Canadian oil company Addax Petroleum is still in possession of a drill ship for exploratoin offshore West Africa, despite reports the contract was no more, OilGas24 understood Thursday.

An Aban Abraham drill ship from India was reported to be bound for the Gulf of Guinea, until new news reports suggested the deal was off.

A statement from Addax Thursday confirmed that in March a deepwater drill ship was contracted and would begin drilling mid-2008. From five to 10 appraisal wells are planned for the deep waters of the Joint Development Zone between Nigeria and the Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, plus OPL291 off Nigeria.

Addax, meanwhile, reported net income was up 18 percent over 2006 to US$243 million (US$1.70 per share) on petro-sales before royalties of US$2,029, 66 percent more than the prior year.

The company is “building an expert, in-house, sub-surface interpretation and drilling technical team” after a year of acquisitions placed the company in deepwater at JDZ Blocks 2, 3 and 4 and OPL291 offshore Nigeria. Capital spending shot up during the year by 109 percent to US$773.