KUCHING: The announcement by SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd (SapuraCrest) of a RM98 million contract to provide transportation and installation of offshore facilities for Yetagun Phase 4 development offshore Myanmar was seen by analysts as the beginning of more contracts for the group.

MORE CONTRACTS: The announcement of SapuraCrest securing a RM98 million contract is seen by analysts as the beginning of more contracts for the group. — Photo from www.offshore-ocs.com

According to ECM Libra Capital Sdn Bhd’s (ECM Libra) head analyst Bernard Ching,  SapuraCrest was also likely to secure the Kebabangan-Malikai pipelay job this year worth some RM3 billion, similar to the Gemusut-Kakap pipelay job.

“Also, we understand that the group is in talks to acquire a new heavy lift derrick pipe lay barge through its Sapura-Acergy joint venture,” Ching highlighted.

The Yetagun development contract which was slated for October-November 2011 represented the monsoon season job that SapuraCrest would take on since the group would then have available capacity. It secured the contract from Petronas’ PC Myanmar (Hong Kong) Ltd.

AmResearch Sdn Bhd (AmResearch) in a separate report expected SapuraCrest to employ either of its two pipe lay construction vessels – the LTS3000 or the QP2000 – to be used for this project.

The research firm added that this represented the first contract which SapuraCrest had secured this year, after the US$160 million (about RM504 million) Montara job in November last year.

“While this project will add a slight one per cent to the group’s outstanding gross order book of RM9 billion, we believe that this is just a foretaste of the pipeline of massive new orders given SapuraCrest’s established capacity in securing new jobs domestically and overseas,” quoted AmResearch.

The Yetagun project would take only 40 days long and AmResearch revealed that this contract would add to the group’s financial year 2012 forecasts (FY12F) by two per cent.

AmResearch pegged SapuraCrest at a target price of RM4.40 per share while ECM Libra pegged RM4.20 per share.