Keppel O&M secures S$140m worth of contracts

Contracts awarded to three subsidiaries.

Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd's (Keppel O&M) subsidiaries Keppel Shipyard Ltd (Keppel Shipyard), Keppel Singmarine Pte Ltd (Keppel Singmarine), and Keppel Nantong Shipyard Co. Ltd (Keppel Nantong) have secured contracts worth a total of about S$140 million.

Mr Michael Chia, Managing Director (Marine & Technology) of Keppel O&M, said, "We are happy to be able to offer our comprehensive suite of offshore and marine solutions to our valued repeat customers, who are once again placing their confidence in Keppel by entrusting their projects with us.

"Keppel Shipyard's latest contract bears testament to our expertise and experience in Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) turret fabrication and installation, while Keppel Singmarine's and Keppel Nantong's contracts reiterate our competency in the construction of a variety of ships, including ice-class vessels."

Keppel Shipyard will undertake for SOFEC, Inc. (SOFEC) the fabrication of an external turret mooring system for an FPSO vessel that will operate in the Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme fields in Ghana, in water depth averaging 1,500 metres. Fabrication of the turret is expected to be completed in 1Q 2015.

Meanwhile, Keppel Singmarine has secured three contracts from Bumi Armada Offshore Holdings Limited - a subsidiary of Bumi Armada Berhad (Bumi Armada) - to build two ice-class supply vessels and an ice-class multi-purpose duty-rescue vessel.

When completed and delivered in 2015, these vessels will support offshore platforms at the Filanovsky oil field in the northern part of the Caspian Sea, off the coast of Russia, providing year-round services such as the delivery of cargoes, salvage, search and rescue functions, fire-fighting operations, and towing and tanker mooring operations.

Keppel Singmarine strengthened its position in the specialised market of ice-class vessels when it won the contract from LUKOIL-Kaliningradmorneft in 2006 to construct Asia's first two icebreakers, and it has continued to build up its capabilities in ice technology since. The contracts from Bumi Armada will add another three to its existing track record of seven newbuild ice-class vessels for the Arctic and Caspian regions, marking a significant stride in the company's endeavours to be a choice partner in this market.

In China, Keppel Nantong has secured an order from KSP Towage Sdn Bhd for the construction of two tugs. These tugs, which are scheduled for delivery in 3Q 2014, will be chartered for deployment in Malaysia.

The above contracts are not expected to have any material impact on the net tangible assets and earnings per share of Keppel Corporation Limited for the current financial year.