SINGAPORE (Dec 10): Offshore Support Vessel (OSV) provider Nam Cheong has inked three chartering contracts worth a total of RM 54.8 million ($17.9 million) including options to extend, the company announced Tuesday.

The three chartering contracts are for one Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessel and two Platform Supply Vessels (PSV).

The clients are foreign oil majors, and the vessels will be used to service the oilfields in Malaysian waters.

The new contract wins bring Nam Cheong’s total order book to RM 290 million.

“In line with surging vessels chartering revenues, we are pleased to be making greater headway, extending our footprint to capture greater market share in the recovering market,” says Leong Seng Keat, CEO of Nam Cheong.

Nam Cheong’s chartering revenue jumped 88% y-o-y to RM 91.7 million in 3Q2019 on the back of higher levels of offshore drilling activity as Malaysia’s upstream oil & gas market picks up.

According to the group, Petronas expects an increase in demand across all major offshore vessel types as the industry recovers.

As at 3Q2019, Nam Cheong’s fleet size stood at 34 vessels, compared to 16 vessels in 1Q2017.

“Moving forward, we will continue to expand in vessel chartering, evolve our shipbuilding business, and diversify into Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation and Commissioning projects to ride on the upturn,” Leong adds.

As at 4.15pm, shares in Nam Cheong are trading 0.1 cent higher, or up 14.3%, at 0.8 cents.