Cameron International has sold its offshore rig business, which includes LeTourneau Technologies’ jackup rig designs, rig kit business and aftermarket services to Keppel Offshore & Marine USA, a Houston, Texas-based subsidiary of Keppel Offshore and Marine of Singapore.

According to information from Keppel, the $100 million acquisition occurred Monday. The sale comes after multinational energy company Schlumberger announced Aug. 26 it had acquired Cameron for $14.8 billion.

Attempts to contact Cameron officials for a comment were unsuccessful.
Cameron acquired LeTourneau, which began as a munitions plant in 1944, designs, builds and supports equipment for the mining and oil and gas drilling industries, in September 2011 from Milwaukee-based mining company Joy Global for $375 million in cash. Joy Global had acquired LeTourneu earlier that year.

The Warren County Supervisors in May approved a tax year 2015 personal property tax break for Cameron on new equipment and machinery valued at $1.816 million.

According a release by Keppel, the company is acquiring the Le
Tourneau Super 116E, Workhorse, Super Gorilla XL and Jaguar rig designs, will add to Keppel’s offerings in the jackup rig market.

The company will be able to offer customers the LeTourneau rig designs through the sale of rig kits to shipyards, or deliver ready-to-drill rig solutions from Keppel’s yards worldwide. The rig kits include jackup leg components, elevating units/jacking system and cantilever/skidding system. Support equipment such as cranes and anchor winches are also options in the rig kits.

Keppel will also be able to use its network of yards worldwide to better meet the need of LeTourneau rig operators. Besides repairs, upgrades and modifications, jackups are required to undergo five-year Class recertification special periodic surveys.

“This is an opportune and strategic acquisition as it will not only broaden our suite of jackup rig design offerings in this highly competitive sector, but also provide us with enhanced capabilities to service customers through the provision of expanded aftermarket sales and services,” of Keppel O&M chief executive officer Chow Yew Yuen, said. “We are confident that the long-term fundamentals of the offshore rig market remain positive.

“With the current low oil price, we have seen a slowdown in new-build rig orders. Rig owners are instead looking at repairing and upgrading their current fleet. We believe that we can make best use of our after sales service infrastructure to service rigs of both the LeTourneau as well as Keppel FELS designs.

“These are popular designs operating in many of the world’s offshore oil fields and rig owners can now utilize our global network of yards to service and maintain their rig assets cost-effectively.”