ADSB has secured Dh750m of project revenue for 2017, eyes oil and gas expansion

Company has completed six oil and gas servicing projects in the past year

Abu Dhabi Ship Building's floating dock in Mina Zayed was inaugurated in January. Delores Johnson / The National

Naval shipbuilder Abu Dhabi Shipbuilding Company (ADSB) has locked in Dh750 million in revenues for 2017, as it looks to venture further into the oil and gas industry.

“By December 31 we would’ve finished concluded projects that would bring in revenues of around Dh750m, including with international clients and customers. We have expected revenue of Dh500m for 2018 from commercial, military, shipbuilding and services projects,” ADSB chief executive Khaled Al Mazrouei told The National.

“Next year, we expect the company to be profitable and we expect growth in revenue of five to ten per cent next year until 2025,” he added.

ADSB's revenues stood at Dh928m in 2016, up from Dh791m in the previous year.

Mr Al Mazrouei was speaking at the unveiling of the shipbuilder's new branding strategy at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (Adipec). He said the company is looking to further expand its oil and gas services portfolio, in addition to its current portfolio of naval and commercial shipbuilding operations.

The company last year commissioned its first floating dock in Abu Dhabi's Mina Zayed port, with the intention of servicing  oil and gas vessels.

“The downturn has prevented oil and gas companies from building new ships and due to the oil price downturn and they’re trying to maximise utilisation. This calls for greater maintenance of ships and that's our area of expertise,” he says.

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“One of the intentions of having a floating dock at Mina Zayed is to enhance the capabilities for having oil and gas ships and as well as chemical ships, which wasn’t the case at our shipyard at Musaffah before. We’re not going to the oil and gas as a core business. We’re just taking care of the ships and the services, as well as they have the offshore rigs,” he added.

ADSB, which suffered a Dh90.6m loss in 2014 managed to turnaround last year with Dh71m in net profit.

The Abu Dhabi listed company, which is 40 per cent owned by Mubadala Investment Company and 10 per cent by the Abu Dhabi government, repaired and serviced 285 vessels last year.

The company completed six oil and gas projects from regional, national and international companies over the past year.

“We have already exported to many GCC countries. We did some works for Kuwait Navy worth Dh260m. The last two ships have already been delivered as per contract. We also exported to some other GCC countries some war ships. We have exported to countries in Africa and the subcontinent. The services are not only for the UAE but we’re looking globally,” said Al Mazrouei.

“[For the] last three to four months, the floating dock has been fully occupied.”