Weatherford International Plc wrapped up a multimillion-dollar sale of land drilling rigs as the oilfield services company works on trimming its debt burden.
Last year, ADES International Holding Ltd. agreed to acquire Weatherford’s land drilling rig operations across North Africa and the Middle East in multiple transactions for a total purchase price of $287.5 million in cash.
On March 25, Weatherford closed the $32 million sale of two land drilling rigs relocated in Algeria and delivery of two idle land drilling rigs from Iraq, which the company said marked the final deal in the series of transactions. The majority of the transactions were completed by year-end 2018.
In total, ADES agreed to buy 31 land drilling rigs and related drilling contracts in Algeria, Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia from Weatherford plus gain about 2,300 employees and contract personnel.
The divestiture is the second in a series of previously announced planned asset sales to refocus Weatherford’s portfolio and reduce debt.
Weatherford said in July 2018 that it planned to divest its remaining land drilling rigs through a series of smaller sales in the coming quarters following the divestiture to ADES.
In addition to its land rig business, Weatherford is also looking to sell four smaller businesses that could generate up to $500 million, according to a Reuters report.
By year-end 2018, the company had already announced the sale of its laboratory services and logging businesses for combined proceeds of $300 million.
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