Bermuda-based offshore and onshore drilling rig and vessel operator Seadrill has announced the sale of 13,948,000 shares in Odfjell Invest ASA and entered into a forward contract for the equivalent number of shares with the due date on September 8.

Following these transactions, Seadrill controlled 13,948,000 shares corresponding to 10.01 percent of the outstanding shares.

On March 26, Seadrill bought back all the shares in the forward contract and sold the shares at NOK20. After this, Seadrill has no ownership interests in Odfjell Invest ASA.

The board decided after a thorough evaluation to sell the shares and the net profit from the sale was approximately $6 million and will be recorded in first quarter 2008.