Gulf Marine Services Regulatory News (GMS)

Gulf Marine Services PLC

("Gulf Marine Services", "GMS", "the Company" or "the Group")

GMS SECURES ITS FIRST DECOMMISSIONING CONTRACT

Gulf Marine Services (LSE: GMS), the leading provider of advanced self-propelled self-elevating support vessels (SESVs) serving the offshore oil, gas and renewable energy sectors, is pleased to announce that one of its Large Class vessels in Europe has been contracted for decommissioning work, a new activity for the Group.

The vessel, which has been supporting well service and maintenance work in the Southern North Sea for an international oil company since Q3 2012, was scheduled to continue that work until Q1 2016 (with a further six-month option thereafter exercisable by the client).

GMS and the client have now agreed that the vessel will move to support the client's decommissioning work, also in the Southern North Sea, in summer 2015. The revised contract has a committed term through to Q1 2016 and an option period that has been extended from six months to twelve months. The vessel will proceed directly from the current project this summer to the decommissioning work. The day rates for this charter are in line with guidance previously given for Large Class vessels.

Duncan Anderson, Chief Executive Officer at GMS, said:

"We have been targeting decommissioning work for some time and are pleased that this new project has now given GMS our first foothold in this area. The fact that we will be moving directly from one type of work to another for the same client also demonstrates the flexibility of our vessels and their value to our clients. Our ability to tailor our fleet to our clients' evolving needs, while also offering competitive solutions, is especially helpful in the current low oil price environment."

GMS has two Large Class SESVs operating in the North Sea. A further ten SESVs are contracted in the Middle East.

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Notes to Editors:

Gulf Marine Services PLC, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, was founded in Abu Dhabi in 1977 and has become one of the leading providers of self-propelled self-elevating support vessels (SESVs) in the world. The fleet serves the oil, gas and renewable energy industries from its offices in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. The Group's assets are capable of serving clients' requirements across the globe, including the Middle East, South East Asia, West Africa and Europe.

GMS has an ongoing new build programme which will increase the fleet size by 66% to 15 vessels during the period 2014 to the end of 2016, in response to continued strong customer demand and an anticipated growing market in the foreseeable future.

The Group's SESV fleet, which currently comprises 12 vessels is technically advanced and amongst the youngest in the industry, with an average age of eight years. 

The SESVs are four-legged vessels that move independently, with no requirement for anchor handling or tug support. They have a large deck space, crane capacity and accommodation facilities that can be adapted to the requirements of the Group's clients.

These vessels support GMS' clients in a broad range of offshore oil and gas platform refurbishment and maintenance activities, well intervention work and offshore wind turbine maintenance work (which are Opex-led activities) and offshore oil and gas platform installation and offshore wind turbine installation (which are Capex-led activities).

The fleet is categorised by size into Large Class vessels (operating in water depth of up to 80m, with crane capacity of up to 400 tonnes and accommodation for up to 300 people) and Small Class vessels (operating in water depth of up to 45m, with crane capacity of up to 45 tonnes and accommodation for up to 300 people). A new third class, the Mid-Size Class vessels (operating in water depth up to 55m, with crane capacity of up to 150 tonnes and accommodation for up to 300 people) was added to the fleet in Q2 2015.

Demand for GMS' vessels is predominantly driven by their premium capabilities as well as market growth underpinned by the need to maintain ageing oil and gas infrastructure and increasing use of enhanced oil recovery techniques to offset declining production profiles. This focus on Opex brownfield work positions GMS well against a current background of challenging macroeconomic conditions.

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