Aban Offshore Ltd has announced that Venture Drilling AS, a Company owned 50/50 by Sinvest AS (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company) and Petrolia Drilling ASA, has commenced drilling operations on June 30, 2007 under the drilling contract with Exxon-Mobil for deployment of the drillship Valentine Shashin (to be renamed Deep Venture) Offshore West Africa, with an estimated contract revenues of USD 220 million during the contract period of 18 months.