Gulf Marine Services, the leading provider of advanced self-propelled self-elevating support vessels serving the offshore oil, gas and renewable energy sectors, is pleased to announce a new contract award for one of its Mid-Size Class vessels.

The contract, scheduled to commence in Q1 2017, is for three months (including options). The vessel will be supporting offshore maintenance work in the MENA region.

Duncan Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of GMS, said: “We are very pleased to be supporting our client’s operations in the MENA region. Our sophisticated vessels are highly efficient and provide a wide range of services that are valued by our clients seeking safe and cost-effective offshore solutions.”

About Gulf Marine Services:

Gulf Marine Services PLC (‘GMS’, ‘the Company’ or ‘the Group’), a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, was founded in Abu Dhabi in 1977 and has become the leading provider of advanced 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, Malaysia 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.

The GMS SESV fleet of 14 vessels is technically advanced and amongst the youngest in the industry, with an average age of eight years. The 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 SESVs are four-legged vessels and are self-propelled, which means they do not require tugs or similar support vessels for moves between locations in the field; this makes them significantly more cost-effective and time-efficient than conventional offshore support vessels without self-propulsion. They have a large deck space, crane capacity and accommodation facilities that can be adapted to the requirements of the Group’s clients. A cantilever system, which can be fitted to the decks of GMS’ Large Class and Mid-Size Class vessels, will be available to clients for the first time in 2017. Developed in partnership with leading Norwegian designer Dwellop A.S., the innovative cantilever allows GMS to significantly increase the level and type of well intervention activities that can be carried out from its vessels to include operations that have traditionally been performed by more expensive non-propelled drilling rigs.

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), 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) 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 further Large Class vessel will be delivered at the end of 2016 on completion of the Group’s new build programme.

Demand for GMS’ vessels is predominantly driven by their premium capabilities, underpinned by the need to maintain ageing oil and gas infrastructure and the increasing use of enhanced oil recovery techniques to offset declining production profiles.

Source: www.gmsuae.com