Japanese Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has revealed a plan to acquire a five percent share in Seajacks International, a UK-based owner and operator of five self-elevating platform vessels.
Mitsui said on Friday that the company would buy the stake from its compatriot, Marubeni Corporation.
This is a new offshore business for MOL, following the company’s entry in FPSO, FSRU, shuttle tanker, and subsea support vessel businesses.
The company said that this was also the first step to moving into the renewable energy business field through involvement in the installation of offshore wind power generation systems.
As far as the remaining sectors of the company go, MOL has participated in five FPSO projects off Brazil and one off Ghana.
The company has only one floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) project under development in Uruguay. The unit is currently under construction by DSME in South Korea and is expected to begin work in the first half 2018.
After MOL and Viken Shipping established a JV ship-owning business Viken MOL AS, the company entered the shuttle tanker sector through Viken’s five owned vessels, all under long-term charters with Petrobras.
MOL’s first step into the subsea business was through the forming of a joint venture company called Avium Subsea AS and the purchase of the Skandi Santos subsea support vessel.
Brazil’s national oil company Petrobras has the Skandi Santos chartered since 2010, using it to install subsea facilities in deep-sea oil and gas fields off Brazil. After the new JV was formed, the vessel continued its work off Brazil.
Offshore Energy Today Staff