Mainport to make €10m from oil project in Brazil

Shipping company Mainport is set to make at least €10 million from a contract to service oil exploration projects off the Brazilian coast.

The company, with its headquarters in Cork, announced yesterday that it has spent €4.6 million on offshore supply vessel Mainport Oak to service the contracts.

The ship will be used to supply craft owned by multinational Compagnie Génèrale de Geophysique (CGG), which specialises in carrying out surveys for oil exploration companies seeking potential reserves.

The ship will service vessels working off the coast of Brazil. Mainport said yesterday that the deal was worth an initial $13 million (€10 million) over four years.

Mainport is already working with CGG on projects off the Indian coast, and has also completed contracts for the group in the Arabian Gulf.

CGG has been hired by the Brazilian state-owned explorer, Petrobras. In India it worked for the government-controlled Indian Oil and Gas Corporation. The group is one of the biggest players in its field in the world. It was in the news recently when it bought US rival Veritas in a €1 billion deal.

In 2005, CGG had operating profits of €75.1 million. In the three months to September 30th, revenues grew 46 per cent to €321 million, and it had operating profits of €72 million, up from €13 million during the same period in 2005.

Based on Monahan Road in Cork city, Mainport is the Republic's biggest shipping agent. Its chief executive, David Ronayne, predicted yesterday that the company's turnover would hit €47 million this year.

The group employs 100 people in ship management, stevedoring and offshore services in Ireland. It has offices in Cork, Dublin, Foynes, Co Limerick, Norway and South Africa.

Last year, it bought Monahans of Drogheda, a shipping and stevedoring business based close to the new Bremore Port, north of Dublin.

Mainport was also awarded a contract to provide two "superbarges" to global petroleum player Agip for use in one of the world's largest oil and gas reserves, the Kashagen field in the Caspian Sea.