Songa Offshore SE is a Norwegian-Cypriot drilling contractor founded in 2005 with offices 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...

, Houston, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, and Perth, Australia

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

.

History

Songa Offshore AS was founded in January 2005 with the purchase of the two semisubmersibles, Mata Redonda and La Muralla. The rigs were purchased from the Mexican company, IPC. The Mata Redonda was renamed Songa Venus and the La Muralla was renamed Songa Mercur

Songa Mercur

The Songa Mercur is a semi-submersible drilling platform designed by Friede & Goldman, ex Shelf 10 and La Muralla. It is capable of drilling in water up to a depth of 1200 feet....

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In April 2005, Songa Offshore ASA was founded. The shares of Songa Offshore ASA were listed on the Norwegian OTC

Over-the-counter (finance)

Within the derivatives markets, many products are traded through exchanges. An exchange has the benefit of facilitating liquidity and also mitigates all credit risk concerning the default of a member of the exchange. Products traded on the exchange must be well standardised to transparent trading....

 list in May 2005 and, in connection with the bond financing, the company issued warrant

Warrant (finance)

In finance, a warrant is a security that entitles the holder to buy the underlying stock of the issuing company at a fixed exercise price until the expiry date....

s traded on the OTC list. The rigs were delivered to Songa Offshore in June 2005, and were moved to Galveston, where the company began preparing the rigs for work.

In September Songa Offshore purchased the drill ship Glomar Robert F Bauer. The rig was renamed Songa Saturn and delivered 11 November 2005. The Songa Saturn has entered a shipyard in Turkey for refurbishment and re-certification.

End of October 2005 Songa Offshore purchased 20.187 % of the semi submersible Deepsea Bergen.

Songa Offshore recruited an experienced, highly respected industry management team in September 2005 with headquarters in Houston.
In the beginning of March 2006 Songa Offshore purchased the semisubmersible drilling rig Stena Dee. The rig, now named Songa Dee, is on contract with Norsk Hydro until end of 2008, and the rig will be marketed for employment on the Norwegian and UK sector for commencement 1Q 2009.

In November 2006, the company sold its interests in the rig Deepsea Bergen to a group of investors. The sale price was USD 53.5 million, generating a profit of USD 19.1 million.

In December 2006, Songa Offshore entered into a contract with Odfjell Rig Limited to acquire the midwater semi submersible Deepsea Trym for USD 238.5 million.

The company 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...

 on 26 January 2006. Initially registered in Oslo, Norway as Songa Offshore ASA

Allmennaksjeselskap

Allmennaksjeselskap , or ASA, is the Norwegian term for a public limited company. "ASA" or "asa" is added to the company name of all Norwegian companies registered as Allmennaksjeselskap....

, the firm changed its legal status to Societas Europaea

European Company Statute

The Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Company is an EU Regulation containing the rules for a public EU company, called a Societas Europaea, or "SE". An SE can register in any member state of the European Union, and transfer to other member states. , at least 702 registrations have...

 in 2008 and its domicile to Limassol

Limassol

Limassol is the second-largest city in Cyprus, with a population of 228,000 . It is the largest city in geographical size, and the biggest municipality on the island. The city is located on Akrotiri Bay, on the island's southern coast and it is the capital of Limassol District.Limassol is the...

, Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

 in 2009.

Semi-submersible drilling platforms

• Songa Eclipse*Virtual Tour
• Songa Venus
• Songa Mercur
  Songa Mercur
  The Songa Mercur is a semi-submersible drilling platform designed by Friede & Goldman, ex Shelf 10 and La Muralla. It is capable of drilling in water up to a depth of 1200 feet....
  
  
• Songa Dee
• Songa Delta
• DeepSea Trym