Bumi Armada Berhad plans to allocate $2 billion (MYR 6.6 billion) as  capital expenditure (capex) for its floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) segment for 2014, according to a company official quoted in local daily The Star Thursday. Bumi Armada CEO Hassan Basma said the firm intends to raise close to $1.5 billion (MYR 5 billion) via bonds and a rights issue by the middle of this year.

“We are aiming to tap the debt market as early as the second quarter of this year ... we have big plans for Bumi Armada,” Hassan said. Bumi Armada is bidding for 10 FPSO contracts. The firm currently has seven FPSO contracts, with two each in India and Nigeria and one each in Vietnam, Australia and the North Sea.

The company hopes to clinch a FPSO contract, estimated to be worth around $1.5 billion, from Eni S.p.A. for the East Hub project in Block 15/06, off the coast of Angola. "We are optimistic on the outcome and target to make the announcement next month," Hassan told The Star.