Singapore Corporate News - 28 Sep 2007

STE's US shipyard bags US$254m deal

SINGAPORE Technologies Engineering (STE) announced yesterday that its US shipyard, VT Halter Marine Inc, has secured a building contract worth about US$254 million.

The deal is to build three 330,000-barrel tank barges for Crowley Maritime Corporation's subsidiary, Vessel Management Services Inc.

VT Halter Marine is the US operations of STE's marine arm, Singapore Technologies Marine (ST Marine).

The latest contract will bring VT Halter Marine's total contractual value with Vessel Management Services to US$769 million. VT Halter Marine currently has three contracts with Vessel Management Services to build tugs and barges worth about US$515 million.

Construction of the first tank barge will begin in H1 2009, with proposed deliveries beginning in H2 2011 and ending in H2 2013. The barges will feature the latest systems technology and double hull construction for maximum safety and reliability.

Keppel Seghers wins $1.5b Qatar water contract

KEPPEL Seghers, part of the infrastructure division of Keppel Corp, has won a $1.5 billion water-treatment contract in Qatar.

The contract for ASHGHAL, the Public Works Authority (PWA) in Qatar, is to design and build the largest greenfield wastewater treatment and water reuse facility in Qatar and the Middle East, and subsequently operate and maintain the facility for 10 years, Keppel said yesterday.
The Doha North facility is expected to be operational in 2010.

With peak design capacity to treat wastewater of up to 439,000 cubic metres per day, it will be the largest wastewater treatment and reuse facility in Qatar - more than triple the capacity of the next largest wastewater treatment plant.

The facility will serve a population of over 900,000 when completed. The treated water will be recycled for irrigation needs.

SPC makes US$223m acquisition in China

SINGAPORE Petroleum Company (SPC) has expanded its presence in China by acquiring offshore producing oilfields and exploration working interests in Bohai Bay for US$223 million.

SPC said it won, through its wholly owned subsidiary SPC E&P (China), a competitive bid for 100 per cent of the shares of Sino-American Energy Corporation (Sino-American), which owns the oilfields and exploration blocks.

Sino-American is a subsidiary of the Houston, Texas-based Ultra Petroleum Corp.

The share purchase agreement, signed in Houston on Wednesday, is subject to certain pre-emption rights and other consents under the operating agreements.

Upon completion, Bohai will become SPC's largest producing asset.

Bohai will also be SPC's second asset in China, in addition to its recently acquired Pearl River Mouth Basin acreage, and its eighth exploration and production asset.