EMGS Vessel Utilisation at 69 Pct

Oslo-listed Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (EMGS) has informed that its vessel utilisation for the fourth quarter 2014 came in at 63% compared with 50% for the fourth quarter 2013.

The Company defines “vessel utilisation” as the percentage of the vessel charter period spent on contracted or multi-client data acquisition.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, the Company’s vessels were allocated 39% to contract and 24% to multi-client programmes. Included in the time spent on contract is approximately 2% allocated to paid R&D, which is testing of the new equipment set (“the JIP”). For the fourth quarter 2013, the allocation was 46% and 4% respectively.

EMGS recorded 9.9 vessel months this quarter, compared with 11.1 in the fourth quarter of 2013.

For the full year 2014, the vessel utilisation ended at 69%, while the utilisation was at 67% for the full year 2013.

Vessel activity
The BOA Thalassa had its transit to Asia in the beginning of the quarter and started working on the announced contract in Malaysia on 23 October. After completion of this contract on 12 November, the vessel spent six days testing for the new equipment set (“the JIP”), before transit to Thailand. The vessel worked on the project for PTTEP International in Thailand from 2 to 11 December, transited to Myanmar and completed the project for the same customer here from 13 to 24 December. The vessel’s utilisation for the fourth quarter was 43%.

The BOA Galatea worked on the multi-client campaign offshore Canada from 24 July to 4 December. The start-up of the campaign was delayed due to a yard stay, which resulted in tougher weather conditions and reduced efficiency in the acquisition, explaining the extension of the campaign. The vessel had a short yard stay in Charleston, before it started acquisition on a new phase of the multi-client project, the Daybreak, in the US Gulf of Mexico on 22 December. The vessel’s utilisation came in at 73% this quarter.

The Atlantic Guardian acquired data on projects for Statoil and North Energy in September and October, after which the vessel had its planned yard stay from 13 October to 19 December. In this period, the vessel was off-hire (EMGS does not pay charter) and thus the vessel only had 0.9 vessel months this quarter. The vessel’s utilisation for the fourth quarter was 57%.

The EM Leader completed the contract for Petrobras on 8 November. The vessel spent a few days doing an audit for BG Group, before commencing on the announced research project for the Pontifical Catholic University (PUCRS) of Rio Grande do Sul and Petrobras’ Research and Development Center called CENPES on 18 November. This project was completed on 3 December. The EM Leader started on the 3.5 month contract for BG Group on 16 December. The vessel’s utilisation was 74% in the fourth quarter.

The Company expects to record a total of approximately USD 25 million in multi-client revenues for the fourth quarter 2014. This is net of the contribution to TGS related to the cooperation between the two companies.