Keppel FELS Limited (Keppel FELS), a wholly owned subsidiary of
Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has secured a
contract from Crystal Heights Holdings Limited (Crystal Heights), a
company specialised in the offshore oil and gas market, to build a
high
specification liftboat worth US$85 million.
The liftboat is designed by Keppel O&M's liftboat design
specialist, Bennett Offshore in collaboration with Keppel FELS.
Scheduled for delivery in 4Q 2017, the liftboat will have provisions
enabling it to operate in China, the Middle East and the Gulf of Mexico.
Liftboats are dedicated vessels used to support offshore platforms in
construction, accommodation and well intervention as well as
maintenance and installation.
Mr Wong Kok Seng, Managing Director of Keppel O&M (Offshore) and
Keppel FELS, said, "This latest contract from Crystal Heights is the
second liftboat based on Keppel's innovative proprietary solution that
Keppel has been contracted to build within a year.
"We have leveraged our jackup rig technologies and expertise to
develop our own series of liftboat designs that is able to value add to
the industry. For instance, it will have a higher freeboard for safer
operations and retractable spud cans flushed to the bottom of the rig's
hull which reduces drag when transiting between locations.
"Even as the market for drilling rigs remains depressed, Keppel has
the versatility and capabilities to design and build other products that
are in demand, such as mobile units for plug and abandonment,
accommodation and maintenance."
Mr Kenny Cai, Director of Crystal Heights, added, "Despite the
current low oil price environment, there are a large number of offshore
platforms in the world that require more efficient and cost-effective
solutions such as the use of a dedicated liftboat for their maintenance,
upgrading as well as removal. Besides being utilised in the Gulf of
Mexico and West Africa, they are also increasingly being employed by key
operators in China, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
"Building our first liftboat with a reputable shipyard will enable us
to establish an early foothold in the market, especially in the Asian
region which currently has the least number of liftboats available per
platform. Having worked with Keppel on previous projects before, I am
confident that we can look forward to receiving a best-in-class liftboat
from them promptly and safely."
Mr Cai is a shareholder of TS Offshore and FTS Derricks which have
contracted for a KFELS N Plus and a KFELS Super B Class jackup rig
respectively currently being built in Keppel FELS.
Keppel's self-elevating and self-propelled liftboat design is capable
of operating at a water depth of up to 60 metres. It will be equipped
with a 280-tonne deck crane enabling it to undertake the maintenance of
most shallow water oil and gas fields and wind farms, as well as various
workover drilling operations and well intervention applications. In
addition to its large versatile open deck space for cargo storage, the
vessel has an accommodation capacity of 200 persons which is located
above the main deck for greater safety considerations and meets the
latest IMO requirements.
The liftboat is installed with Keppel's patented and proven jacking
system designed by subsidiary Offshore Technology Development. The
strength of this system was demonstrated on the Seafox 5 offshore wind
turbine installer when it completed over a hundred jacking cycles in a
year, which is equivalent to what a typical drilling rig does over a
20-year span. Since the start of 2015, more than 4,000 jacking systems
have been ordered of which some 2,900 are currently in operation on more
than 70 jackup rigs.
In addition to this latest contract, Keppel's joint venture shipyard
in Qatar, Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (N-KOM), is also
building a similar vessel for a Qatari oilfield service company.
The above contract is not expected to have a material impact on the
net tangible assets or earnings per share of Keppel Corporation Limited
for the current financial year.
CW8888:
Same as in 2009 and 2010?
May be even worse!
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