KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (MMHE) will be expanding to the downstream and onshore segments this year, given the more competitive environment in the global oil and gas industry amid the plunge in oil prices.
Managing director and chief executive officer Abu Fitri Abd Jalil said diversification is needed now as market players are “hungry” for projects in order to remain sustainable and profitable.
“We are not on the losing side in the upstream and offshore segments but since we have the capabilities, we are also going to focus on the downstream and onshore segments.
“There is a sizeable job market in Malaysia, even onshore,” he told reporters after the company’s annual general meeting here yesterday.
Abu Fitri said although there would be more competition in the downstream segment, it would give an advantage to MMHE as the downstream players are much smaller compared to upstream players.
Meanwhile, Chairman Datuk Nasarudin Md Idris said the industry’s environment is “not as hot” as it was before but the market is still there.
“We are doing more engineering, procurement, construction, installation and hook-up/commissioning and the amount of risk that we are taking is very large.
“Our estimation has to be near perfect to make sure that there are no cost overruns, and our project execution has to be flawless,” he said.
The company’s tender book stands at RM7 billion, 60 per cent of which is for international projects.
Its backlog amounts to RM1.6 billion, with earnings visibility until the third quarter of 2016. — Bernama