Aker Solutions clinches $465M subsea job in Brazil

The contract will start within the fourth quarter of 2016 and has a five-year option extension. AKOFS will at the end of September become part of Akastor, an oilfield services investment company that will be one of two companies formed as part of the announced separation of Aker Solutions.

The Aker Wayfarer vessel will be outfitted at a yard in Norway to become a deepwater subsea equipment support vessel (SESV). It will have a fibre-rope deployment system, deck skidding systems and a subsea orientation equipment system, allowing it to install and retrieve subsea trees and modules, including subsea structures and manifolds.

The Aker Wayfarer will be the second vessel of this type operated by AKOFS in Brazil.

Skandi Santos, the first vessel of this type operated by AKOFS, has performed SESV services successfully for Petrobras since starting operations in March 2010.

Ocean Yield ASA, the owner of the vessel ‘Aker Wayfarer’, has been notified that Aker Oilfield Services has been awarded this contract and that the vessel will be modified in order to become a deepwater subsea equipment support vessel.

Ocean Yield has agreed with AKOFS that the investment of approximately USD 100 million will be funded by Ocean Yield against an extension of the current bareboat charter from September 2020 until September 2027. The existing bareboat charter rate for the vessel will continue unchanged until September 2020 and a new bareboat rate for the vessel has been agreed for the period from 2020 until 2027. In addition, a bareboat charter rate covering the modification works will be payable from delivery of the vessel from the yard in the second half of 2016 until expiry of the charter in 2027. AKOFS will have options to purchase the vessel in 2021, 2026 and 2027, respectively.

Ocean Yield ASA’s Chief Executive Officer Lars Solbakken said in a comment: “We are pleased to announce this contract extension for Aker Wayfarer, which further strengthens our charter backlog and earnings visibility. The seven-year charter extension will also contribute to reduce the residual value risk for this vessel.”