Page 29: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2017)

BY WILLIAM STOICHEVSKI ith drilling contrac- focus on the ? edgling FLNG market, a on FLNG conversions (three and count- and platform maintenance and new, ver- tors unable to pay belief in which is aided by Asia’s dearth ing) to add to the “old” business of FPSO satile, low-cost jack-ups for inspection, for the offshore rigs of gas pipelines. Keppel Offshore & Ma- conversions and builds of topsides and maintenance and repair, or IMR, intend they’ve ordered, rine CEO, Chow Yew Yuen, can count turrets. A new lift-boat design for wind to convert some “old business” into con-

WSingapore’s heavy- weight yards have had to defer deliver- ies and become defacto rig owners. Yet, despite eating through their orderbook — including two newly delivered ? oat- ing production storage and of? oading vessels, or FPSOs — Keppel’s Offshore & Marine Division is staying pro? table in the downturn, earning $20 million in 2016. “The painful but necessary mea- sures to right-size our (Offshore & Ma- rine) division must continue,” Keppel

Corp.’s chief exec, Chin Loh Hua, says for the record.

After delivering a rig for Seadrill,

Sembcorp, too, is agreeing to delay a rig handover, and if its client doesn’t ? nd work for the ? nished semi-submersible and Sembcorp fails to sell it, then the two charter parties will do that by joint venture. “Their agreement to more or less jointly own the rig works pretty well,” says Danske Bank Markets off- shore analyst, Sondre Dale Stormyr. He adds that rig giant Seadrill’s more public con? icts have mostly been with Korean and Chinese yards.

Troubled clients aside, the pace of work has been brisk for both yard groups.

Keppel — which has just sold a client’s jack-up rig at 80 percent of its build cost — in January 2017 ? nished the build and integration of topside modules on the

P-66 FPSO for a Petrobras-led consor- tium. Work on FPSO, P-69 is progress- ing well and follows similar conversion work for Italian ENI and Yinson that was

Keppel’s 125th FPSO customization.

A ? fth-generation offshore accommo- dation unit — Keppel’s own design — was handed over to Floatel International for a Chevron work at the Wheatstone ? eld off Western Australia. Another housing semi-sub is understood to be in

ECAP propeller by MMG the works at Keppel’s Caspian yard.

IMPROVE YOUR OPERATIONAL

Through Rig Glut

To be sure, rig orders have dried up. “You need a contract (with an oil com-

EFFICIENCY WITH ECO INSIGHT pany) and more” says Stormyr about '19*/LVWKHZRUOGlVOHDGLQJFODVVLgFDWLRQVRFLHW\DQGDUHFRJQL]HGDGYLVRUIRUWKHPDULWLPHLQGXVWU\%\ ? nancing anything for the yards these

PDNLQJGHHWSHUIRUPDQFHYLVLEOHDQGHDV\WRXQGHUVWDQG(&2,QVLJKWDOORZVVKLSRZQHUVDQGRSHUDWRUVWR days. Not waiting for rig ? nance, Kep-

PDNHLQIRUPHGGHFLVLRQVWKDWFDQVDYHIXHOFXWHPLVVLRQVDQGORZHURSHUDWLRQDOFRVWV(&2,QVLJKWFRPHV

ZLWK059FRPSOLDQWGDWDFROOHFWLRQDQGUHSRUWLQJDVZHOODVDPRELOHDSSDQGDQDOHUWVHUYLFH pel FELS managing director Chris Ong '19*/FDQVXSSRUW\RXZLWK is leading his build-and-repair network of 20 yards through the high-spec rig y &ODVVLgFDWLRQy9HULgFDWLRQy(QYLURQPHQWDOSHUIRUPDQFHy %DWWHU\SHUIRUPDQFHPRGHOLQJ y 2SHUDWLRQDOSHUIRUPDQFHHIgFLHQF\VROXWLRQVy(QKDQFHG/1*VROXWLRQV y*UHHQHU'3RSHUDWLRQ glut and into the new Keppel businesses. y (QHUJ\VWRUDJHy ,QGHSHQGHQWHQJLQHHULQJy MRV monitoring “There’s a steady stream” of work for

Learn more at /HDUQPRUHDWZZZGQYJOXVPDULWLPH the repair segment, Ong is quoted in a regulatory ? ling as saying.

As with Sembcorp, there’s a Keppel

SAFER, SMARTER, GREENER www.marinelink.com 29

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