Swiber receives claims totalling US$99 million

EMBATTLED offshore services firm Swiber Holdings has received claims of around US$99 million in total as at Aug 4, it said in an update.

The company is seeking legal advice with regard to the claims, it said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange on Monday night.

Meanwhile, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has called on several bank guarantees which were issued for certain projects that Swiber's wholly owned subsidiary, Swiber Offshore Construction (SOC), was involved in either solely or as a consortium partner.

Five bank guarantees amounting to about US$94.48 million and two bank guarantees amounting to around 644.2 million rupees (S$12.99 million) have been called upon. One of the bank guarantees with a value of 307.5 million rupees has been paid out by the relevant bank.

In addition, Punj Lloyd has called on a US$1.475 million bank guarantee provided for two other projects, which has been paid out by the bank.

SOC said that it has since written to notify both ONGC and Punj Lloyd that their calls on the bank guarantees were wrongfully made. On Aug 3, SOC filed several petitions in the relevant court for injunctions against the payment of these bank guarantees by the banks; on Aug 4, the court granted an interim order instructing the banks to hold back on any payment until the next hearing date for the applications for injunctions (Aug 11).

"SOC is also in discussions with lawyers on the potential steps that may be taken to preserve its rights in relation to the bank guarantees that have been paid out," it added.