Aban Offshore

Aban Rises After Getting Insurance Claim for Rig

July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Aban Offshore Ltd., India's largest oil-field equipment provider, was poised for its biggest gain in almost 9 months after saying insurers had paid out most of a claim for a rig that sank off Venezuela in May.

The shares climbed as much as 8.9 percent to 898.75 rupees, heading for the biggest jump since Nov. 4, and traded at 891.55 rupees, up 8 percent, at 2:13 p.m. local time. The benchmark Sensitive Index slipped 0.5 percent.

Aban Offshore fell the most in almost 18 years on May 14 after the sinking of the Aban Pearl natural gas platform leased by a unit of state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA. The company had received 97 percent of its $235 million claim, it said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

"The balance amount is likely to be received shortly," the Chennai-based company said.

PDVSA said a failure in Aban Pearl's floatation system caused the rig to sink on May 13 after a "massive" inflow of water. The incident occurred three weeks after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, leased by BP Plc, exploded and later sank in the Gulf of Mexico.

To contact the reporter on this story: Natalie Obiko Pearson in Mumbai at npearson7@bloomberg.net .