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Malaysia's Hubline may enter OSV marketMalaysia's Hubline may enter OSV market

Sarawak-based mainly domestic shipping firm Hubline has been approached to go into the offshore support vessels (OSV) business, according to local media reports.

Vincent Wee, Hong Kong and South East Asia Correspondent

October 22, 2013

1 Min Read
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Executive chairman and ceo Dennis Ling was quoted as saying that the company is in talks with potential joint venture partners to charter OSVs and could start making purchases soon.

Hubline shuttered its fledgling oil and gas (O&G) support services division amid the market downturn in 2008. Its two newly ordered AHTSs were sold for a MYR20m ($6.3m) profit and the division was put on ice.

Although still in the planning stage, Ling revealed the company could be buying anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) ships, standby vessels and accommodation barges in anticipation of a surge in demand for O&G support services, backed by Petronas’ five-year, MYR300bn investment to reverse Malaysia’s declining crude oil production.

Ling feels the time is right for Hubline to make a second attempt at O&G, with operational and technical teams ready to jump straight in. “It will be a natural progression for us," he said.

Although Ling declined to say if any capital expenditure has been earmarked for O&G, he noted that the charter fees will be “more than enough” to offset the required investments.

Read more about:

MalaysiaPetronas

About the Author

Vincent Wee

Hong Kong and South East Asia Correspondent

Vincent Wee is Seatrade's Hong Kong correspondent covering Hong Kong and South China while also making use of his Malay language skills to cover the Malaysia and Indonesia markets. He has gained a keen insight and extensive knowledge of the offshore oil and gas markets gleaned while covering major rig builders and offshore supply vessel providers.

Vincent has been a journalist for over 15 years, spending the bulk of his career with Singapore's biggest business daily the Business Times, and covering shipping and logistics since 2007. Prior to that he spent several years working for Brunei's main English language daily as well as various other trade publications.

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