Aban Offshore (AOL),formerly known as Aban Loyd Chiles Offshore Ltd., the Aban Group company was established by late M A Abraham in 1986 when Indian entrepreneurs were encouraged to provide offshore drilling services to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to meet the growing needs of a vibrant economy. AOL launched its first contract drilling service to the ONGC in 1987 with two modern jack-up drilling rigs acquired from the USA.

Aban Offshore is India’s largest drilling entity in the private sector offering world class drilling and other services. Aban Offshore is a company which provides oil field services for offshore exploration and production of hydrocarbons to the oil industry in India and abroad.

The ABAN Group was born as a small engineering firm in Chennai, The Group took giant strides into newer arenas of operation like the execution of high-pressure systems and cross-country pipelines for refineries and fertilizer and petrochemical industries. Inevitably, Aban ventured into the high-powered domains of drilling, power generation and IT Enabled Services (ITES).

Aban Offshore possesses twenty offshore assets including fifteen jack-up offshore drilling rigs, two drill ships, one floating production platform and a jack-up rig and drill ship each on bareboat charter.

Aban Singapore- Aban Singapore (ASPL) was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Aban Offshore Ltd. to offer drilling services to large global oil and gas operators.

Aban Offshore in its commitment to providing a range of drilling services has also equipped itself with an equally wide range of rigs and drill ships.

Jack-up Rigs

RIG ABAN - II (ex-Griffin Alexander - III)
RIG ABAN - III (ex-ILE D'AMSTERDAM)
RIG ABAN - IV (ex-HITDRILL - I)
RIG ABAN - V (ex-Pride West Virginia)
RIG ABAN - VI (ex-Energy Explorer - IV)

Floaters / Drill Ship

Aban Ice

FPU

Tahara

Services offered by the company:

Aban Offshore offers a diverse range of offshore drilling services to clients in India and abroad.

Exploratory services
Drilling services
Production of hydrocarbons
Manning and management

Clientele:

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC)
Hardy Exploration & Production (India) Inc.
Oriental Oil Co., Dubai
Shell Brunei
Shell Malaysia
Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (GSPC)
Hindustan Oil Exploration Co. Ltd.
Cairn Energy
Petronas Carigali
ROC Oil
Shell (South East Asia)

Milestones

By the 1990s, many private sector companies in India chose to exit the drilling business. However, AOL preferred to increase its focus on the sector with newer rigs, acquisitions and mergers.

1993: Fleet AdditionAOL purchases a 300-ft. jack-up rig from Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

2000: 2001: Hitech Acquisition AOL acquires Hitech Drilling Services (India) Ltd., belonging to the Tata Group, boosting AOL’s fleet to four rigs. This also enables AOL to enter the FPSO business with the FPU ‘Tahara’ owned by Hitech.

2005: Fleet AdditionAOL adds two jack-up rigs (Aban V and Aban VI) and a drill ship (Frontier Ice).

2005: International Expansion In line with its global expansion strategy, AOL launches Aban Singapore Pte Ltd. (ASPL) in November as its vehicle for international operations. ASPL, in turn, sets up 3 SPVs as step down subsidiaries, each equipped with a rig or drill ship.

2006: Sinvest AcquisitionASPL acquires a 33.7% stake in Sinvest ASA, a Norwegian company with eight new premium jack-ups on order. ASPL subsequently completes the acquisition in stages, including a mandatory offer to all shareholders. AOL currently possesses twenty offshore drilling and production units spiraling us to a prestigious position among the top ten offshore drilling asset owners in the world.

2010: Aban Offshore and Venture Drilling AS (VDAS), a joint venture between Petrolia ASA and Sinvest AS (50/50), entered into an agreement for early redelivery of the drillship Deep Venture also known as Valentin Shashin being on bareboat from its Russian owner Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka (Arktik).

2011: Aban Offshores’ drillship Aban Abraham which is owned by the wholly owned step down subsidiary commenced operations under a 5 year contract with Petrobras, Brazil, on June 05, 2011.

2014: Aban Offshore received letter of award (LOA) for the deployment of the jack-up rig Deep Driller 5, owned by the company's step down subsidiary, Offshore Vietnam, for a firm period of 1 year and an optional period of 1 year.

Frequently asked questions