ABG Shipyard is looking to enter the platform building segment for oil exploration in offshore areas. It is scouting for partners with experience and expertise.

The platforms are permanent structures for oil and gas drilling. It is a structure next to which a jack up rig is placed and drills.

Mr Dhananjay Datar ED & CFO of ABG said that “We are studying the business.”

He said its size in India was INR 15,000 crore per yea and exploited by foreign shipping companies, as apart from one Indian infrastructure and engineering major, no one else was making those.”

He added that “We are looking to tie up with another company, as it’s a tender based business and for the pre qualification, the company must have built platforms earlier. So, we need to partner with an expert in this field to get a foothold.”

He confirmed ABG was in talks with international companies for this. He explained that “We thought about entering into this business six months ago and, initially, even if we do a business of INR 3,000 crore, it’s a great addition to the company’s revenues.”

Mt Datar added that “There is not much investment required in this business, as we already have a yard. For some new equipment, we might need INR 400 crore but that hasn't been finalised. The profitability of this new business is also good. We are looking at around 22 to 23% margin from this.”

(Sourced from BL)