Seatrade Maritime is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Deadly FPSO explosion hits BW Offshore results

Deadly FPSO explosion hits BW Offshore results
An explosion onboard the FPSO Cidade de São Mateus on 11 February which claimed the lives of nine crew members has hit BW Offshore's first quarter results.

The FPSO has been offhire since the incident, which caused nine deaths and left 26 injured. The financial consequences of the incident, including the offhire, will be covered to a large extent by insurance policies, BW Offshore stated in its Q1 earnings release.

The company's operating revenues for the quarter were $236.8m, 11% lower than in Q4 2014 and profit was also down at $5.8m, compared to $12.7m in the preceding quarter.

Despite the lower oil price and depressed state of the offshore market, BW Offshore is seeing an improvement in project activity and expects it to pick up further into the second half of the year. It sees oil majors continuing to outsource production, as contractors remain a cost-competitive solution.

"The majority of BW Offshore’s fleet remain on long term contracts with national and independent oil companies. The fleet will continue to generate a healthy cash flow in the time ahead," the company stated.