Offshore oil-rig operator Seadrill Ltd. is making a last-ditch effort to reach agreement on a balance-sheet reshaping to appease creditors that are clamoring for a sale, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Over the next 60 days, the twice-bankrupt company will try to persuade warring camps of lenders to agree on a reorganization proposal, Seadrill lawyer Ross Kwasteniet said at a hearing Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston. At that session, Seadrill won approval of an order that represents a temporary truce between lenders that want to sell key parts of the company and other creditors that want to hold it together. Talks that began last year failed to produce an agreed restructuring of the complex business, which has a dozen different debt stacks and operations around the globe. Seadrill’s distress attracted interest among investment funds, which bought its debt, Mr. Kwasteniet said. Some of those investors have stakes in Seadrill competitors and could have ulterior motives in pressing for a sale, the company’s lawyer said. Low prices and depressed demand for oil and gas have rig operators under pressure, and Seadrill’s customers, which include major oil companies, nations and independent operators, are reining in production. When Seadrill filed for bankruptcy in February, most of its 34 rigs were idle and it owed $7.2 billion to lenders and lease counterparties, according to court papers.
