COSL signs Norway deal despite political tensions

China Oilfield Services (COSL; 601808.SH, 2883.HK) has signed a drilling contract with Norway’s Statoil ASA despite political tensions between the two nations, the Wall Street Journal reported. China was angered by the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo; it tried to organize a boycott of the ceremony in Oslo last Friday and warned that Sino-Norwegian relations would be damaged. Yet details of the deal were posted on COSL’s website the same day as the ceremony. From the start of next year, Statoil will deploy an advanced COSL rig in stormy waters off Norway’s continental shelf. The value of the deal hasn’t been disclosed but earlier this year Statoil chartered two rigs in the same area, one for three years at US$421 million and another for four years at US$394 million. COSL is the oil-field services and rig-construction unit of China National Offshore Oil Corp (CEO.NYSE, 0883.HK).