HANDAL Resources Bhd (7253), an offshore crane manufacturing and service provider, wants to diversify into the construction of rigs for marginal oil fields- Executive chairman Datuk Mohsin Abdul Halim said with current crude oil prices exceeding US$100 (RM305) per barrel, more marginal fields will be opened in the future, increasing the demand for rig leasing- The shareholders' nod for the rights and bonus issue at the EGM last month will provide the funds to finance the RM30 million investments, which will enable Handal to be more involved in offshore crane manufacturing and rig construction for leasing- Rig construction is still in the initial stages as the firm awaits certification by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and equipment parts from overseas- Mohsin expects semblance of equipment for the modular rig by July, providing potential for the company to expand that segment in Malaysia and abroad- Some RM13 million, raised from its rights issue, will be used for the initial funding for the rig, of which some will be fabricated locally at its site in Kemaman, Terengganu- "It will be used mostly for the marginal oil fields and we hope that income stream will come in by first quarter of next year, if not by the last quarter of 2011," he said at a media briefing in Petaling Jaya yesterday- The firm also signed an Intellectual Property (IP) rights agreement with Excell Crane & Hydraulics Inc, a leading manufacturer of offshore cranes in the US, for the acquisition of the ownership of the IP rights for the "Seacrane" trademark and offshore pedestal crane product line for US$3-75 million (RM11-44 million)- This sets it to be a market leader in offshore pedestal crane manufacturing to all markets except for the Americas, as it can design and develop cranes with higher capacity ranging from 50 tonnes to 100 tonnes- Handal has manufactured and delivered up to 18 offshore pedestal cranes under an agreement- Offshore crane manufacturing, he added, will also provide an additional new income stream- It has 15 rental offshore cranes of various capabilities to meet the diverse demands of its clients, and being one of the world's 17 specialist offshore pedestal crane manufacturer, with an API2C certification, enables it to tap the external markets- "Things are picking up as we received five orders at the end of last year, an increase from our average three orders annually," Mohsin said- Apart from its involvement in the Indonesian market, it has received an order for offshore pedestal crane from the United Arab Emirates and is getting enquiries from Thailand- Mohsin is also eyeing some new businesses to come from Petronas' recent oil and gas discoveries of some 100 million barrels of crude oil and 2-8 trillion cu ft of natural gas at two wells off the coast of Sarawak- Handal, which holds 100 per cent market share in the servicing and maintenance of cranes, is servicing those on 150 oil platforms in offshore Terengganu, which makes up 70 per cent of its turnover- The remaining 30 per cent comes from its work in oil fields and supply of new cranes- Offshore crane manufacturing will contribute more than 7 per cent to the revenue during the current financial year- For the year ended December 31 2010, its pre-tax profit jumped by 54 per cent to RM21-2 million- ...

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