The bidding process would normally take about one year before a contract is awarded, he added. “On the average there are two to three bidders per project. The FPSO segment is a niche business with only 10 players in the world,’’ Lim Han Weng said
.He noted that of these, only six were active players and Yinson is one of only two from Malaysia. The new orders varied in sizes ranging from small, mid-sized to huge units with the contract value starting from $200m up to $3bn.“The market is big enough for the active six players. As the FPSO segment is a niche market, clients (petroleum companies) will only entertain credible players,”’ he added.
Executive director and group ceo Lim Chern Yuan said more than 50% of the FPSO units in Yinson's $5.9bn order book were for clients to undertake exploration activities in Gabon, Ghana and Nigeria.
“The African continent offers good growth prospects for us in the long term as only 30% to 40% of the continent has electricity supply,’’ said Lim Chern Yuan.
He said the African countries would be investing billions of dollars in years to come to build natural gas-powered stations to provide electricity for the population, adding that with more money to be pumped in by the governments in the continent for the gas-powered stations, it would boost gas exploration activities there.
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