London 16 March 1971 WHE-1823 MEMORANDUM: Subject: CHEVRON OIL COMPANY This morning John Rollins of Chevron called me from Madrid, Spain. He has just completed a tour of Liberia, South West Africa, South Africa and Madagascar. Chevron and other companies that hold concessions in South Africa have a total of seven wells to drill. John thinks that he can put the package together and would need an offshore unit from November of this year through June, 1972. The water depths range from 50' to 300'. John inquired to see if the SEDCO 135-D was available, and I told him that it was under contract to Shell-BP Nigeria until November of this year and that they had an option to renew for an additional year but had to let us know by October, 1971, if they were going to exercise their option. I gave him the same general information on the availability of the SEDCO 135. As you will remember, John Rollins is a real supporter of our SEDCO 135 units and is responsible for having the study made showing the average daily footage for all rigs operating offshore Nigeria prior to the civil war. Just in case Shell-BP or Union Carbide decides not to exercise their option, this might be a possibility for us. John is leaving Madrid, Spain, and moving to Madagascar early next month. They have a joint venture with Conoco on shore where Conoco is the Operator. They also are partners in an offshore group where Chevron is the Operator. At the present time they are drilling an offshore well using the MERCURY but only have it for one well. Rollins replacement for Madrid, Spain, will be L. B. McMihel. Chevron has consolidated their Netherlands and Spain operations. Mr. McMihel is presently living in The Hague but will be moving to Madrid, Spain, in June of this year. WHE:ms W. H. Etherington cc: W. P. Clements, Jr. S. L. Taylor J. P. Cunningham
