Our principal operating subsidiary, Wilson Sons Limited announced to the Brazilian and Luxembourg Stock Exchanges the following announcement.
Wilson, Sons announces christening of PSV Talha-Mar, the 10th in our fleet of offshore support vessels.
The ship was constructed in the Wilson, Sons Shipyard in Guaruja and delivered to Wilson, Sons Ultratug Offshore (WSUT) in which Wilson, Sons has a 50% interest. The vessel will operate on the spot market before entering service under an eight year contract, with Petrobras in February 2011. Talha-Mar is an offshore support vessel (OSV) that will form part of an expected fleet of 24 that WSUT plans for operation by 2015.
Talha-Mar was christened at the Wilson, Sons Ponta d'Areia vessel support site in Niterói (RJ). The vessel specification is 87.4 m length, 16 m width, draft of 5.95 m, 4,500 deadweight tones and speed of 15 knots. The vessel was built with technological and design input of Damen and financing of the BNDES as agent for Merchant Marine Fund (FMM).
The WSUT strategy is to build vessels to attend the demand from national and international oil companies operating in Brazil. According to the Petrobras strategic plan, they require 250 new chartered OSV's by 2020 to fulfill their exploration and production of pre-salt and post-salt reserves.