Business Times - 18 Sep 2009
Offshore sector counters come into play
By VINCENT WEE
THE announcement that the massive Gorgon gas project off western Australia has received regulatory approval gives a chance for investors in Singapore to turn their attention to other offshore sector players here besides the two big local rigbuilders.
This project is the world's biggest new liquefied natural gas development and Chevron and its partners in the field, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, are investing US$37 billion in developing it.
Malaysian oil and gas (O&G) counters have already run up earlier this week in the wake of the news as have some of the Singapore players in the sector. But there are fewer pure offshore services and construction plays on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), compared to Malaysia which tends to have more specialised companies.
One local company that is making inroads is marine logistics and support services provider Ezion Holdings. There are, of course, various others that have ambitions of getting in on the action but Ezion is one of the few that have actually announced recently a firm contract win.
Ezion said in May that a joint venture it has with an Australian company and PB Sea-Tow, a unit of Pacific Basin Shipping, had signed a A$350 million (S$431.4 million) contract with an oil major, believed to be Chevron, for the supply of marine vessels.
This is likely to be part of the A$2 billion of construction contracts which Bloomberg yesterday quoted Australian resources minister Martin Ferguson as saying that Chevron has awarded so far. The Gorgon project will roll out A$10 billion of contracts during the next three months, the report added.
Ezion seems to have run up ahead of the Gorgon news, rising to a year-high of 83 cents at the end of last month but closing at 77.5 cents yesterday. It has, however, continued to remain one of the top volume counters over the past few weeks.
Ezra Holdings has a strategic stake in Ezion and may itself also benefit from future contracts awarded from the field. Ezra closed at a year-high of $1.97 yesterday.
CIMB-GK last week released a report saying: 'Asian vessel owners have been rather optimistic over the past few months as some offshore development and construction projects for 2010/11, which were on the brink of postponement when oil prices plunged, could now be revived. ExxonMobil Philippines, Total, BP Indonesia, Shell Malaysia and Chevron in Australia are all expected to require more offshore support vessels over the next 18 months.'
DMG and Partners yesterday said that Ezra was poised to benefit from an improving offshore and marine climate and raised its price target to $2.39 while maintaining its 'buy' rating.
Other possible beneficiaries of the project include component makers and suppliers such as CH Offshore and Technics Oil and Gas. Offshore logistics provider CH Offshore hit a year-high of 69.5 cents on Wednesday after jumping 12 per cent the previous day on an upgrade by DBS which initiated coverage of what it called a 'deeply undervalued' stock with a 'buy' rating and a 12-month price estimate of 89 cents.
Technics, which makes modules and other specialised components for the industry hit a year-high of 57 cents last week before trailing downwards to close at 51.5 cents yesterday.
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