Singapore's Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M) said Friday it had secured a contract valued at approximately S$600 million (USD 442 million) in the offshore renewable energy industry.
Sharing the news on Friday, Keppel gave little details on the client and the type of order. It said that the contract was with "an energy company" for the engineering, procurement, and construction of "a vessel for the offshore renewable energy industry."
Keppel did not say when the vessel "for the offshore renewable energy industry" - most likely for offshore wind, but we have yet to receive confirmation - would be delivered. Also, the wording of the statement on Friday is somewhat curious as "energy companies" do not usually order these types of vessel, but rather charter them from contractors.
According to Keppel, the contract was "on progressive payment terms," and that it would not have any material impact on the net tangible assets and earnings per share of the company in the current financial years.
For years, the Singapore-based company has - at least to the Offshore Engineer audience - been known mostly for offshore drilling rigs construction.
However, two oil industry downturns later, with drilling rig orders drying up, Keppel is looking for alternative sources of income in gas solutions, and in what was once called "alternative" but today increasingly mainstream - renewable energy.
Keppel said it itself in a statement on Friday, saying the new contract was "in line with Keppel Corporation’s Vision 2030, that entails "seeking opportunities in providing renewable energy solutions."
"Keppel O&M is able to provide a variety of design and construction solutions for the offshore renewable energy industry," the company said.
While its offshore energy-related background is mostly linked to the oil and gas industry via the construction of rigs, FPSOs, platforms, FLNGs, supply vessels over the years, the company is not a total newcomer in the renewables, either.
Keppel delivered and has a stake in the Blue Tern, one of the world’s largest offshore wind turbine installation vessels for the UK North Sea.
The company is also building converter stations and substations to support the offshore wind energy industry in the German sector of the North Sea and in Taiwan.
In May 2019, Keppel won a contract together with Aibel to deliver two converter stations as part of the DolWin cluster servicing German offshore wind farms.
In the same month, the company won a contract to build two offshore wind farm substations worth more than S$150 million for Danish renewable energy company Orsted for the Greater Changhua offshore wind sites in Taiwan, which have a total potential capacity of 2.4 GW.