), AkerKvaerner MH (14%), and Statoil (10%). The board of directors consists of Jan Olaf Toennevold (Chairman), Peter Georgiopoulos (Drillinvest LLC), Bjoern Klepsvik (AkerKvaerner MH) and Trygve Laegreid (Statoil).

ADTH is of the opinion that the use of the Atlantis technology will provide a step change in the deepwater industry and will make several more deepwater fields more economical attractive to develop. Due to the huge lack of deep water rigs in most areas, ADTH is now experiencing an increased interest from several international players in the deep water industry.


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