| UNICO is the representative of Mermaid Offshore Services (MOS). Mermaid is a leading provider of tender rig drilling and sub-sea engineering services for the oil and gas industry in South East Asia. Over the last five years, we have grown significantly in the areas of sub-sea engineering, drilling services and training and technical services for the offshore oil and gas industry. We have established ourselves as a company recognised by the industry for high quality services, delivered safely and efficiently. We have developed a strong blue chip client base that includes some of the world's largest oil and gas-related companies. Clients, such as BP, Chevron, CUEL, and PTT Exploration and Production PLC, each accounted for 5% or more of our revenues in any one year. Some of our other clients include Shell, ExxonMobil, Saipem, Transocean, Petronas, and Amerada Hess. We operate throughout South East Asia, primarily in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, and have recently conducted sub-sea services in China, India and Sakhlin.
Mermaid provides drilling services through our majority-owned (95%) subsidiary, Mermaid Drilling Ltd. (“MDL”), which currently owns two tender rigs. We provide sub-sea engineering services through our wholly owned subsidiary, Mermaid Offshore Services Ltd. (“MOS”). MOS provides sub-sea inspection, repair and maintenance services, light construction services, and emergency repair and call out services. MOS's fleet consists of five vessels which it owns, in addition to one dynamically positioned (“DP”) construction vessel and one remotely operated vehicle (“ROV”)/air dive support vessel, both of which it charters. The flagship vessel in our fleet is the Mermaid Commander, which has an in-built saturation diving system and rough weather capabilities. In addition, MOS owns one portable saturation diving system, nine air diving systems, and seven ROVs.
Mermaid operates a world class facility at our operational base in Chonburi, Thailand. This facility allows us to control our own maintenance and refurbishment requirements of equipment and more importantly, the facility's geographical location allows us to mobilise expeditiously and efficiently to our clients' locations. We have also established shore base support functions in (i) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; (ii) Songkhla, Thailand; and (iii) Jakarta, Indonesia to support our geographical expansion. To support our mobile operations, additional shore base operations using a network of local contacts can be set up at short notice.
During the development into the tender rig drilling and sub-sea engineering markets, we identified opportunities that demanded local presence in some countries. Recognising this, we reacted and appointed local agent representatives that hold the required licenses and permits, thereby increasing our market opportunities outside Thailand. To date, this has proven successful with operations performed or ongoing in Indonesia, Myanmar, China, Russia, India and Vietnam. To improve our market penetration in Malaysia, we acquired a 22.5% indirect stake in Allied Marine and Equipment Sdn. Bhd. (“AME”), a sub-sea engineering company, and formed a partnership with Kencana Petroleum Berhad (“Kencana”) to jointly own drilling rigs (through a company owned 75% by Mermaid and 25% by Kencana) and to market and operate them in Malaysia (through a company 60% owned by Kencana and 40% by Mermaid). In early 2008 MOS also acquired an 80% stake in the Seascape Survey group of companies (“Seascape”), a South East Asian based provider of hydrographic and positioning services, complimenting the 'one stop shop' philosophy for MOS's services.
For the financial year that ended on 30 September 2008, drilling services and sub-sea engineering services contributed 23.6% and 74.3% of our total revenues, respectively.
(Source: Mermaid's 2008 Annual Report) |
