Romanian oil player Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP) claimed today that its Orizont rig came under fire from an Iranian military helicopter and was later boarded by troops.
Dubai-based Oriental Oil Company, which chartered the drilling rig from GSP, said the Orizont platform was the subject of a legal dispute between the two companies and an Iranian court had ordered it to remain in Iranian waters.
GSP spokesman Radu Petrescu told Reuters: "We were called by one of our employees at 9.15 am local time (0615 GMT), who told us a military helicopter opened fire against the Orizont rig, and by 9.45 Iranian troops got on board."
"Since then, we haven't heard anything from them."
The 13,000-tonne Orizont rig has 26 people on board and has been in Iranian waters since October last year. GSP said Oriental Oil had accused it last week of illegally withdrawing another rig, the Fortuna, from Iranian waters. The Romanian company claimed the Fortuna's charter was cancelled legally.
An official at Oriental Oil told Reuters the company had filed a case with the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris in June after GSP terminated the contract for the Orizont and Fortuna.
"GSP decided to remove both rigs before the arbitration result ... therefore, we went to an Iranian court, which issued an order to keep the rigs where they are until the arbitration result comes out," said the official, who declined to be named.
He said Oriental Oil had subcontracted the two rigs to Pedco, a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Company. He added that he understood the helicopter that flew to Orizont was not military and no shooting had taken place.
Iranian officials were not immediately available to comment.
Romania's foreign ministry said in a statement it had scheduled a meeting with Iranian officials for tomorrow to find out more about the incident.
© Upstream 2006
