huge debts carried by Singapore-listed offshore firms, page-15

You are welcome. All opinions are welcome.

My impressions are that MRM are a reputable operator. WPL has recently bought new territory off BHP in the NW area and my guess is that MRM will be top of the list to get (future) contracts, based on recent contracts being awarded, to work these new fields for WPL. I think that quality operators in this industry are way too valuable, quality always beats price competition in high risk industries. No doubt there will be equity waiting for the right time to jump in with private placements when the expansion phase begins again.

I do have to disagree about your oil price sentiment. All the major economies of the industrial world now have record land based oil storage capacity and inventories. We have a record number of oil tankers and offshore storage available. This will act as a price capacitor for years to come. USA has large amounts of fracking assets to re-start or re-depoly to boost supply. Oil supply disruption will be unlikely, except for some type of geopolitical event. US Navy will keep the Indian and Pacific oceans free for trade from Middle-east/Africa to the Asian economies. South China sea's remain a possible flair point, but at this stage everybody looses if trade is disrupted. North Korea remains the biggest threat, but it has not a navy to be of concern. Energy intense industries like world shipping, steel making and mining are all fully capitalised with hard assets, so demand for oil consumption can be made more efficient with consolidation in these industries.

I do expect oil price to retrace to a higher low than the January bottom, some time before moving up to higher levels.

I expect MRM to be a winner through the bottom of the cycle, but not bullish for a long time.

All in my opinion.