Financially strapped American drilling contractor Hercules Offshore announced on Monday that one of its subsidiaries is selling a jack-up rig for US$3.16m.

Hercules International Drilling Ltd. is making the sale of rig Hercules 267 to an unnamed buyer as the parent company is going through bankruptcy proceedings for the second time in a year. The price indicates it has likely been sold for scrap.

In the company's most recent rig fleet status report, in March, Hercules 267 is described as being warm stacked – idle but ready to be deployed quickly – in the African nation of Gabon.