Bourbon Offshore tips slow recovery as Q3 revenue falls

Deep-water offshore and shallow-water offshore projects were providing France-based Bourbon Offshore with hope for the future as it recorded a 12.7 per cent slump in third-quarter revenue.

Outlining that, “we have reached the low point of the cycle”, Chief Executive Officer Gaël Bodénès said revenue had been adversely affected by sluggish activity and strong pressure on rates.

But, “customer willingness to launch exploration projects and renew medium and long-term contracts should be underlined”, he said.

The crewboat segments remained resilient, but had been affected by the monsoon seasonality in West Africa.

Revenue from subsea activity fell 23.1 per cent from the previous quarter, mainly due to a reduced number of turnkey projects.

“Recovery is expected to be slow and the deep-water offshore and shallow-water offshore segments will continue to be affected by vessel overcapacity throughout 2018, in all regions, although some signs of improvement will be seen at local level”, Bodénès concluded.