Punj Llyod plans big offshore push

Punj Lloyd, the engineering, procurement and construction conglomerate, is all set to make it big in the offshore business, where it can undertake projects such as pipe laying, replacement of pipes, platform building and modifications.

With Kuber, its new pipelay barge, which is capable of laying pipelines in the water depth of 150 meters, the company plans to augment its offshore business and aims to earn $400-500 million per year in revenues, said H K Kaul, executive president (technical), Punj Lloyd.

The company has contracts worth $300 million in the offshore business to be executed by May this year. Punj Lloyd entered this business three ago.

“We see a huge opportunity in the replacement pipe laying business, where in the next five years a lot of new projects are likely to come up,” said Kaul. The company is already working on an ONGC project of replacing its pipelines (12-16 inches) at Hira fields.

The contract is worth $200,000 per day and the duration of the project is 40 days.

Kaul said the company is also bidding for two ONGC tenders, one for laying new pipelines and the other for replacing the existing ones. The order is likely to be bagged soon.
“We are also looking at bidding for international tenders in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and in West Africa,” he said.

According to Kaul, the Caspian Sea is an area of great opportunity but accessing it is a problem.

“In order to make use of the opportunity we are also looking at forging a joint venture with companies there which will help us in operating our barges,” Kaul said.

The company will be focusing heavily on South East Asian and Middle Eastern markets during the lull monsoon period.
Currently, the company has four barges in its fleet in which Kuber, constructed with an investment of $100 million, is a new addition.

The other barges include Mahesh, which will be doing work for Punj Lloyd itself in the South. The contract is yet to be finalised. Madhawa is doing work for ONGC in the western offshore oilfields and Ganpati which is a push-pull barge is working on the shore.

Kaul said that they will add more barges to the fleet in five years, as next year onwards the market will revive and prices will move upwards.