Pride & Seadrill Up On Merger Speculation (PDE, SDRL)

Shares of Seadrill Limited Ordinary Shares SDRL and Pride International, Inc. PDE are both gaining on heavier than normal volume. This comes on speculation that the two companies may be looking at a merger. Yesterday, Seadrill CEO John Fredriksen said that Seadrill was looking at all reasonable opportunities when asked about the possibility of a merger with Transocean RIG. Fredriksen was quoted by Bloomberg yesterdayday as saying that he's "looking at everything that is reasonable." Shares of SDRL are gaining 57 cents to trade at $25.30, and PDE is better by 77 cents to trade at $25.98.