Ann: Trading Update, page-33

I would not underestimate the amount of work being undertaken in the Australian Oil and Gas industry at this current time even with depressed prices. The bulk of the work is currently being undertaken by Woodside with their current exploration program and the development of Greater Enfield set to provide work to Offshore vessels from mid next year. This will provide Mermaid's vessels contract opportunities and guarantee their Dampier supply base continued use as King Bay is not sufficient for the amount of scheduled work.
Inpex is suppose to begin an exploration program from the end of 2017 that will provide work for the next 10 years with drilling and development to follow once Itchy's has been completed.
From 2020 onwards Woodside then needs to look at tapping into its reserves to keep the North-West Shelf Venture running at full capacity or risk letting the plant go idle.
Then there is the Scarborough field that will most likely be developed with FLNG technology in the mid to long term future.
The construction boom may have over for the North-West of Australia but the amount of work scheduled for the offshore sector is set to increase quite rapidly from the low in June/July of this year. There will be no shortage of contracts in the near to long term and if Mermaid maintains it supply bases it will be guaranteed a steady income. It also appears they are making steps to update their fleet in an attempt to compete with the A listed companies for future contracts but for the mean time are relegated to the PSV market.