Seatrium (formerly known as SembMarine)

[winston]

SEMBCORP MARINE - Deutsche Bank upgraded the target price of Sembcorp Marine on Monday to S$3.80 from S$2.75, citing the offshore rig builder's strong first quarter results.

Deutsche maintained its "buy" rating on Sembcorp Marine, which posted a 34 percent jump in first quarter net profit on Friday.

J.P. Morgan also upgraded its target price to S$3.15 from S$2.45, while maintaining its "overweight" rating.

[winston]

PetroRig sues Sembcorp Marine over rig contract

SINGAPORE - PetroRig 1, a special purpose vehicle linked to Norwegian firm PetroMena, has sued a unit of Singapore's Sembcorp Marine for breach of contract over a US$454 million rig order, court documents showed on Monday.

PetroRig 1, which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States, alleged that Sembcorp's Jurong Shipyard unit had made an 'improper attempt to terminate the construction contract' for an ultra deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig and said Sembcorp subsequently tried to sell the rig at a below-market price.

The filing did not say how much damages PetroRig was seeking.

Sembcorp Marine, the world's second largest maker of offshore oil rigs, did not immediately comment on the matter.

In April, Sembcorp Marine said it had terminated a rig-building contract with PetroMena because the final payment had not been made and planned to sell the rig to recover money owed. -- REUTERS

[winston]

Sembcorp Marine settles rig dispute with PetroRig 1

SINGAPORE, June 5 (Reuters) - Sembcorp Marine , the world's second-biggest offshore rig-maker, said it has settled disputes with bondholders of Norsk Tillitsman and PetroRig 1, the special purpose vehicle of Norwary's PetroMENA .

The settlement would allow its unit, Jurong Shipyard, to be paid the balance of the construction costs and expenses for a rig it had made for PetroRig 1, the company said on Friday

[millionairemind]

Published June 9, 2009

SembMarine unit sells PetroRigI rig to Diamond
Meanwhile, KepFels' client appears to have averted crisis

By VINCENT WEE

SEMBCORP Marine unit Jurong Shipyard has finally completed the sale of PetroRig I's semi-submersible rig to Diamond Offshore Services Company, a related company of major deepwater drilling services contractor Diamond Offshore Drilling.

SembMarine declined to give details of the sale except to say it is expected to be completed by end-June.

Industry website Upstream Online, citing sources, reported last Friday the rig builder received five bids for the rig - from Seadrill, Noble Drilling, Stena Drilling, Diamond Offshore and a Brazilian contractor.

It also said four of the five bidders offered more than US$450 million.

PetroRig I is believed to have owed SembMarine over US$200 million on the US$454 million rig 1 when it defaulted on its final payment in April.

SembMarine then put the rig on the market, as it was entitled to do under its contract.

PetroRig I tried to block the sale by filing a preliminary restraining order in the bankruptcy court in New York.

PetroRig I also filed for bankruptcy protection after Norsk Tillitsman, the trustee of bonds issued by PetroRig I's parent group PetroMena, seized control of the company and two other PetroMena units, PetroRig II and PetroRig III.

The path was finally cleared for the sale when SembMarine announced on Friday that it had reached a settlement with all the parties.

Diamond Offshore is one of the world's largest drilling contractors, with 45 rigs, including 30 semis, one drill-ship and 14 jack- ups.

It acquired the bulk of its fleet through a series of astute acquisitions at bargain prices in the early 1990s.

Diamond is cash-rich and obviously on the lookout for bargains again. It just completed a US$500 million unsecured notes offer last month.

The company recently reported a first quarter profit of US$348.6 million, up 20 per cent from US$290.5 million in the previous corresponding quarter.

PetroMena units have two more semis on order with Jurong, due for delivery later this year and early next year respectively.

They are under the same contract conditions as PetroRig I.

In a separate development in the industry, Skeie Drilling & Production (SKDP), a Norwegian client of Keppel Corp's Keppel Fels rig building unit, appears to have averted a major crisis.

SKDP said last week that it was at risk of filing for bankruptcy if a proposed restructuring fell through as it had also missed payments on three N-class jack-up rigs with a total contract value of reportedly US$1.16 billion.

But on its website late last night, SKDP, which has been in negotiations with a group of bondholders, said 'an agreement on main principles with this group of bondholders has now been reached'. It added: 'Following these achievements, the board of directors believes that SKDP is not obliged to file for bankruptcy and will remain solvent subject only to formal approval of the agreed restructuring plan from the shareholders and bondholders.'

[millionairemind]

Published July 3, 2009

SembMarine bags another rig contract

The US$237m deal for a rig is second from SeaDragon Offshore since April

By VINCENT WEE

SEMBCORP Marine subsidiary Jurong Shipyard has secured a second contract to complete a semi-submersible rig for SeaDragon Offshore unit Oban B. The contract is worth US$237.3 million, excluding owner-supplied equipment.

SembMarine secured a US$247 million contract for a similar rig in April.

'We thank SeaDragon again for its trust and commitment to work with Jurong after the first contract was signed in April,' said Jurong Shipyard's offshore division senior general manager Don Lee.

The first unit is a fast-track job scheduled for delivery by the end of next year, as it was signed up for a five-year charter with Mexico's Pemex.

The second rig does not have a charter secured yet. But reports last year suggested there may be parties interested in buying it from SeaDragon.

The six-column bare-deck hull, built in a Russian yard, arrived early last month. Jurong will turn it into one of the world's most advanced harsh-environment ultra-deepwater semis.

The rig, scheduled for delivery by end-June 2011, will be able to operate in water up to 10,000 feet, with a maximum drilling depth of 30,000 feet. Its ability to operate in all conditions will give it multi-region flexibility to operate worldwide.

'We are delighted to be working with the world-class team at Jurong on this second project, which we are confident will result in a first-class asset for charter in 2011,' said Oban B's technical director George Sutherland.

Jurong's Mr Lee said: 'These two state-of-the-art semi-submersible rigs will complement the range of semi-submersibles that Jurong is building and demonstrates our versatility in undertaking projects with diverse complexities.'

'We are pleased that, despite challenges due to the economic downturn and the credit crunch, our order book continues to strengthen,' he added.

SembMarine expects positive contributions to earnings from the latest contract for FY 2010 and FY 2011.

The rig builder's shares closed four cents lower at $2.71 yesterday.

[millionairemind]

August 4, 2009, 5.42 pm (Singapore time)

Sembcorp Marine Q2 net profit up 7.6%

SINGAPORE - Sembcorp Marine, the world's number-two builder of offshore oil rigs, reported on Tuesday a better-than-expected 7.6 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit thanks to higher earnings from rig-building.

The company said the long-term outlook for the rig-building industry was positive but the near-term outlook for ship-repair, another core business, was 'challenging'.

Sembcorp Marine earned S$138.1 million (US$96.44 million) in the three months to June, compared with S$128.3 million a year ago.

'Notwithstanding the current economic downturn and restricted financing and liquidity environment for owners, the long-term fundamentals for the marine and offshore industry remain resilient with oil prices back to the US$60-70 bbl range,' the company said in a statement.

Keppel Corp, the world's largest offshore oil rig builder, posted a 6 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit, but its orderbook slid as it faces a cyclical industry downturn.

Sembcorp Marine and Keppel benefited from a jump in oil exploration in recent years as crude prices soared to record highs, but the drop to current levels of around US$65 have hurt demand for new oil rigs. -- REUTERS

[winston]

Singapore Hot Stocks-Sembcorp Marine in focus

SINGAPORE, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Sembcorp Marine may be in focus on Wednesday after JPMorgan raised the firm's target price to S$3.75 from S$3.15 following its better-than-expected earnings results.

[Aspellian]

Singapore Hot Stocks-Sembcorp Marine in focus

SINGAPORE, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Sembcorp Marine may be in focus on Wednesday after JPMorgan raised the firm's target price to S$3.75 from S$3.15 following its better-than-expected earnings results.

in a bullish market, any +ve news (eg. new contract (however small); better earnings (even <10% or with non-recurring income or "better still" - accounting profits such as revaluation or write-backs etc), analysts' upgrade (which happens more often in bull), stocks will just fly. any reason will do!!

even bad news cannot dampen the share price eg. cosco - price hold steady despite 70% drop in profits. market will happily say, current share price has already priced in ALL negatives. hahaha!! human psychology, so interesting.

[Aspellian]

Jurong bags Jubilee floater job

Singapore's Jurong Shipyard has won the floating production, storage and offloading vesssel conversion job for Tullow Oil's Jubilee field, off Ghana.

The job, worth about S$160 million (US$111.4 million), will see Jurong convert the very large crude carrier Ohdoh in to an FPSO for Modec Offshore Production Systems.

The FPSO will be renamed the Kwame Nkrumah, after Ghana's first president.

Jurong said the workscope includes detailed engineering, installation and integration of 18 topside modules, installation of external turret and power generation, accommodation upgrading as well as extensive piping and electrical cabling works.

The Kwame Nkrumah, which is due for delivery in the first quarter of next year, will be installed in about 1100 metres at the Jubilee field.

The floater will be capable of processing more than 120,000 barrels of oil per day, injecting more than 230,000 bpd of water, 160 million cubic feet per day of gas and will be able to store 1.6 million barrels of oil.

The Kwame Nkrumah is designed to remain on the field for up to 20 years without dry docking, Jurong added.


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Tuesday, 04 August, 2009, 12:17 GMT | last updated: Wednesday, 05 August, 2009, 01:27 GMT

[winston]

On Bloomberg now.

DnB Sell Call. Target 3.08