AP Moller Unit Orders $300M Oil Rig

Oil and shipping conglomerate A.P. Moeller has placed a $300 million order with a South Korean shipyard for a new jack-up oil rig for its Maersk Drilling unit. Officials declined to give the name of the shipyard.

The order may signal that the strengthening of crude oil prices in the past year has sparked increased exploration activity globally, analysts said, noting that Denmark-based A.P. Moeller's Maersk Drilling had last taken delivery of a new jack-up oil rig 10 years ago.