Topaz posts revenue of $244m in 2017
Leading offshore support vessel company Topaz Energy and Marine, a subsidiary of Renaissance — a publicly traded company listed on the MSM, announced its results for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017.
René Kofod-olsen, Chief Executive Officer, Topaz Energy and Marine said, “2017 was a challenging year for the industry, but we believe the worst of the downturn is now behind us. 2018 will also be challenging but we are cautiously optimistic as market conditions improve. Oil markets are more positive with demand and supply close to equilibrium. The number of projects being commissioned is increasing, with the supermajors reporting improved results for Q4 2017.”
Financially, Topaz maintained a healthy business profile and delivered revenues of $244 million and a solid EBITDA margin of 48 per cent, the CEO said.
Revenue for the period was $244m, a decrease of 13 per cent compared to $282m revenue in 2016. This decrease is mainly the result of (i) off-hire of barges and tugs in Kazakhstan of $17m, (ii) loss of revenue of $13m due to layups and pressure on rates and utilisation in the MENA and Africa regions, (iii) loss of revenue of $13m due to lower utilisation in Azerbaijan as the projects our vessels were contracted for reached completion and (iv) off-hire/standby rate on two subsea vessels of $8m. However, this decrease is partially offset by the commencement of revenue from the Tengiz contract of $16m.
“Despite the market conditions, Topaz made good progress during the year against our strategy. We secured a number of important contracts during the year including Dragon Oil in Turkmenistan and Total in Azerbaijan.
We commenced operations of two vessels for our Tengiz contract in Q4 2017, six months ahead of schedule. This is a gamechanging contract for our business. Topaz, with its partners, developed an entirely new class of vessel to meet the client’s needs. Strategic projects such as Tengiz have helped us to maintain our industry leading backlog of $ 1.5bn,” Kofod-olsen said.
The core fleet utilisation improved to 67 per cent in Q4 2017 from Q3’s 64 per cent. The fleet in the Caspian, which accounts for more than 75 per cent of revenue, delivered a utilisation rate of 80 per cent. Excluding laidup vessels, the core MENA fleet was 84 per cent utilised.
“Our core utilisation for Africa was 40 per cent for the year, although we experienced a significant increase in demand in the latter part of the year, and have since mobilised additional tonnage into the region to meet demand,” the CEO said.