Mermaid Maritime News

Thai subsea services company Mermaid Maritime has through its subsidiary Mermaid Subsea Oil and Gas Services (MSOGS) secured a loan of up to $10 million for the acquisition of Mermaid Sapphire ROV support vessel.The loan agreement, SinoPac Capital International, will facilitate the reimbursement of Mermaid’s equity used for the acquisition of the Mermaid Sapphire.The Mermaid Sapphire is a DP2 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) support vessel equipped with a deepwater work-class ROV…

Thailand-based offshore drilling services company  Mermaid Maritime Public Company said that  its subsidiary Mermaid Subsea Services Thailand (MSST) has entered into a $65 million loan deal with the Export-Import Bank of Thailand (Exim).As per the press release from the provider of subsea and drilling services to the offshore oil and gas industries, the objective of the loan is to extend the financing of the two company’s vessels, the Mermaid Endurer and Mermaid Asiana, for a further period of five years with the same lender.“The loan shall be applied to settle the indebtedness owed to Exim under a previous credit facility agreement for the two vessels and replacing that arrangement with the latest loan instead…

Thailand-based subsea and offshore drilling services company Mermaid Maritime Public Company announced that its Middle East business unit has been awarded a subsea services contract in a GCC country with an initial contract value of USD 16 million.The contract award, with work scheduled to be performed in the Arabian Gulf during the course of August 2018 until March 2019, will involve the use of the DP2 Dive Support Vessel ‘Mermaid Endurer’ equipped with the Air and SAT Dive systems carrying out the overhauling and dry docking of the calm buoys and installation and disconnection of certain SPMs for an international Oil & Gas company…

Thailand-based Mermaid Maritime, a subsea and offshore drilling services company, has  been awarded two subsea contracts with a combined estimated value of $4.6 million. The company press release said that the first contract award will involve a short ROV campaign for pipeline touchdown monitoring for an international EPCIC contractor offshore in the Middle East GCC. The second contract award, with work scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter of 2017, will involve use of a diving vessel with work class ROV carrying-out a subsea services project offshore East Kalimantan, Indonesia, for an international upstream oil and gas company.

Mermaid Maritime and China Merchants Industry Holdings (CMIH) have mutually agreed to cancel the construction contract  for the construction of tender assist drilling rigs to be named ‘MTR-3’ and ‘MTR-4’  respectively. All pre-paid installments and associated costs were already recorded as asset-impairments in Mermaid’s 2015 Financial Statements. No further payments are due to the Builder. The contract price for each of the Rigs (which is inclusive of rig equipment spares) was USD 149 Million). This is equivalent to USD 298 Million for both Rigs. The Owners had made a pre-paid installment of US$ 44 Million for both Rigs pursuant to the Construction Contracts.

Seadrill, a London-headquartered offshore drilling contractor, said that Asia Offshore Drilling (AOD) has received three-year contract extensions for two jack-up rigs from Saudi Aramco. The jack-ups AOD I and AOD II received three year contract extensions from Saudi Aramco expiring in June 2019 and July 2019, respectively. AOD is an associate company of Mermaid Maritime and Mermaid has 3.76 percent equity stake in AOD while the other 66.24 percent equity is owned by Seadrill. The extensions are in direct continuation of the current contracts and have added approximately $225 million in contract backlog. These units have been working for Saudi Aramco since 2013 on a three-year contract that contained one extension option.

Thailand’s Mermaid Maritime said it has been awarded a number of subsea contracts in the Middle East with a total worth of $11million. It has also reached an agreement with builder China Merchants Industry Holdings to postpone the delivery dates for its new assets currently under construction. Off Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Mermaid's western hemisphere business unit won seven subsea projects with an estimated aggregate value of US$11 million. The subsea projects involve survey, inspection, repair and maintenance and light construction in various offshore fields including Manifa, Safaniya, Zuluf and Tanajib in Saudi Arabia. Most projects will be completed by the end of August, Mermaid said.

Mermaid Maritime Public Company announced that it has marked the start of its new vessel / rig construction by participating in a steel cutting ceremony for its performance class tender rig ‘MTR-3’ and DP2 multipurpose subsea dive support and construction vessel ‘Mermaid Ausana’. The ceremony took place at the shipyards of China Merchants Heavy Industry in China in Nantong and Shenzhen, respectively. The ‘MTR-4’, which will be identical to the ‘MTR-3’, is scheduled to have its steel cutting ceremony two months later. The ‘MTR-3’ and ‘MTR-4’ will be state-of-the-art performance class tender assist drilling rigs incorporating the latest modern design features, and will be the most advanced tender rigs in the market when they are delivered in 2016.

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has won new contracts that will see electrically-driven versions of its mooring systems fitted to two new tender assist drilling rigs for Thailand-based Mermaid Maritime Public Company Limited. The Self-Erected Drilling Tender (Hull No. CMHI (JS)-151-1 and Hull No. CMHI (JS)-151-2) are under construction at China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) Co Ltd with delivery planned for 2016. The order was booked into third quarter 2014 order intake. MacGregor will provide each rig with an electrically-driven eight-point mooring system with a 95-tonne line pull, a 460-tonne brake holding capacity and a 1,400m x 64mm diameter wire drum capacity. MacGregor equipment deliveries are scheduled for June 2015.

Mermaid Maritime's subsidiary Subtech Ltd. has been awarded a subsea services contract with Bibby Offshore Limited for services in the North Sea. This contract will utilize the DP2 Dive Support Vessel ‘Mermaid Endurer’ for inspection, repair and maintenance services & light construction intervention. The contract is scheduled to commence in the second calendar quarter of 2014 for a term ending in the fourth calendar quarter of 2014, with options for extension subject to mutual agreement.

Keppel FELS Limited's repeat customer, Asia Offshore Drilling Limited ("AOD"), has exercised its first of two options to build a KFELS B Class jackup rig worth $184 million. The effectiveness of this first option is subject to AOD or its wholly-owned subsidiary entering into a construction contract with Keppel FELS and fulfilling certain conditions precedent. This rig will be AOD's third with Keppel FELS and is scheduled for delivery in 3Q 2013. AOD, established by Singapore listed Mermaid Maritime Public Company Limited ("Mermaid"), had placed orders for two KFELS B Class jackup rigs in December 2010. Last week, AOD announced the completion of a private placement which will result in Mermaid and Seadrill Ltd. each having a 33.75% equal shareholding ownership in AOD.

Keppel FELS Limited's repeat customer, Asia Offshore Drilling Limited ("AOD") has exercised its first of two options to build a KFELS B Class jackup rig worth US$184 million. The effectiveness of this first option is subject to AOD or its wholly owned subsidiary entering into a construction contract with Keppel FELS and fulfilling certain conditions precedent. This rig will be AOD's third with Keppel FELS and is scheduled for delivery in 3Q2013. AOD, established by Singapore listed Mermaid Maritime Public Company Limited ("Mermaid"), had placed orders for two KFELS B Class jackup rigs in December 2010. Last week, AOD announced the completion of a private placement which will result in Mermaid and Seadrill Ltd. each having a 33.75% equal shareholding ownership in AOD. M.L.

Keppel Corporation Limited announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Keppel FELS Limited, has entered into a Letter of Intent with Mermaid Maritime Public Company Limited to build two KFELS B Class jackup rigs worth $360m. In addition to these, Mermaid will have options to build another two similar jackup units. In the event that the proposed deal proceeds, the first two jackup rigs will be scheduled for delivery on 1 December 2012 and 1 March 2013 respectively. If exercised, the options for the additional two rigs are expected to bring the total contract value to above $700m. Further announcement will be made in due course if and when the rig construction and option contracts are executed.

Denmark's Mermaid Maritime (Vietnam) Ltd. has opened its office in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province under a cooperation agreement between Vietnamese and Danish firms in the oil and gas industry. The event took place early this week on the occasion of a Vietnam visit by eight Danish offshore industry companies from October 9-13 to explore business opportunities. Mermaid Maritime (Vietnam) is located in Dong Xuyen Industrial Park. Though it was set up in October 2004, it has already become a market leader in marine and offshore safety equipment in Vietnam. The visit also takes in Hanoi and HCMC. The delegation is scheduled to join seminars aimed at looking into the prospects-for cooperation in the oil and gas industry. The seminars are arranged by the Danish embassy in cooperation with PetroVietnam.