Seadrill, an offshore drilling contractor with a stake in former Sevan Marine’s subsidiary Sevan Drilling, has denied its relation to a bribery case with Brazilian national oil company Petrobras.
To remind, Sevan Marine on Friday said that some of its former employees might have been involved in a bribery case with Petrobras , adding it has decided to hand the investigation documents over to the Norwegian authority for investigation and prosecution of economic and environmental crime (“ØKOKRIM”).
Offices raided
Against this background, Sevan Drilling ASA has been accused of breaches of Sections 276 a and 276 b of the Norwegian Criminal Code in respect of payments made in connection with the performance during 2012 to 2015 of drilling contracts originally awarded by Petrobras to Sevan Marine ASA in the period between 2005-2008.
“In connection with the accusation, ØKOKRIM has performed a search and seizure in the company’s offices.The company is co-operating with the authorities in identifying and making available all documents,which the authorities consider relevant,” Sevan Drilling said in the statement on Friday.
Seadrill denies link
In a press release on Monday, Seadrill pointed out that the charges made against Sevan Drilling were related to contracts awarded during the 2005-2008 time period, prior to both Seadrill’s initial acquisition of a minority stake in Sevan Drilling and acquiring control.
At the time the Petrobras contracts were awarded, Sevan Drilling was a wholly-owned division of Sevan Marine ASA, Seadrill stresses. In May 2011, Sevan Drilling was separated out from the 100% ownership of Sevan Marine ASA and listed separately on the Oslo stock exchange. In December 2011, Seadrill acquired a 28.5% stake in Sevan Drilling and ultimately increased its stake to 50.11% in July 2013.
“Seadrill remains committed to the highest ethical standards. The company will cooperate if requested to do so by any and all authorities in relation to the ongoing investigation,” Seadrill said on Monday.
Offshore Energy Today Staff