Paris, June 15, 2009
听Technip announces the acquisition of a new construction support vessel, the North Ocean 103, from Oceanteam ASA. The transaction has been completed through the purchase of the ship-owning entity, North Ocean III KS, for an undisclosed cash amount. The vessel is currently being built at the Metalships yard in Vigo, Spain and is scheduled for delivery in August 2009, prior to being fitted out to Technip鈥檚 specifications in 2009/2010.
This acquisition accelerates Technip鈥檚 strategy of renewing its fleet with state-of-the-art pipelay and construction vessels. The North Ocean 103 will enable the replacement of the Apache in 2010 with a wholly-owned vessel. This new vessel will carry out rigid pipelay operations in a wide variety of water depths.
Thierry Pilenko, Technip鈥檚 President and CEO, stated: 鈥淭his operation illustrates our confidence in the Subsea market and reflects our willingness to enhance our competitiveness, using our liquid balance sheet to acquire world class assets and thereby reinforce our leadership.鈥�