Seadrill management to relocate, CE quits

Shipping tycoon John Fredriksen announced yesterday plans to move management at Seadrill out of Norway, prompting Alf Thorkildsen, the CE of the world’s biggest deepsea drilling rig owner, to leave. The incident opens a new chapter in Mr Fredriksen’s controversial love-hate relationship with his former homeland. Seadrill said it was looking at alternative locations for its central management, with London, Dubai, Singapore and Houston under consideration after concluding that its base in Stavanger, the Norwegian oil industry’s capital on the west coast, was too expensive and too remote for a company seeking to do business globally.