[Kabar-indonesia] Tie-up with Indonesian tycoon wins $80m Shell contract

[Joyo at aol.com]

The Business Times [Singapore]
Thursday, November 2, 2006

SSH tie-up wins $80m Shell contract

Ronnie Lim

INDONESIAN tycoon Kris Wiluan's SSH Corp, in a joint venture
with French-based Phoceenne, has bagged a S$80 million
contract to supply pipes, fittings and flanges to Shell's
latest multi-billion dollar petrochemical cracker on Jurong
Island.

'For us to be shortlisted by Shell for its Houdini project
here is an achievement,' Mr Wiluan, SSH's chairman and CEO,
told BT yesterday.

Shell's Houdini project - estimated to cost about US$3
billion - includes a 800,000-tonne ethylene cracker and a
750,000-tonne monoethylene glycol downstream plant.

The 50:50 JV company, SSH-Phoceenne JV Pte Ltd, will supply
the equipment and related services on a 'call-off order
basis' to Houdini, the mainboard-listed SSH said in an
announcement.

Explaining what this means, Mr Wiluan said that the JV will
be like a 'partner and an integrated supplier' to the Shell
project. 'It's like a blanket order for the equipment,
instead of the multinational oil company having to go for
tenders every time it needs these during construction.'

The advantage to Shell is that amid the current global
petrochemical building boom, there is tight supply of
equipment and materials, and the JV will guarantee supplies
like pipes as Jakarta-listed PT Citra Tubindo - of which Mr
Wiluan is CEO and president - has its own mills to make
these. 'That's why we bought into SSH,' he said.

The initial estimated S$80 million worth of orders could
grow, as this figure covers just equipment needed for the
first year or two of construction, he added.

Apart from Jakarta, the pipes, fittings and flanges needed
by Houdini will also come from France, as its JV partner
Phoceenne is part of the Genoyer group which is an
industrial and commercial operator for major international
oil and gas projects. Some of the equipment will also be
ordered from Japan, he said.

Singapore has many petrochemical and oil storage projects in
the pipeline, including ExxonMobil's cracker - a decision on
which is expected next year, Mr Wiluan said, adding that
'hopefully, there will be more such equipment orders to come
for us'.

Mr Wiluan made waves here recently, acquiring stakes in
three listed Singapore companies, including oil rig
refurbisher KS Energy and oilfield equipment suppliers SSH
and Aqua Terra Supply.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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