jws01us posted on 3/8/2010
Citing an improved business environment, Helix Energy Solutions announced that it has stepped up efforts to divest the company of its oil & gas assets.
In a release on 8 March 2010, Helix said the company has enlisted financial advisors to help evaluate strategies for 'a complete divestment of its oil and gas business' but declined to give a timetable for the move.
Helix said in December 2008 that it intended to unload several non-core assets, including all or part of its oil & gas business, as the company focuses more attention on its deepwater well intervention and subsea construction services. Since then, Helix has divested most of its interest in Cal Dive International and all of its Helix RDS reservoir consulting business. The company has also sought to divest portions of its Gulf of Mexico shelf oil & gas assets.
Helix also said Robert Murphy, EVP oil & gas, would be leaving the company after more than three years at the post, to be replaced by Johnny Edwards, who previously headed Helix's oil & gas business. 'We are still in the process of hiring advisors, so we don't have a specific buyer or target date. We're just getting the word out to the industry,' director of investor relations Cameron Wallace told OilOnline. 'There's a lot of interest in these sorts of assets here in the Gulf, from US and international companies. Once we get the advisor system set up and formally start the process, it will be interesting to see who knocks on the door.'
Helix recently took delivery of the 490ft subsea construction vessel Caesar but has no other major building projects or purchases in the works, Wallace said.
'The first goal for the proceeds from the divestiture is to further reduce our debt and strengthen the balance sheet,' he said.
Assets up for sale include Helix's sole North Sea project, Camelot at UKCS 53/1a, and the company's most recent deepwater GoM developments: the Danny and Noonan discoveries, at Garden Banks 506, which began producing this year; and the Phoenix project at Green Canyon 236, which is expected to go onstream in May 2010.
The company plans to hold onto the Helix Producer I, the ship-shaped floating production unit deployed at Phoenix, Wallace said. The field will provide a 'proof of concept' demonstration for the vessel, which Helix hopes to contract to other operators after its stint at Phoenix ends.
'Particularly in the Gulf (of Mexico), where there's so much existing infrastructure, I think there will be a lot of opportunities for a vessel of that type,' Wallace said.
Helix has no immediate plans to sell its 20% ownership in the GoM's Independence Hub or the company's 50% stake in the Marco Polo TLP, Wallace said.
By: Russell McCulley,
rmcculley@offshore-engineer.com