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AsianOil SOUTHEAST ASIA AsianOil
Keppel terminates contracts with three customers
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
SINGAPORE’S Keppel said last week that it had terminated three contracts with separate cus- tomers, relating to construction of two rigs and a liftboat.
The first of the contracts had been secured in 2014 by Keppel FELS with TS Offshore and covered construction of the TS Jasper jack-up rig that would operate in water depths of 500 feet (152 metres), worth around $500mn. That rig was scheduled for delivery in 2017.
The second of the contracts had been signed in 2015, for the Sapura Raiqa semi-submersible tender-assist rig.
The third contract was also awarded to Kep- pel FELS, by Crystal Heights Holdings in 2015, to build a high-specification liftboat worth around $85mn. The liftboat was scheduled for delivery in 2017 and was supposed to be sent to work in China, the Middle East and the US Gulf of Mexico.
Keppel FELS issued notices of termination for the contracts on August 5. In the cases of the TS
Jasper and liftboat contracts, the company cited the failure of the respective customers to pay the outstanding amounts due under their agree- ments. In the case of the Sapura Raiqa contract, Keppel said the client’s conduct showed that “it no longer intends to perform its remaining obligations”. This included but was not limited to accepting delivery of the rig and making the remaining payments, the company said.
Following the termination of the contracts, Keppel FELS will retain all payments received to date, and will retain ownership of the TS Jasper and the Sapura Raiqa, including the right to sell these rigs, the company added. The construction of the liftboat had not started and will not pro- ceed, it said.
As a result of the proposed merger of Kep- pel Offshore & Marine and Sembcorp Marine, the TS Jasper and the Sapura Raiqa are two of the assets that will be transferred to a com- pany that will be 10% owned by Keppel and 90% by other investors.™
EAST ASIA
Inpex raises full-year profit forecast 17%
POLICY
Higher oil prices helped Inpex boost its profit in the first half of 2022.
JAPAN’S Inpex raised its profit forecast for the whole of 2022 by 17% this week. This came after higher oil prices and the deprecia- tion of the yen against the US dollar boosted the company’s earnings in the first half of the year.
The company now expects its full-year profit to be JPY350bn ($2.6bn) versus the previous forecast of JPY300bn ($2.2bn). The upward revision came after it posted a net profit of JPY184.5bn ($1.4bn) for the first half of 2022, representing an almost 255% year-on-year increase. Inpex said it had realised an average Brent oil price of $104.94 per barrel in the first half of the year, up 61% y/y. The exchange rate over the first half was JPY123.15 per US dollar, compared with JPY107.82 in the same period of last year.
The company expects to realise an average Brent oil price of $95 per barrel over the whole of 2022, up from its previous estimate of $85 per
barrel. It also anticipates the exchange rate to be JPY125 per US dollar, adjusted from a previous forecast of JPY120.
Among the developments highlighted in the company’s first-half presentation was the Abadi LNG project offshore Indonesia. Inpex reiterated that it was targeting start-up of the project for the early 2030s as it continues negotiating with the Indonesian government and other interested parties on revising the development plan for the project. The company is now targeting a final investment decision (FID) on the project for the second half of the 2020s. It previously pushed the target FID date back from 2022-23 to 2024- 25, and the latest target date represents a further delay to the project.
A day after announcing its first-half results, Inpex also said it had signed a mem- orandum of understanding (MoU) with AGL Energy to conduct a hydrogen hub feasibility study in Australia.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 32 12•August•2022