Oslo-listed offshore drilling company Seadrill has entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Empresa de Serviços e Sondagens de Angola Ltda, an affiliate of Sonangol E.P.

Seadrill said on Wednesday that the new joint venture, Sonadrill, would operate four drillships, focusing on opportunities in Angolan waters. Each of the joint venture parties will bareboat two drillships into Sonadrill.

“The Seadrill drillships will be from our existing owned or managed fleet. The Sonangol drillships, Libongos and Quenguela, both 7(th) generation high spec ultra-deepwater drillships, are currently under construction at DSME shipyard in Korea and expected to be delivered in the first half of 2019,” Seadrill said.

Seadrill further said it would manage the delivery and mobilization to Angolan waters under a separate Commissioning and Mobilization Agreement with Sonangol.

Seadrill will manage and operate the four drillships on behalf of Sonadrill which will have an initial term of 5 years.

Anton Dibowitz, CEO, commented: “We are excited to have been selected by Sonangol to manage their newbuild drillships and to partner with them in pursuing opportunities in this important deepwater basin. Sonadrill will give us the opportunity to gain incremental access to a market that is expected to show significant growth over the next years, further strengthen our relationship with key customers and provides an attractive opportunity to continue expanding our fleet of premium ultra-deepwater rigs.”

Seadrill did not say which drillships from its fleet would send to the new Sonadrill.