Swiber wins US$405.6m new deals, boosting order book to US$1.8b

MAINBOARD-LISTED Swiber Holdings Limited on Thursday morning said despite the downturn in the oil and gas industry, the group clinched a series of contracts totalling US$405.6 million, bringing its order book to a record of over US$1.8 billion to-date.

The new contracts include its latest US$333 million deal for engineering, procurement, installation and construction (EPIC) services in India - the second awarded to Swiber by the same national oil company in just over a month.

The project, to commence immediately, involves transportation and installation of submarine pipelines and engineering works and modification of existing facilities. Phase 1 is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2016 and Phase II, the second quarter of 2017.

In recent months, the company also clinched a few other smaller contracts for mooring, jack-up installation and offshore pipeline and subsea work, in the Asia-Pacific region, it said.

Its order book also includes a US$710 million offshore field development project in West Africa last December and the US$310 million contract from the same Indian national oil company last month.

Group chief executive officer Francis Wong explained that Swiber's asset-based strategy meant that it was able to optimise vessel usage and lower mobilisation costs. And as it was already working on eight new platforms and associated pipelines in the same part of India for the same client, it would be able to deploy its vessels and streamline its processes more efficiently.

Swiber is a global provider of integrated offshore construction and support services to the oil and gas industry. It owns a fleet of 13 construction vessels supported by its in-house offshore support vessels.

Mr Wong said Swiber has over 10 years of experience working in the Indian market and seven years with the same client.

The new contract in India is expected to start contributing to the group's earnings in the second quarter ending June 30, 2015.