Norway-based shipping group DOF has been awarded contracts for three ROV support vessels (RSV) with Brazilian oil company Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras).
The contracts for Skandi Commander, Skandi Olympia and Skandi Chieftain are set for three years with the option to extend for another two years.
The contracts include two of DOF Subsea Group’s work-class ROVs on each vessel.
The estimated value of the contracts is Nkr1.3Bn (US$150M), with all three contracts expected to commence in Q2 2019.
2009-built Skandi Olympia has been on charter with Fugro since its delivery in 2009. It was redelivered from Fugro at the end of 2018 and has been idle in Norway since. At two years older, Skandi Commander completed an RSV contract with Petrobras in November 2018 and is now working on a 60-day contract with Total in Brazil. 2005-built Skandi Chieftain worked the 2018 season in Canada and has been idle in St John’s, Newfoundland, since November 2018. Before moving to Canada, Skandi Chieftain worked on a long-term RSV contract Brazil.
DOF announced the contracts on the same day it released its Q4 2018 financial results, which showed the company’s overall fleet utilisation during Q4 at 72% – 69% for the subsea fleet, 65% for the AHTS fleet and 87% for the PSV fleet.
“The market has improved for the North Sea PSV fleet, and the utilisation and earnings have been variable for the AHTS fleet and the subsea IRM fleet,” the report said, noting uptime for its PSVs operating on long term contracts in Brazil had been “solid”.
Operating profits (EBIT) were down, but DOF’s backlog by February 2019 is Nkr21Bn (US$2.44Bn).
DOF Subsea completed a new five-year unsecured bond of Nkr900M (US$104M) in November.
DOF completed its newbuilding programme in January 2019 after delivery of DOFCON's newbuild, Skandi Olinda. The vessel began an eight-year contract with Petrobras this month.
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