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Categories
| Petronas extends deadline for bids |
| Features | |||
| Written by Jose Barrock | |||
| Monday, 27 July 2009 00:00 | |||
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The previous deadline was mid-July, the sources add. It is learnt that the contract, which is for a three-year period with an option for an additional two years, could be valued at as much as RM1 billion. At press time, at least four companies were understood to be vying for the job. The four are Sarku Engineering Services Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned unit of SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd; Alam Maritim Resources Bhd, which bid for the Petronas job via its 70%-owned unit Alam Hidro (M) Sdn Bhd; Offshoreworks Holding Sdn Bhd, which is a 25%-owned unit of Tekala Corp Bhd; and privately held Allied Marine & Equipment Sdn Bhd. Allied Marine & Equipment is controlled by Datuk Azizan Abd Rahman, who has 90% control of the company via Worldclass Inspiration Sdn Bhd. Worldclass Inspiration is 75%-controlled by Georgia Attraction Sdn Bhd, which is majority-controlled by Azizan. The other shareholder of Worldclass Inspiration is Mermaid Offshore Services Ltd, which is a unit of Singapore-listed Mermaid Maritime Public Co Ltd. During Mermaid’s initial public offering in 2007, shareholders included Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan of Hong Leong Group and Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir, who helms Kencana Petroleum Bhd. It is not clear if the two have since divested their shares. Alam Maritim also has clout, with state-controlled fund Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) controlling over 10% of the company via its various units, and Lembaga Tabung Haji controlling 7% of its equity. SapuraCrest, meanwhile, is 40.3%- controlled by Tan Sri Shamsuddin Kadir and his family, and boasts Norwegian tycoon John Fredriksen as a 22.7% shareholder. Other bids could crop up as well, now that the deadline has been extended. It is learnt that there have already been several extensions to the deadline. In March last year, The Edge had speculated that Alam Maritim was the front-runner to bag the contract. The company, after a query by Bursa Malaysia, had replied that it had bid for several jobs but had yet to receive confirmation of this particular one. A few months later, it was reported that Petronas Carigali was looking at putting the job out to tender again due to cost escalation, largely because of the rush for exploration works spurred by high oil prices. Now, more than a year later, the same job is still up for grabs. Alam Maritim’s managing director Azmi Ahamd could not be contacted as he was out of town. Datuk Shahril Shamsuddin, who is SapuraCrest Petroleum’s executive vice-chairman, could not be reached as well. An Alam Maritim official says while the company is hopeful of getting the job this time round, it had also bid for several other jobs in the international arena to hedge its bets. Meanwhile, SapuraCrest Petroleum is one of seven companies looking to win several contracts, which could be valued at as much as RM3 billion, from Petronas. A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that SapuraCrest Petroleum and tycoon T Ananda Krishnan’s Bumi Armada Bhd were neck-and-neck in bidding for five transport and installation packages offered by Petronas for 11 production-sharing contract (PSC) operators in Malaysia. Other bidders include Italian Saipem SpA, Sigurros Sdn Bhd, PBJV Group Sdn Bhd, Global Industries Ltd and Master Offshore Sdn Bhd. Possibly buoyed by this news, SapuraCrest Petroleum’s share price gained 12 sen or close to 8%, hitting a 52-week high of RM1.69 last Friday. SapuraCrest closed at RM1.65. Things are looking up for SapuraCrest Petroleum. For its 1Q ended April 30 this year, the company posted a net profit of RM25.7 million on the back of RM716.2 million in revenue, up almost 27% and 5% respectively from a year ago. SapuraCrest Petroleum has the largest order book among oil and gas players. As at end-March, it had jobs amounting to about RM5.5 billion. Offshore service specialist Alam Maritim has also performed well. For 1QFY2009, the company made a net profit of RM26.7 million on revenue of RM71.3 million, which is a jump of about 138% and 29% respectively from the previous corresponding quarter. In notes accompanying its financial results, Alam Maritim says the better results were “due to higher operating profit contribution from offshore support vessels and underwater services segments, which is in tandem with the higher daily charter rates, and an expanded fleet of vessels owned and operated by the group”. The company has a fleet of 30 vessels and is scheduled to receive an additional 10 by next year. Alam Maritim closed at RM1.66 on Friday, gaining two sen. Over the past two weeks, the company’s stock has gained 23 sen or 16%. This article appeared in Corporate page of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 765, July 27- Aug 2, 2009
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