Offshore staff
SINGAPORE -- Swiber Holdings Ltd. expects to sign a contract to acquire a 300-man accommodation barge by next March and a pipelay barge by next May, its executive chairman and CEO Raymond Goh said.
For the longer-term fleet investment, the company is also planning to build a 4,000 ton sheerleg barge by Feb. 2010.
Goh said Swiber was currently financial arrangements and would soon sign a contract to buy the accommodation barge, which was already being built by a Chinese shipyard on speculative basis.
The proposed three vessels will be funded via recent equity issuance, proposed bond issue and internally generated cash, said Swiber, which is bidding for some US$800 million worth of engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning projects in Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
Swiber is also adding 13 more vessels, including anchor handling and tug services boats through to 2009. Nine of these vessels will be added to the fleet of 20 as at 30 June 2007.
Swiber will be launching its first pipelay barge, Swiber Conquest, in September, on an Indonesian offshore oil and gas project. The vessel is being readied this month for undertaking EPCIC projects, said the company, which had order book of $218.7 million as at June 30, 2007.
Underlying buoyant market conditions for the offshore oil and gas industry boosted its net profit by 280% to $9.8 million as revenue surged by 220% to $44.7 million for the half-year ended June 30, 2007.
8/14/2007
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