1. At a Glance – A Rig Operator Floating in Deep Water
Here’s a stock where the market cap is ₹119 crore, but debt stands at ₹16,278 crore. Yes, you read that correctly.
The current price is ₹20.4, down 41.7% in 3 months and 57.4% in 6 months. Return over 1 year? A brutal -47.6%.
Yet in Q3 FY26 (Dec 2025), the company posted a ₹29.56 crore profit, compared to a loss in the previous quarter. EPS for the quarter: ₹5.06.
Now let’s add spice:
- Current ratio: 0.02 (basically no liquidity cushion)
- Interest coverage: 0.10
- Enterprise Value: ₹16,248 crore
- EV/EBITDA: 89.9
- Book value: ₹ -4,605 (negative net worth club member)
- ROA: -58.4%
And the cherry on top? The company is under CIRP.
So the question is simple: Is this a comeback story… or a financial thriller?
Let’s dive.
2. Introduction – From Oil King to Insolvency Ring
Aban Offshore Ltd was incorporated in 1986. It was promoted by Aban Constructions Private Limited along with Chiles Offshore Inc., USA.
Once upon a time, this was India’s largest private offshore drilling player.
Today? It is undergoing Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) as per NCLT orders dated 1 September 2025.
That escalated quickly.
The company provides offshore drilling and production services to oil & gas exploration companies. It owns:
- 7 offshore drilling rigs
- Drill ships
- A floating production facility called “Tahara”
Clients include ONGC, Petrobras, Chevron, Shell Malaysia, Vedanta, PEMEX and others.
Impressive client list.
Terrifying balance sheet.
Over the past many years:
- Continuous heavy losses
- Net worth completely eroded
- Wind power business discontinued
- 9 idle rigs sold in FY22 & FY23
- Credit rating downgraded to CARE D; Issuer Not Cooperating
And now under CIRP.
If this were a Bollywood movie, interval would be here.
But numbers are more dramatic.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Imagine oil companies saying:
“Hey, we found oil under the
