Ezra and Emas Offshore unit to sell vessel for US$166.3m

OFFSHORE services provider Ezra and an Emas Offshore unit have entered into a binding agreement to sell their stakes in the Lewek Emas vessel for about US$166.3 million.

The buyer, named for the first time in the exchange filings on Saturday, is PetroFirst Infrastructure 2 Ltd, part of PetroFirst Infrastructure Partners. The latter is a joint venture between private equity player First Reserve and international oil and gas service provider Petrofac.

Under the agreement, Emas Offshore Production Service (Vietnam) will sell its 41.7 per cent stake in PV Keev, which owns Lewek Emas, and Ezra will sell another 38.3 per cent as well as its entire stake in redeemable cumulative preference shares.

PV Keev is currently chartered to Premier Oil Vietnam Offshore BV as operator of the Chim Sao field offshore southern Vietnam.

Ezra said the divestment is in line with its strategy of moving away from asset ownership and to leverage on its experience in FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) conversion to provide value-added services to third parties.

Net proceeds from the sale will further reduce gearing levels at the company, and improve its cashflows and working capital, it added.