Varco Gets Largest Order for Oil Drilling Equipment

Varco International Inc. of Orange said it received the largest order in its 77-year history last week. The order for two Top Drive oil drilling systems and other equipment is from A.P. Moeller Drilling Co. of Copenhagen and is worth about $3 million, said Donald Stichler, Varco’s controller and treasurer.

The order was good news for a company that has been hard hit by the slump in oil exploration and that has not shown a profit since the second quarter of 1982. Results for the second quarter of 1985 showed some improvement: The net loss was reduced to $743,000 from $8.3 million for the same period a year earlier. Stichler said, “We have a possibility of being profitable by the fourth quarter.”

Varco’s previous largest order was for slightly more than $2 million of drilling equipment in 1981.