Offshore drilling contractor Vantage Drilling has appointed William Thomson to the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Thomson will assume the additional role of COO with effect January 1, 2025, reported Ihab Toma, Chief Executive Officer, and will continue to be based in Vantage’s Dubai office.
Thomson, who is currently the company’s Chief Commercial and Chief Technology Officer has been with Vantage since 2008 serving in a number of capacities in Engineering/Projects, Technical Support, Marketing and Managed Services.
Vantage Drilling International, a Bermuda exempted company, has a fleet of two ultra-deepwater drillships (Platinum Explorer and Tungsten Explorer) and two premium jack-up drilling rigs (Soehanah and Topaz Driller).
In 2024, Vantage and TotalEnergies signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture (JV) that would acquire Vantage’s Tungsten Explorer drillship.
As part of the agreement, TotalEnergies will pay $199 million for a 75% interest in the JV owning the rig, with Vantage owning the remaining 25%.
The sale of the Tungsten Explorer to the TotalEnergies-Vantage joint venture is expected to be completed in the second or third quarter of 2025.
Also, Vantage Drilling entered the separate purchase and sale agreements in September 2024 to sell the Topaz Driller jack-up rig and all of the issued and outstanding equity of the entity that owns the Soehanah jack-up rig to a subsidiary of ADES International Holding.
The value of transactions is $190 million and they are expected to close in the fourth quarter 2024, Vantage Drilling said at the time.