Billionaire Fredriksen Poised for Record Seadrill Net: Freight
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John Fredriksen’s $3.6 billion bet that ever-greater demand for crude oil will be met from reserves buried miles beneath the ocean surface is poised to reap at least three years of record profit for his company Seadrill Ltd.
The billionaire is adding six drillships to his fleet of four within two years, driving net income higher through 2014, mean estimates of 60 analysts compiled by Bloomberg show. The vessels, boring as much as seven miles under the waves, will earn an average of $625,000 a day a year from now, 21 percent more than in 2011, according to RS Platou Markets AS, an investment bank in Oslo. Shares of Seadrill will rise 22 percent in the next 12 months, according to the average of 23 forecasts.