Amoco Canada puts marine drilling division for sale

Jan. 9, 1997 Amoco Canada Petroleum Company of Calgary has announced that Lazard Freres & Co. LLC of New York has been retained as financial advisor to explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale, for Canadian Marine Drilling (Canmar), Amoco's marine drilling and services division. Based in Calgary, Canmar is the world's leading provider of Arctic offshore drilling and marine services contracting. Canmar operates a fleet of four drilling systems and six support vessels, all of which are capable of working in the Arctic. During its 20 years of operation, Canmar has drilled 75% of all off-shore wells in the Canada and US Beaufort Seas and the Chukchi Sea. In addition, Canmar has developed, built and operated a bottom-founded drilling unit capable of working year round in the Arctic and has a preliminary design approved to operate the unit as an early Arctic production facility. Canmar currently has vessels operating in the North Sea and off Southeast Asia and, in the spring, will be working off Canada's east coast.