China Contends for Slice of Oil Rig Construction Business
According to Reuters, China is emerging as a strong contender to the traditional offshore oil rig manufacturing powerhouses of Singapore and South Korea as shipyards such as COSCO Corp fight for a bigger market share in a deepwater exploration boom. China started making jack-up rigs for shallow-water drilling and semi-submersibles for deepwater operations about seven years ago. In that short span of time, industry data shows it managed to secure a fifth of the $72 billion orders placed, tempting customers with aggressive pricing. China is able to tempt customers by aggressive pricing, but big customers still favour Korea and Singapore, as Chinese quality and reliable delivery are concerns, says the Reuters report.
Gulf Capital Acquires Stake in Maritime Industrial Services Co.
According to Rigzone, Gulf Capital has acquired, as part of a large investment consortium, a 21% stake in Maritime Industrial Services Co. (MIS) was acquired as part of a larger private placement that raised $80 million for MIS on the Norwegian over the counter (OTC) market. The private placement will enable MIS, which provides a fully integrated onshore and offshore engineering, procurement, fabrication, construction and shipyard service, to capitalize on the current boom in offshore oil explorations and allow it to enter in a major way into the rig manufacturing business. The current high demand for oil and gas has resulted in an unprecedented amount of offshore exploration activities and boosted worldwide offshore rig utilization to 86%, one of the highest levels ever.
