Thailand: MIO’s Uniwise Offshore Buys New PSV and Secures Firm Contracts

Thailand: MIO's Uniwise Offshore Buys New PSV and Secures Firm Contracts

Miclyn Express Offshore (MIO) announces that through its Thai Joint Venture, Uniwise Offshore, it has been awarded a 3 year firm contract, plus 2 x 1 year extension options, to provide coil tubing marine support services to Chevron’s production activities in the Gulf of Thailand. Uniwise Offshore will purchase a Platform Supply Vessel (PSV), currently under construction in a Chinese Shipyard, to fulfil the service requirements. The vessel will commence operation in October 2012. The new contract is a continuation of a long standing relationship with Chevron in the region.

CEO Diederik de Boer said, “This new vessel represents our sixth Offshore Service Vessel (OSV) servicing Chevron in the Gulf of Thailand. We have been able to leverage off our strong operating track record in Crew/Utility Vessels to further increase our exposure to Chevron’s OSV operations. We look forward to further developing our relationship with Chevron and continuing to service them with operational excellence”.

In addition, MIO announces that it has secured a 2 year firm contract with PT Seascape Surveys Indonesia for the charter of its subsea support vessel Miclyn Endeavour. The vessel will be supporting subsea, survey, inspection and repair activities.

The combined firm value of the two new contracts is US$23.8 million.

MIO also disclosed that Miclyn Grace and Miclyn Grand have been withdrawn from their contracts with Saudi Aramco (announced 29 November 2011) due to issues surrounding technical suitability for their intended application. MIO announced that the Miclyn Grace and Miclyn Grand have been redeployed into Qatar for a 3 year firm charter, plus 2 x 1 year extension options, with HBK Power Cleaning in support of their offshore platform maintenance services in the region. The profitability of the vessels is largely unchanged under the new contracts, although some downtime was sustained as a result of the redeployment.

CEO Diederik de Boer said “The withdrawal was indeed a disappointment but MIO remains dedicated to continuing its exceptional service to Saudi Aramco for existing vessels under charter in Saudi Arabia and will pursue further expansion opportunities with this important customer. Through our extensive commercial network in the Middle East we were able to redeploy the vessels into Qatar, a region with significant growth potential, in part due to our relatively low exposure. The redeployment of these vessels has not changed our expectation that Financial Year 2012 EBITDA will be up 20-25% on Financial Year 2011”.

Miclyn Express Offshore is a leading provider of service vessels to the expanding offshore oil and gas industry, across South-East Asia, Australia and the Middle East. The Group charters a diverse range of OSVs, Crew/Utility Vessels, Tugs, Barges and Coastal Survey Vessels to a wide range of customers operating across all phases of the offshore oil and gas cycle, namely exploration, development and production, as well as project transportation and the offshore civil construction industry. The Group operates a vertically integrated business model through its vessel chartering and shipyard businesses. The shipyard provides in-house vessel newbuilding, conversion, repair and maintenance services, as well as third party vessel conversion, repair and maintenance services when spare capacity exists.

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Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, June 12, 2012; Image: Seascape Surveys