Mermaid Maritime bags subsea contracts off the Middle East, Thailand

SINGAPORE-LISTED Mermaid Maritime said its two subsea business units have won contracts off the Middle East and South-east Asia.

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 in a Singapore Exchange (SGX) announcement.

Off Thailand, Mermaid has won one-year extension to an existing contract valued at US$51 million. The extension was granted for a subsea construction support services contract with an unidentified engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) contractor in Thailand.

Mermaid's chief executive, Chalermchai Mahagitsiri, said the company was awarded work for "the twelfth consecutive year" from the same client and the contract is now extended to the end of December 2017.

The EPCIC contractor is believed to be Cuel and the contracted work is in support of Chevron's projects in the Gulf of Thailand. The contracted work for 2015 and 2016 is expected to last for about 325 days.

Mermaid's associate company, Asia Offshore Drilling, has secured a three-month interim contract extension for jack-up rig, AOD 1 to July 2016. AOD 1, along with its sister rigs, AOD II and AOD III, are contracted to drill off Saudi Arabia at a day rate of US$125,000 with effect from January 2016. The contracts on AOD II and AOD III are due to expire in July 2016 and October 2016. AOD is co-owned by Mermaid's Thailand-based parent company.

Mermaid Maritime said in a separate SGX announcement, an agreement has been reached to postpone the delivery of two tender rigs and one dive support vessel (DSV) on its newbuilding programme with yard operator, China Merchants Industry Holdings.

Both parties have agreed to reschedule the delivery of the tender rigs to Dec 31, 2016, and the DSV to June 30, 2017.

Mermaid had already taken on board an asset impairment write-off on the entire deposit and associated costs tied to the two rigs and the DSV with CMHI in its FY15 financial statements.

The Singapore listed company said it will "consider and implement courses of actions for the application of these assets". These include accepting delivery of one or more assets from CMHI on or before the delivery dates or offering them for sale to third parties.