In its announcement of 25th February 2014, Mermaid Marine Australia Limited (MMA) advised that it had received a Letter of Intent to commence detailed design for two (2) x platform Supply Vessels (PSV’s) which had the potential to lead to the award of a long-term material contract.

MMA also advised that the award of this contract was subject to the relevant client’s internal approvals process.

MMA today said are that this internal approvals process has now been completed and MMA has been awarded a contract for two PSV’s for long-term production support operations with INPEX Operations Australia Pty Ltd (INPEX). MMA will operate two (2) x newbuild Vard 1 08 PSV’s for the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project with a fixed term of 5 years fixed plus two (2) x five (5) year options.

The PSV’s will be built in Asia to INPEX’s specifications, for delivery to MMA in late 2015 and early 2016 respectively. They will be operated by Australian resident crew, and will supply the Ichthys Project’s offshore facilities from Darwin and Broome.The contract value for the firm period is A$160 million at today’s exchange rate, and A$500 million in total should all of the options be exercised.