0.00 How was business for Eversendai Offshore last year?
2015 was a very good year for us. For Eversendai as a group from Malaysia to India to the Middle East and including the oil and gas operations among other verticals, 2015 was a record year for us in terms of contract wins. We secured almost AED 2bn ($544.52mn) worth of projects. The previous record year we had was in 2010 when we won AED 1.6bn ($435.61mn) of contracts. I think we have the advantage of being a multi-disciplinary business, and gain from our geographical diversity. Our oil and gas vertical is an important one.
1.05 Tell me a bit about your ongoing projects.
There are two jackups that we are building, with completion due in Q4 2016. We also secured three projects in December. We are working on the Dubai Eye Ferris wheel project. We are also working on two projects in Abu Dhabi, one of them being a process module project for ADGAS. Of course we are still bidding for new projects. But our ADGAS project win was really a great breakthrough. We have quite a good workload for this year. Yes we would still like to win and secure more projects for this year. But my focus is also to secure projects for 2017.
2.55 Kindly talk about Eversendai’s year-old fabrication facility in Ras Al Khaimah.
The yard has come up very well. We now have about 1,500 people working there, compared to just 50 people in January last year. We are continuing to recruit people. Our yard completed a full year of operations last year, although the company Eversendai Offshore was formed about two years back. Besides, a brand new yard building two jackups is not easy and is unheard of. We have done a lot of the work, including the engineering in-house and have not subcontracted it. I am pretty impressed and proud of what the team is doing at the yard.
3.55 What is your approach to secure more projects?
Within the oil and gas business, we have two units: One is Eversendai Offshore. The other unit called Eversendai Oil & Gas, which we have in Malaysia, is very focussed on downstream operations. That unit is working on three downstream construction projects for Petronas. We are trying to bring that unit/brand into the Middle East as well, so that plan too is on the cards. We should see something in that direction by Q3 2016.
4.10 How do you plan to grow in the region?
Our focus is pretty much on the Middle East. In these two and a half years we have been here, we have done a lot of groundwork. Most of the regional EPC contractors know us well now. We are also looking at Iran now. I wouldn’t say we are planning to enter Iran but we are looking at ways to get involved. There are some projects available that we have to explore. I won’t expect anything to happen this year, but we are planting the seeds for the future. We have to do the groundwork for Iran now.
