Oil Rig Builder News

Singapore's Sembcorp Marine (Sembmarine) scrapped a deal to merge with Keppel Corp's offshore and marine unit and form new company, in favour of directly buying the unit for S$4.50 billion ($3.19 billion), the Temasek-backed oil rig builder said on Thursday. The new structure also lowers the value of Keppel's unit by S$378 million from the S$4.87 billion valuation it got according to the terms of the previous agreement struck in April, Sembmarine said. This deal gives Sembmarine's shareholders a bigger stake –– of 46% stake…

Singapore's Sembcorp Marine Ltd (Sembmarine) said on Friday its half-year loss narrowed 78% from a year earlier, as the oil rig builder finished delayed projects after pandemic curbs were eased while also benefiting from cost management.The company said its overall order visibility has improved on the back of rising oil prices and renewed concerns about energy security amid geopolitical tensions.Sembmarine has been a loss-making business since it posted an annual loss in 2018, in an industry plagued by oil price volatility, a drop in new orders, and the pandemic's impact.The company on Friday

Construction work has begun on a joint venture to build a shipyard on Saudi Arabia's eastern coast, oil rig builder Lamprell Plc said in a statement on Friday. The joint venture, International Maritime Industries (IMI), started operations after reaching agreement for a loan from the state-backed Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF), the statement said. The SIDF agreed in principle last year to provide 3.75 billion riyals ($1 billion) in financing for the project. IMI is a partnership between United Arab Emirates-based Lamprell, state oil giant Saudi Aramco, National Shipping Co of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) and South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.

British oil rig builder Lamprell sees full-year revenue slipping to the bottom of its guidance range because of stagnant oil sector investment and losses at a windfarm project, it said on Wednesday, sending its shares sharply lower. The company said that total losses on its East Anglia One (EA1) offshore windfarm project would be about $80 million because of mounting costs for unplanned staffing and equipment requirements. "We anticipated a challenging 2017 given the weakness of our end markets…

Oil rig builder Lamprell Plc reported a 64.7 percent fall in revenue in the first half of the year and cut its full-year forecast, hurt by lower activity levels across the industry.   The company said it expected revenue for 2017 to be in the range of $370 million to $390 million, as it saw continuing low levels of walk-in work. Lamprell had forecast full-year revenue to be in the lower half of the $400 million-$500 million range in March.   Lamprell, which runs three rig building yards in the UAE, said revenue fell to $159.2 million in the six months ended June 30 from $451.3 million a year ago.   Reporting by Arathy S Nair

Keppel Corp, the world's biggest oil rig builder, is still hard hit by the downturn in the oil industry and will now shut down three yards in its homeland. Singapore-based offshore company Keppel reduced its direct work force by about one third. The workforce has been reduced by 2,620 employees in the fourth quarter a cut of 11.8%. For 2016 as a whole Keppel reduced its direct workforce by 10,600, some 3,800, and about 6,800 overseas, or 35% of its total direct workforce. The number of sub-contractors in Singapore has also been reduced by 3,300. Keppel and peers have been slashing jobs as demand for offshore drilling rigs slumped amid weak oil prices. Though a decision by OPEC to reduce output renewed optimism, Keppel said it isn't expecting a quick recovery.

MISChas proposed a $973m deal to merge its shipbuilding business with Ramunia Holdings, an oil services company. The merger would expand MISC’s plans to create a regional business building oil rigs to compete against neighbouring Singapore, which is the world’s largest producer of offshore energy platforms. The deal would be a reverse takeover that could allow MISC to list its Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering unit under the Ramunia name in hopes of copying the success of Keppel Corp and SembCorp Industries, Singapore’s biggest oil rig builders, which saw a sharp rise in their shares last year due to higher oil prices. However, the…

Dubai Drydocks World, the shipbuilding arm of state investor Dubai World, is eyeing yards in China, India and Vietnam, to expand capacity in the hot business of rig building with oil at records near $100 a barrel. Chief executive Geoff Taylor told Reuters on Thursday that the company was part of a joint venture which is in advanced talks to buy a small unlisted shipyard in China's Jiangsu province along the Yangtze River delta. Taylor said the deal was likely to cost Drydock World a total of $55 million. After the acquisition, likely to be completed in the next few weeks, the company plans to inject more cash to turn the yard into a larger shipbuilding and repair facility, he said.