Seadrill Unit Delays Rosneft Deal until next May

North Atlantic Drilling, a subsidiary of offshore rig firm Seadrill (SDRL), said on Friday it had delayed a cooperation deal with Russia's Rosneft till the end of May but said it remained committed to the agreement.

Under the deal, announced in late August, North Atlantic Drilling Ltd. would buy around 150 land rigs from Rosneft and the Russian oil giant would take a roughly 30 percent stake in the company. Seadrill, the world's biggest rig operator by market capitalisation, would remain the majority shareholder.

However, Western sanctions against Russia, and Rosneft in particular, have increased concerns about the deal and a separate agreement between the firms to provide up to nine offshore rigs to the Russian firm for offshore drilling.

"The break rights under the transaction have also been extended to the end of May 2015," North Atlantic Drilling said. "Both parties remain committed to the transaction."

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Gareth Jones)