Market Movers

The following are market movers that could have a positive contribution to the potential market for the Project in the near and long term run.

a)         PETRONAS’ Investment in Upstream offshore activities ; The number of OSVs is largely dependent on the capital expenditure related to upstream activities in the South China Sea. PETRONAS has announced a capital commitment of RM183 billion for upstream activities for the next 5 years. This means potential for rig builders, ship builders (for construction of OSVs) and ship repairs and maintenance works.

b)         Enhance Oil Recovery Programmed ; Another driver is the government initiatives under the Enhanced Oil Recovery programmed that encourage exploration of marginal oil fields by private sectors. A number of such oil fields have already been awarded and this will set the impetus for investment in rigs and OSVs. This programmed is expected to get the interest of the private sector if the global price of oil continues to remain high.

c)         Shipbuilding and Ship Repair 2020 Plan ; The government recently launched a master plan called Ship building and Ship Repair 2020 (“SBSR 2020 Plan”) with the objectives of promoting the growth of domestic shipbuilding and ship repair sector. Among the objectives set under the plan is to capture about 80% and 2% of the local and global for building of new ships respectively. For repair works the plan set a target of 3% of Selat Melaka repair market ships that passed through the Straits of Malacca annually and 80% of the South China Sea repair works. In terms of size of vessels/ships the plan target to cater for vessels/ships of less than 200 meter length.

This initiative set target revenues of USD 5.727 billion and USD 13.363 billion to be generated respectively by the ship building and ship repair sector by 2020. For repair works the plan sees 70% of the revenue generated from services extended to foreign vessels. Given the high goal and the established providers based in Singapore, it is expected that the government will introduce necessary support, incentive and protection so long as it within the terms of any bilateral trade agreement.

According to Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (“MIGHT”), a body under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Department, though the ship building and ship repair sector promise great potential there are challenges that need to addressed in achieving the SBSR 2020 Plan. Some of these challenges are as follows:

(i)        Replacing foreign vessels currently serving the local O & G sector;
(ii)       Shipyards capability to satisfy ship-owners’ quality, cost and delivery expectation;
(iii)      Capability of local players to market their services without going through third party;
(iv)      Component and equipment manufacturers to qualify their products into marine standard 
           and meeting classification requirement;
(v)      Foreign market penetration as a result of FTAs entered by Malaysia; capturing repair 
          and conversion markets from vessels plying the Straits of Malacca;
(vi)      Capability of local players to be responsive and achieve the required turnaround time;
(vii)     Availability of service providers in East Coast to avoid OSV’s resort to facilities 
          in Batam; and
(viii)    Ability of Sabah/Sarawak shipyards to expand their capabilities to offer repair services 
           apart from new building.

On this challenges, MIGHT reported that with respect to ship repair, proposal will be made to the government to incentivise investment in the sector with [RA] to increase the capacity of local shipyards to secure international and domestic market.

d)         Development of Kuantan Mega Port ; The government has already announced a plan to expand the existing Kuantan Port to play a bigger role and cater for more and larger ships. The project is expected to start in 2014. It will be developed as an extension to the existing Kuantan Port and will be located to the eastern side of the said port.

e)         East Coast Economic Corridor (“ECER”) ; Another initiative that could contribute indirectly to the market for the Project is the ECER whose objectives, among others, are to develop the economic growth of the areas of the east coast states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and East coast of Johor.

f)         High Impact Activity ; Initiatives taken by the government under the National Key Economic Area (NKEA) would also promote the growth of the ship repair, marine engineering and fabrication sector. NKEA is targeting five per cent annual growth for the oil, gas and energy sector from 2010 to 2020. To meet this target, NKEA will focus on four key thrusts:

(i)         Sustaining oil and gas production,
(ii)        Enhancing downstream growth,
(iii)       Making Malaysia the number one Asian hub for oil field services and
(iv)       Building a sustainable energy platform for growth.

Over the course of 2013, significant strides have been made in the sector, notably the approval of the Petroleum Income Tax Act (PITA) Amendment Bill, which aims to incentivize exploration of marginal oil and gas fields. Significant investments have been made by major industry players such as Shell, ExxonMobil, PETRONAS, Dialog Group and Royal Vopak in line with the four strategic thrusts of the NKEA. Dedicated bodies such as the Malaysia Petroleum Resources Corporation (MPRC) have been set up to streamline cooperation between the government and private sectors.

The five new incentives introduced under PITA are:

(i)   An investment tax allowance of up to 60 to 100 per cent of capital expenditure to be deducted against statutory income to encourage the development of capital intensive projects in the area of enhanced oil recovery, high carbon dioxide gas fields, high pressure, high temperature, deep water and infrastructure projects for petroleum operations;

(ii)   The tax rate of 38 per cent currently for marginal oil field development would be reduced to 25 percent to improve commercial viability of the development;

(iii)   Accelerated capital allowance of up to five years from 10 years, where full utilization of capital cost deducted could improve project viability;

(iv)   Qualifying exploration expenditure transfer between non-contiguous petroleum agreements with the same partnerships or sole proprietor to enhance contractors’ risk-taking attitude, which could encourage higher levels of exploration activity;

(v)   Waiver of export duty on oil produced and exported from marginal field development to improve project viability.



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