Aban Offshore's receivables from Iran dip $36 mn after lifting of sanctions

Expects President Hassan Rouhani's reelection in Iran to pave the way for more order flows

Aban Offshore, which provides drilling and support services for offshore oil exploration and production, has started seeing positive news after sanctions against Iran were lifted. 

While the company has already started seeing a dip in receivables, the re-election of President Hassan Rouhani in Iran will pave the way for more order flows. The company is also betting big on the West Asia market.

The development comes in the backdrop of US lifting the embargo on Iran.

Aban Offshore Senior Vice-President S Srinivasan said that the company had around $288 million in receivables from Iran as on March 2016, which subsequently came down to $252 million to March 2017.

"We have reduced the receivables (from Iran) by around $36 million plus and we have also collected whatever has been billed," said Srinivasan, adding, "The re-election of the President is definitely positive, so I think the reformist agenda will continue."

According to Srinivasan, while Iran used to command a premium as high as 30 per cent over the rest of the world, the premium in the country has fallen significantly to not more than five per cent to 10 per cent.

Not only in Iran, there is also a lot of activity in other parts of West Asia. The company could get some contracts in Oman, UAE and other parts of the region.

Srinivasan said that there is activity in India too. In the past two years, ONGC has been tendering for rigs despite lower oil prices, which has ensured that activity has been quite good in India. ONGC is expected to look at tendering for an additional eight rigs.

The rates in India have behaved in line with the market and the rest of the world, Srinivasan added.

In 2016-17, the company's revenues were $262 million and the net loss was $158 million.