@$:[AT]bylinerg:By Vibeke Laroi[AT]bodynoindent:oslo (Bloomberg) Bermuda-based Seadrill Ltd., the oil-rig company set up by Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen, said third-quarter profit more than doubled as rental rates for its drilling rigs climbed.[AT]bodyindent:Net income rose to $69.3 million, or 18 cents a share, from $32.8 million, or eight cents, a year earlier, the company said yesterday in a statement. That missed the $91 million median forecast of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales rose to $566.2 million from $377.1 million. Rig rates gained earlier this year as rising oil prices and dwindling reserves encourage producers to increase exploration and production, boosting demand for companies providing drilling equipment and engineering services. Oil has slumped by about 63 percent since hitting a record at the start of the quarter.The board decided not to pay an additional dividend in the third quarter, chief executive officer Alf Thorkildsen told investors on a conference call. "The temporary halt in dividend should not be seen as a change in strategy, but more a reflection of current market conditions," he said.The decision to postpone the distribution of further cash dividends was based on the current weakness of financing markets and "interesting corporate opportunities" that are likely to arise, the company said.In addition, Seadrill had as of November 21 "temporarily used" about $588 million of its liquidity related to its exposure to total return swap agreements and forward contracts in Pride International Inc. and Scorpion Offshore Ltd.Credit Suisse expected Seadrill to report a loss of $510 million to $530 million on its positions in Pride and Scorpion and a loss of about $60 million on its swap agreements, analyst Katherine Tonks said in a November 20 note before the results."This loss should be well known and looks to be in the price," she said."Seadrill's capital spending programme is fully funded, thus removing one of the key risks to our thesis," said Tonks, who rates the stock a "market weight". "With some of the best visibility in the sector, Seadrill remains one of our top picks."Seadrill, which has an order backlog of $12.5 billion, has taken delivery of five of eight deepwater units scheduled for delivery in 2008 and has 13 units left in its new-build programme that are expected to be delivered through 2011, it said."The board is convinced that the market for offshore drilling units will be strong in the longer term, in particular for the ultra deepwater segment," it said in the statement."Seadrill's equity and debt paper in general trade at a huge discount to underlying assets pricing," it said. "This limits our current interest in further organic growth, but could at the same time create interesting opportunities for accretive buy-backs, acquisitions and further consolidation."The statement came after trading closed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Seadrill jumped 11.9 kroner, or 28.6 percent, to close at 53.5 kroner in Oslo, valuing the company at 21.3 billion kroner.