Seadrill received £600k subsidy to open in Liverpool

IT has emerged offshore drilling company Seadrill received a £600,000 grant to open an administrative centre in Liverpool.

The business is the world’s largest oil and gas rig operator and is controlled by Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen.

Earlier this month it took a floor at Mann Island on the waterfront where it plans to take on 90 staff working in IT, administration, finance and human resources.

Seadrill has said it chose the city as the location of a global service centre because of its transport links, talent pool and maritime heritage.

But Liverpool’s local enterprise partnership (LEP) yesterday confirmed it committed the grant as part of its Business Growth Grants scheme – a £15m programme funded by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.

The idea is for such grants to help create jobs by attracting private sector investment. In September the LEP said the fund had created 400 jobs through grants worth £4m to 17 businesses. They have ranged in size from £60,000 to £830,000.

Seadrill’s shares have been down on the back of the falling oil price, and fell by 22% yesterday when it said it was suspending its dividend. This could free up about £1.2bn a year and much of this saving would be used to pay down debt. The group reported third quarter operating profits of £291m, on revenues of £817m.

Mark Basnett, director at Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) said: “Seadrill is a world class company bringing high quality jobs to the Liverpool city region. Competition for such world class inward investment is fierce and regional aid, as used in this case through Regional Growth Funding, is widely used across Europe to support investors of this stature and quality.

“We’re delighted Seadrill chose to locate their global service centre here in Liverpool and we welcome other global investors to see first-hand why it has become such a compelling business location.”