Norway's Odfjell Offshore plans to raise up to $500 million in a private equity placing to develop further its fleet of six state-of-the-art ultra deepwater and harsh environment offshore drilling units. In addition, Odfjell Offshore may over-allot up to 10 percent of additional new shares, the firm announced Monday.

Parent company Odfjell Drilling will remain a majority shareholding in Odfjell Offshore after the private placing and will continue to provide its 40 years of operational experience, as well as its 3,000 highly skilled employees in the Odfjell Drilling organization, it said in a statement.

"Odfjell Offshore's strategy is to expand our drilling operations in the ultra deep water and harsh environment market," said Odfjerll Offshore Chairman Simen Lieungh. "Our fleet is uniquely positioned and we have a strong backlog. Currently, we have one newbuild ultra deep water semi under construction. In addition we have secured an option to build two similar units at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in South Korea."

Tags: Odfjell Drilling Services LLC