Hello everyone, it's a pleasure to welcome you all to this DOF 2025 Capital Markets Day. We will be running a program here for approximately three hours, with an intermission approximately halfway through. We will get an introduction or a walkthrough of various aspects of the DOF Group. Starting out, the first presenter is CEO Mons Aase.
Thank you all. It's welcome to all, and we are very happy to have this Capital Markets Day. With me, I have EVPs from North America, the Atlantic, and Brazil, and our CFO, of course, Martin. Hopefully we can give you a picture of what we are doing globally and also in the markets. I think they will confirm what we have tried to tell you, that we are doing very well globally and that the opportunities in the markets are still very strong and there are a lot of opportunities in the pipeline. Dan, how do you move this? This is the program, yes. A quick introduction by me. Dan, we had a strategy review just before summer, and a quick update on our strategy. Mario will take you through Brazil.
Then we have the break, and Marco will take you through North America, and then Martin will give you a finance update. That's the plan for the day. We open for questions after each session, not after the introduction, but after the strategy, after Brazil, after North America, and after the finance. We don't forget the questions. That was the plan. I guess the key message we try to deliver today is that we have a differentiated market position. What we are selling is not a vessel, it's services to the global energy market. We have a very strong workforce and a very good fleet that sells services globally. We are in a position just below the big Tier- 1 players and enjoy a market that is very strong and also with a limited number of competitors.
We often see only one or two competitors on bids, and sometimes we do direct negotiations. We enjoy being in that space. We also see that some clients are encouraging us to take a step up. We feel that the doors are more open among our clients globally than ever before. The global reach is the next highlight. We cannot underemphasize how important it is to have a global reach, to have the organizations globally, local content, local experts. That is why we claim that DOF on average, through a cycle, will have higher utilization and higher margins than not being a global player. We can move the boats to where the market is good and secure higher utilization for the larger subsets by trading them globally. The market is good. Rates are, you could say, and margins are, you can almost call it historic levels.
We will and we have continued to build backlog. We are in what we call building backlog mode, where we push hard to secure backlog. Of course, we see that we know with the awards and with the contract being sanctioned, meaning that they are approved, just waiting for signatures, we are above $5 billion in backlog. A few sanctioned contracts since we last did the presentation. Martin will talk more about the strong financial position, but on the guiding, we expect to be around $1.8 billion per year. We will also talk a bit more about shareholders' return later on. We have communicated earlier that we expect the dividend to increase going forward compared to what we have paid the last two quarters. That is what we want you to remember. This is DOF. This slide we show every time, so you have to bear with me.
We operate 77 boats globally. As I said, we had $3.7 billion in backlog by end of quarter two. Now with the awards after balance statement and also the contracts that have been sanctioned, we have passed $5 billion. We have a very strong order intake so far in quarter three. With me today, of course, North America, South America, and the Atlantic. They run the ballpark of our business globally. Leave it for them to talk more about their business. What are we? We own, of course, we are a vessel owner and operate and do marine management for the boats. In addition, we own roughly 77 ROVs and AUVs, which is a tool to do all the subsea work, but also the mooring work we are doing globally.
We have spent, you will see that on, for instance, on the timeline for North America, we established North America in 2005. That was when we bought GEO Group and we bought Century Subsea. That's when we started to build the subsea side. We have spent 20 years now to build the subsea project business and a lot of investments to get that in place, small acquisitions globally, and building gradually up. Now we are where we want to be. We are harvesting. We see clients really appreciate what we are able to deliver to them. There is no investment, no CapEx in that space. Of course, this is really, let's say, increasing the return on invested money, the workforce we have built through the years. This is the last 12 months. We have, of course, guided midpoint $755 million for the full year.
We expect that to continue to grow into 2026. Martin has a slide on showing a bit on that. We expect it to grow due to the strong backlog. Most of the backlog has been won in the last couple of years, so the margins and rates in the backlog are higher than they used to be. We will talk a bit more about that as well. This is a new slide. I can go on forever talking about this boat, but the purpose is to show where we have the high values. The highest value in the DOF fleet is on the very big boats, the big pipe layers, seven pipe layers, six in Brazil, one trading globally, and then the big 400-ton crane boats. That's where 44% of our values are. It's a limited number of suppliers in that market. There are no new builds.
These are very versatile boats, and they keep working in good markets and bad markets. It's the key enabler to execute big projects. Then 21% of the fleet is in the segment we call IRM/ CSV, which is anything between zero or more than 250-ton cranes. That's where you see new builds, but it's also where you see DOF chartering in boats. We have presently five vessels on charter in that space. I think after we have left today, you will get the feeling that we probably need to charter in more boats to execute the work we plan to do. We are actually short boats in that space, and our own fleet are more or less sold out. If a client or two exercise an option or two, we are probably sold out to at least 2027 and longer.
The second biggest value we have is on the higher non-catalan all-wheel ROVs and quite a few of them in cranes. Also there, we have shifted backlog a lot. This year, we have signed five long-term contracts for both being in the North Sea spot, and we have sold two. The exports have been reduced, and now we are down to, I call it, three and a half boats. We have three plus one all-boat in that market, but we also use them, of course, for mooring work. The backlog now for the anchor handling fleet is very high and where we wanted to be. It's almost that we can't have more boats on long-term contract because we need a few boats to execute the subsea projects. The whole spot fleet owned by DOF will go later this month to Congo to execute a couple to three months projects.
We are going to have four anchor handlers doing that. That is the fleet. I think it's important to understand the mix of it. As I said, where the new builds are is in the space where we are sold out and are short vessels. This is done backlog. Total reddish. I guess the new on this is, you know we have been working for the three RSVs and Mario will talk a bit more about that later, but it actually could be even RSV number four. An additional one that might be a 15 position on those two tandem for us. He will talk more about that. We have come to agreement with Petrobras on what we call the PIDF tandem, which is a project. It will be the third time we win that. We have been working on that for more than five years.
We are talking $400 million roughly in backlog for us. That will occupy at least three boats for three years and a lot of service attached to it. I'll leave it for Mario to explain more about that. That's why now we are close to $5.2 billion on this graph here. These three RSVs and the PIDF are not signed yet. There is a certain chance that they will never be signed. We believe they will. This shows the backlog going forward. This year, we are getting close to 90%. What makes me proud or amazes me every week is that the team here, week by week, build backlog also short term. The gaps we had on the few boats we had gaps on are getting smaller and smaller, which is quite good. For 2026, now close to $1.5 billion. The guided midpoint on revenue this year is $1.95 billion.
It's a decent portion on 2025 revenue. All in all, very happy with the backlog. My feeling is that there will be more. There will be more. I'm optimistic that we will continue to build that. Yeah, so then the strategy and the first me, and then Dag Raymond, EVP for the Atlantic region. Yeah, so he will introduce himself, and he has done a good job the last few years. Yeah, so a lot of key contract won and high utilization and very good earnings in that region. Yeah, I will leave that to him. This is what we, so we used to, the old strategy was sustainable finance. Of course, it was to expand and grow conventional, meaning, you know, IRM, mooring, light construction, and light SURF . Yeah, and then it was grow renewables.
Of course, for offshore renewable is floating wind and sometimes cable repair and cabling also for bottom fixed. Yeah, we haven't done any investment. It's just to utilize the know-how, the fleet, and the competence we have. Yeah, so that was what we had. Now the new strategy is, I guess it's very similar to the old one, but it is a financial target between one and a half and two. Then together with the sustainable quarterly dividend. Yeah, on the market, we will, as I said, talk more about it. Of course, as long as we have the backlog we have, so we just show that, you know, we have perhaps 90% coverage for 2025. We have, I don't know, but let's say 70% coverage for 2026. When we have that visibility on future earnings, we will be in the high end of the range.
Yeah, we will be closer to two than one and a half as long as we see the backlog is strong and the markets are good. Yeah, that's the whole philosophy around that. I guess that indicator, and I guess this graph and Martin will talk about, it shows that there is still room to lift the dividend. On the commercial side, you know, we continue, we want to continue to develop the position, you know, being a global player, but at the same time being local in all the key markets. Yeah, the strength of being global with a global fleet, a big fleet, you know, with global resources, but then very strong offices globally with local content, local employees, and very in-depth knowledge on the markets. Yeah, that is what we want to do.
Yeah, and I can't, you know, I think this is the most important part of DOF is the global reach and the placing power we have globally. That is kind of unique in this industry. Of course, we want to continue to be a global leader in mooring, and that is, of course, vessels on long-term contract. It also then, you know, we actually quite a few projects globally where mooring is a big part of it. Yeah, and that, of course, we need a couple of anchor handlers with crane, and we need three, four big anchor handlers in addition to execute those projects. We do that globally from Brazil to APAC. As we speak today, we are executing one project in Guyana with Marco here. We will execute one project in Congo, and we are executing one project for Chevron in APAC as we speak.
It's keeping the, and of course, then you don't only make money on the boats, but you make perhaps 20% margin on the total. It is a niche where we, let's say, we are in a new position. I guess we are the only company almost on the globe that can have the full engineering and deliver the full fleet as well. On IRM, we're going to hammer on that. We want to stay the global leader, and I hope we will be able to continue to deliver new, very important long-term contracts in that space going forward. Pushing hard for that, very hard for it.
The SURF, of course, it's, you know, it's no ambitions at all to compete with the Tier- 1 guys, but there is a niche below them where there are small, smaller projects, $50 million, $100 million, perhaps $150 million where we, you know, the clients. I feel, you know, I get the feeling I get is that some of the awards we have got lately, you know, we wouldn't have won a year or two ago. It's the clients that want us to do these scopes and build us gradually. It might be I'm wrong, but that's the feeling I have that some of the global clients, they want us to take the step and execute these projects. We will continue to do that.
On renewable, we call it renewable ready where we, you know, we have all the tools, we have all the know-how, so it's just to wait for when the market comes. Yeah, and how do we get there? It's a high-grinding fleet. You have seen we have sold a couple of older boats, and, you know, we have installed and will continue to install equipment on some of the larger anchor handlers. We need to make them more versatile and make them more attractive, also doing not only mooring projects but also doing IRM projects. We have talked about on the IRM first week fleet, of course, we are short, so we need to continue to grow. We need the eye that to charter in boats. We have to find situations where we, of course, we will not buy boats on, you know, on just to buy boats.
It has to be a very long-term contract before we look at that. Yeah, and then, of course, we said de-risk the company, backlog, backlog, backlog. Of course, now we see we are winning backlog into 2030 and onwards. Yeah, so we see we are able to take on the risk going forward. Then, of course, selective investments, we have done that. Sold PSVs, we have sold, you know, small anchor handlers, and of course, we will continue doing that. Yeah, and then I guess the one on the bottom here, of course, is the most important. Yeah, that is to, you know, when a client on the service side wants you to do a project or do a bid, they don't ask you what boat you are using. They ask for the service and the organization you want to use for that project.
Yeah, so that workforce is, and will always be, the key enabler for us for our success. Yeah, so to attract and retain is the most important we are working on every day. This is a slide just showing the focus on the team. So talented, it's showing also the, you know, the market and operation that has to be tailored for the global market. Of course, you have to be trusted not only on financial but also on the track record you have with the industry. It takes a very short time to ruin your track record if you... That is, and here on the next slide, it's more about it. Yeah, so it's, and this is, you know, something that is very important to understand. Yeah, so to have a skilled workforce globally, it means the big difference.
Yeah, you know, it means utilization, it means delivering on the project, it means, you know, you don't go on a hit. It is, and of course, it's a door opener for winning new work. Yeah, and to build that global organization, yeah, 25 years ago, we had one office outside Bergen. It takes us 25 years to build this global organization. Yeah, and to be able to do contracts in Guyana, in Canada, in Brazil, you know, and compare that to when we had one office in Houston, of course, we didn't see more than 5% of the opportunities when we only were a North Sea player. Yeah, so of course, that pays off high utilization and higher earnings. Yeah, and then, of course, the offering as well that you can not only offer a boat, but you can go direct to all companies and offer solutions.
Of course, that means that the access to your clients is much higher than when you have to go via somebody to get the subsea boat working. Yeah, and that also, I think, will, you know, give us high utilization. Of course, it will also give additional earnings because you get the project margins on top. You might get 15, 20% higher earnings than you would have done if you only chartered out the boats. These two, talented and tailored, that is, I would say, the two most important for our continued success going forward. Of course, trusted, Martin will talk more about the balance going forward, so I leave that to him. Dag Raymond, please. Questions after Dag Raymond. Oh, sorry.
Thank you very much, Mons. It's great to be back again. It's great to see all of you here. It's really good to have the opportunity to talk about and show you how we are delivering on the new strategy in DOF . In the Atlantic region, we are an integrated service provider. What we do is that we utilize our vessels and we deliver projects to our customers. The customers we have are the big operators, the likes of Equinor, Shell, Eni, ExxonMobil, and so forth. I think that that is also a testimony to the 25 years of activity where we have worked ourselves up to earn the trust of these renowned and established operators. We have in the region around 2,000 employees. That is spanned across Norway, U.K., Denmark as well, also in Africa, in Angola, and in Ghana too.
Across the region, we utilize 28 vessels. Most of these vessels are on long-term contracts. That is exactly the position where we want to be. If you look at the backlog and the areas we operate in, if we start with the mooring, we typically do two, maybe three mooring projects every year. We have seen some fantastic projects over the last couple of years and truly, truly projects we don't believe that we would have gotten even just a couple of years ago. Namely, the Baleine project for Eni. We have utilized six vessels in total, making sure that their Baleine FPSO and also the storage units were successfully installed. Later this year, we are installing yet another very important floater for our client in Africa, in Congo, on a particularly important LNG project.
This will be to date the biggest construction project we have ever done in the group. This project, of course, entails the complete project management, the engineering, the logistics as well. We have teams in China, in France, all over the globe, making sure the product that we are going to install and the 18 reels of flexible flowlines and umbilicals and the product is safely transported to the area. Later this year, we will deliver in just a little season in the fall, almost 480 vessel days on this specific project. A few of you will probably remember we talked about IMR and the REM Inspector. First and foremost, in the IMR space, it is all about making sure the client's assets are operational. This is where you inspect. This is where you repair and maintain the various subsea infrastructure.
Of course, over the years, and also we would say maybe in this current situation as well, it is extremely important to make sure that the assets are producing the energy that the industry needs. A little over a year ago, we sat down with Equinor and we kind of thought, how can we create the next level IMR vessel? You have to bear in mind as well that this vessel, we're going to be operating on a 365-day basis at all times in all types of weather in the North Sea and all the way up to the Barents Sea as well. That means that you will have severe weather, storms, you will have ice, you will have extremely challenged conditions.
After a little while, as soon as we kind of defined a bit how we were going to do it, we came up with a solution, which we see on the screen here, which is not a red boat, but still, it's also a testimony because this boat is something that is maybe tailor-made for this part of the segment, but we still had to do a major modification to get her to the level we needed to deliver on this very important contract. It's maybe a bit hard for you to see, but you see on the screen here a tower. This is a modular handling system. This tower weighs 400 t, and this is situated over the moon pool. This is, in effect, a high-precision equipment. This is owned by DOF. This is something we own.
What that is doing is that it can retrieve and also install the critical subsea production equipment in sea states up to five meters. That means full storm. This vessel can do that type of work. In order to deliver this vessel, we, of course, had to work with a range of partners, the designer of the vessel, REM, of course, and all the marine competence we have in DOF. This project, when we started to look at it, we had an estimate on between 12 and 15 weeks. That was too long, and we managed to deliver this huge modification in just six weeks. What we also did was that we installed batteries, state-of-the-art batteries, to get the emissions further down. We installed three new ROV systems, and these are capable of being launched in 5.5-meter HS. This tower, and also what you can't see here, a skidding system.
That means that you can basically skid without having people moving close to where you have the equipment around the deck. Overall, we had to reinforce the moon pool and the deck with almost 150 tons of steel to deliver this. I'm very pleased to inform you that the vessel is fully operational. We delivered on the schedule. We delivered on the budget. She is out working for Equinor, and we are very, very comfortable that this will be, let's say, the Equinor horse for the future when it comes to the IMR type of work. On the organization, a vessel like this demands 150 people. That's a lot of people. On the onshore side, amongst those 150 people, there is a core project management and engineering team of 15 people working on this every day.
We bring in the extra competence in various engineering disciplines based on the type of activity that we are going to do. What Equinor does, they send us a lot of work packages every day, many work packages. The engineering and logistics teams are planning and preparing the packages, and then we organize that in the most efficient way so we can execute on behalf of Equinor. I should say the offshore team and the competence on the offshore team is very, very critical to make this happen. There is on this vessel at all times around 70- 90 people working, day in, morning, and basically all around the clock. Going forward within this IMR segment, we see a lot of activity in the market, and we expect to be in position to announce contracts in this area relatively soon.
Over to the Skandi Inventor, you will all recognize this vessel as one of the native ones that came with a purchase from Maersk Supply Service. The reality where back in March, April, we didn't have any backlog on this vessel. It was empty. She had been on a very successful campaign for Total in Africa, but she was coming back. That contract went to a natural end, and we sat down and thought, okay, now it's time to DOF-anize her. We sent her up to Bergen to Aarhusnes. I know a few of you came on board with us on a vessel management visit earlier in May. The first thing we did was to install our own ROVs and also our survey equipment and make her ready for projects.
Of course, while we were on board, we were in the middle of negotiations with multiple clients on contracts for this vessel. We are very pleased to announce that we had fully secured utilization for her all through the season into the winter. In fact, we have utilization on her into 2027. This was all done on a very, very short time frame. I'm very pleased to say that we didn't even have one day on standby. We just went straight to work as soon as we were finished with the ROV and survey mobilization. The question is, what have we done with this vessel? We have utilized her across both renewables and oil and gas. We started off with a cable repair project for one of the biggest operators in the renewable space.
They gave us a call, and basically, the export cable for one of the largest wind farms in Europe had malfunctioned. That is pretty much like you put out a cord from the socket. It doesn't work. The whole wind farm is down. Of course, that is big money every day in, every day out. You are losing power production. They asked us, can you guys engineer a solution and how quickly can you repair the export cable for us? The client wanted initially a two-vessel solution, but our expert team, which is sitting in Bergen and in Aberdeen, engineered a one-vessel solution. The fact is that the area where we had to repair this cable was in shallow water with a lot of current and poor visibility and also a lot of traffic too.
Going in with two vessels did not seem to be the best solution in our mind. Within four weeks, we managed to design and also source the equipment needed and do the engineering and prepare for the execution of the campaign. We managed to repair the cable in less days than what our client expected, and they are super, super happy. I went to a meeting with the client two weeks back, and they could not be more pleased with the end result of this project. The vessel worked beautifully. Also, noting it is the first project after a major mobilization, we cannot be more happy. After we did the cable repair, we then went on to the oil and gas side. That is onto the Dutch sector where we had a decommissioning project for our client.
Actually, that project turned into two phases because we ran into some issues or the client ran into some issues that sometimes you see that on decommissioning that you find stuff you don't know were there. You maybe need to dig a bit more or you need to maybe remove equipment that is maybe not on all drawings. That was the exact case on this one. After we did the first phase of that project, we went on to the Polarled connector replacement. This is not a big project, but one I'm particularly proud of because this is on the Polarled gas pipeline that runs from Åsthamnsen to Nyhavn. That's 482 km. It is actually the deepest pipeline in all of the Norwegian continental shelf. The client wanted us to replace a connector at almost the deepest section.
This is, to my knowledge, something that has never been done at this depth before. We have spent more than one year with some of the best and clever engineers we have to design the tool and fabricate the tool to do this job. As of this moment, we are offshore on this project. We have about one more day to go. The morning report from the project is that everything is going exactly as planned. We expect to be demobilizing in about a day or so. We will go back to the very same decommissioning project and do another phase on her. In my mind, I think this shows the weight and also the strength of DOF . We have a world-class fleet. We have the organization to deliver the full turnkey services on top of that.
To be able to turn something like this, because this is a rather big vessel, it takes a little bit of time to get the workscopes going. To do that, I think that we have proven again that we are able to do that on also on providing a lot of, I would say, decent rates as well on these scopes. Now we would like to show you a little video, not just the text and the slides, but a little video from the mentioned cable repair project. I would like you to take particular notice to all the equipment on the back deck. This is not, and of course, the Skandi Inventor, she has a 1,850 sq m. back deck. She's a huge deck. We have filled up the deck with cable repair equipment. You will see chutes. You will see, of course, the highways.
You will see the tensioners. You will see also the basket for the cable and the whole machine that is needed in order to repair something like this.
Welcome on board, Skandi Inventor. We are currently in Peterhead, mobilizing for a cable repair project. Here on main deck, we have two tensioners and a cable reel drive system. We've recently installed two brand new world-class ROVs from Case Design. We're now in the field. We've completed recovery of the damaged cable. The team here will cut sections back until they get good cable. We will then prepare the joint.
After five days, that joint is complete, and we overboard that joint. We pick up the second section of cable, and we now do an Amiga joint on the vessel. We have to overboard this Amiga, daily this cable and the joint down to depth required by the client.
One of the factors of being offshore is that it's a dynamic environment. Things go wrong, problems arise, but the team on board have been fantastic. Every problem we've faced, we've managed to overcome so far, and we're sticking to schedule.
I must say I'm pretty impressed with the time that they will manage to mobilize and execute on this one.
All right, let me open up for the first Q&A session. We'll take them to the section that we just have presented. We have to use this microphone for the benefit of the webcast. Just a note to those on the webcast as well, you can use the Q&A function in the webcast to submit your questions and then we will go through those as well. We can start with one from the webcast actually. Mons, that's to you related to the fleet and backlog. Will you consider placing also the remaining anchor handlers on long-term contracts and use the spot market to source for projects?
You know, I guess we are built in a way where we have difficulty saying no to long-term contracts. Yeah, I guess if the opportunity comes and it's very well paid, we're probably going to take it. Of course, it's not a no-brainer, because it is a very important part of the offering we have that we are able to give, let's say, firm pricing for a complete package of boats in 2027 or 2028. Usually it depends on, I guess in the end it's the money that decides what we do. Of course, it's interesting to see, of course, we, like, you know, one year ago we installed a 140-ton crane on a boat called Skandi Hera, a traditional North Sea boat. After that we probably have had 95% utilization and almost three times the earnings as if she was in the spot market.
I think she has done one rig move after we did that. Of course, that is something we are looking at for a couple of the boats we have left in the spot market, you know, to see if we can install a crane or two on some of those to reduce the risk and also expect a high utilization and better paid. Yeah, long answer.
Yeah. Anyone in the room? If not, pass the mic then so that we can broadcast as well.
Thanks. Yes, hi, good afternoon. Kevin Roger from Kepler . Two questions. If I may, the first one is just to understand exactly the positioning that you want in the SURF segment being on the Tier 2 and not competing with the Tier 1. On the Tier-1 side, the competitive landscape is more and more, in a way, reduced with Subsea and Saipem that are merging. What will make the big difference of DOF versus those guys that will try maybe to maximize their fleet time, etc., in terms of having DOF as T ier- 2 differentiated player compared to those ones? The second question, you just mentioned that, for example, on your vessel, you have added a number of key equipments, proprietary elements.
What's basically the kind of CapEx that is needed for you when you have a vessel that is coming out of a contract to maximize the capability of this vessel and to be able to offer an extra value to the next client? Thanks.
Yeah, the first was.
The Tier 2.
The T ier 2.
Yeah.
The Tier 1, of course, you know, Tier 1 is, and of course, there is no clear, let's say, border between them. The main for Technip, and also, of course, it's a big project. It's a multi, you know, billion dollar projects. Yeah, very, very unique. They have 5,000 engineers and they have a lot of, you know, skilled people. That is not what we are after. When we talk Tier 2, it is the, let's say, it's the project as they become bigger and bigger, you feel that appetite they have for, for, for let's also IRM, but also smaller projects, let's say $15 million, $100 million. I think the project that Dag Raymond is doing in Congo, no, you know, it was a typical Saipem project. Yeah, and that was not awarded to us, which is a, you know, typical where I see us, we are heading.
Yeah, it's a bit bigger than what we have done before, and, but of course, within our capability. It's to say the smaller stuff up to $200 million perhaps. Of course, there is no clear, but of course, you know, if you go and ask, and of course, we know these guys pretty well, you know, if you go and ask some of them, you know, they have a project of $1.5 billion. Yeah, then you ask them, yeah, you will make a $300 million margin on that project. No, you're probably going to make $450 million. Of course, then what attention do they have on a project then to win a project that is perhaps $100 million where you can make $15 million?
We see, our feel is that that niche below them, you know, is a wide open space for us now, but they have lost traction because they are getting bigger and bigger and because they have such a busy backlog on big projects.
We see also Mons, we don't, of course, they do pipelay. We did pipelay. That's an area we don't operate in. They do the big APCI. What we do, what we have done is to fabricate small spools and jumpers and items like that. Also, we are hearing because we are speaking to the clients every day and they are telling us, please, can you participate and be part of these projects with us because we are not getting the attention that we used to back in the day. There is a demand in the market too for players in that segment that are able to take, as Mons is alluding to, contracts up to, let's say, $200 million and install the products in that space.
That was the second part of your question as well.
Investments.
Investments.
Investments.
Just to understand, when you have a vessel that is coming off a prototype like the one you mentioned and that you're doing the key equipment to be able to bring a new value to the new ones and place the vessel as much as possible, what's the kind of CapEx?
I guess on the Inventor, $7 million, $8 million, something like that. Yeah, yeah. Of course, on the SURF, it depends how far you want to go. If you want to have a 300 and 400- ton VLS to play, the ball game is quite different. Yeah, but yeah. No, we need a positive question, sir.
It's definitely one. Erik Aspen Fossa, SB1 Markets. On the PIDF contract that you mentioned, you may touch upon this later, but there's three vessels now working on that one. Two of those have already secured long-term contracts with Petrobras. My question is, how will you meet that vessel demand for this new PIDF contract? Will you use your own assets or will you have to lease in from third-party suppliers?
Yeah, Mario, of course, we'll talk more about it later, but I guess, and I think, you know, it's, and he will also say more about that because the beauty with this PIDF is that it also gives you the opportunity to play a lot the market in Brazil. We have a long discussion about what, you know, if this is going to be a third-party boat or if we're going to send one of our own more high-end boats, not only for PIDF, but then also to play the, let's say, the project market and the spot market in Brazil, which has proven very successful. I guess it's a luxury problem. It is something we are discussing, and likely it will not be the same boats that executed for three years.
It might be, I guess, on the old PIDF, we have had seven, eight different boats in and out. He will talk more about that, but it's a good question and we haven't decided yet.
All right, we'll do one more question before we move on, and then we'll also do an overall Q&A after, so you can save some questions for that as well. That is related to the IMR work. You mentioned that IMR Inspector with an aging infrastructure. Will there be more such contracts, do you think?
What we can say is that the answer to that is yes. It's a very simple answer to that question.
Very well.
I can maybe elaborate that it's various types of complexity to the IMR work. What we are doing now with Equinor IMR, I think that is, we can describe that as maybe the Premier League of IMR work because you are doing a lot of the repair and the heavy-duty work as well. North Sea is relatively mature, but we see the operators, it's critical for them to keep the assets operating. That is much more important in many cases than the new developments. Keep what you have working and keep it going. We've seen throughout the last downturn that some decisions within how they would maintain their assets, that has changed. Because down the road, if you don't do the maintenance, it will be more expensive down the road. Yes.
Very well, thank you. Mario, please, can we proceed with Brazil?
Good afternoon, you all. I'm Mario, EVP Brazil. Let's talk a bit about Brazil. This is important. We just completed 25 years in Brazil. We are celebrating this milestone. I am 11 years in Brazil with DOF, but half a century of presence in Brazil makes a difference, principally for clients and trust in what we do and betting on what we are going to do in the future. It's a very important milestone for us. We're very happy with that. This graphic I always use, I think most of you are used to it, right? It just gives a clear picture of what we say, the offshore support vessels, the mini support vessels, operating in Brazil. That's the overall number. This is Brazilian built and flagged. The blue line are the REB flags, right? Foreign flag vessels that have come to Brazil but are putting Brazilian flag on REB .
These are still the foreign flag vessels. What you can see easily here, the market continues to demand more vessels, right? Pretty easy to see. You can see that the new builds are flat. In fact, this seems to be reducing. Some of the vessels are getting old. There have been no new builds during the last five, six years. You can see that foreign flag vessels are coming, having the chance. They are putting on red, right? Also, the foreign flag are increasing. It's just to give a clear picture of how the market is looking at present and the tendency to the future, always becoming better and better and increase. It's a very healthy market for the short, medium, and long term in Brazil. The dynamics, we were talking about SURF, Mons was just approaching this, right? The SURF market in Brazil, that's big business.
We're talking about mostly very deep water. Petrobras, big SURFs, Búzios, Mero, Sépia, and Atapu. We are talking about more than $1 billion SURF contracts. Those are the first-tier contractors. Those guys are our key clients too. We work for them. A second tier, we work for them in that market over there. Obviously, the fleet of PLSCVs that we have, six PLSCVs, we have the largest fleet of PLSCVs in Brazil. We work a lot on the long term for Petrobras, but not on the SURF contracts, obviously, right? Installing the flexibles, the umbilicals, and part of this fleet that we have, we also do decommission as part of the long-term contracts. We're always very, you know, very paying attention on what could be a SURF market that does not demand that capacity, right? We're talking about maybe shallow, mid-depth water.
We're talking about other clients like the Brazilians, Brava, used to be Enauta, or Trident when they go for the mature fields. They have a new installation to do, so capacity to that water depth that does not require really big PLSCVs or big pipelay vessels on rigid. That's where we probably have a chance now with the fleet of I-classes that we have. That's what we are looking very carefully to. We are talking about small-type BECs or SURFs that are limited not to compete with the first tier. Will the first tier be interested in those? Yes, they will, but not much. If they have too much to do, they probably let it go, right? That's the chance that we want to take on this area. Do we have any so far? Not yet, but we are looking at it very closely, okay?
Moorings with the fleet of AHTS that we have, we are in every mooring project of Petrobras, everyone, installing the torpedoes, installing the anchor lines, and doing the hookups as part of the long-term fleet that we have worked for Petrobras. We are on the high end, right? Some of that scope is limited to us and to Bram . Then you have the other guys doing lesser scope for that. If you guys remember well, Petrobras is changing the strategy a bit for the SURFs. They started with Búzios 5, Mero 2, Mero 3, and they were including into the SURFs the preset moorings and then including into the SURFs the hookup of the moorings. They understood that that's not really a good business because those guys are not really too much interested in the moorings. They want to do what is really the facilities.
That's the reason why we were trying to target that scope with the first-tier contractors. Lately, during the last two years, Petrobras took off those scopes from the SURFs. You don't have preset moorings anymore, part of the SURFs. You don't have the hookups. Maybe the hookup is left, right? It came everything back into the Petrobras long-term fleet. That's why Petrobras is increasing, you know, the fleet of AHTSs in Brazil. It's very important for that. That's what we play, right? We want to fix our AHTSs, high capacity on long term in Brazil. We are being successful on that. Decommissioning is an area that is increasing and increasing. We don't have any decommissioning contract as a service contract so far. We start looking at it. We did bid already a couple, right? We are bidding one right now to Petrobras.
We are looking into this as, you know, a surplus to complete, you know, what we have to do if we have availability because we know to do this business, right? It's going to be a kind of a buffer if we have availability. We are in a, as Mons says, in a good place to be in Brazil today. Availability is an issue. We are trying to play as much as we can, you know, with the scopes that we have under contract and with the chances that we have for the future. Decommission, yes, can be something that we are going to get. We are looking to this always with more attention because you guys know very well, I mean, the decommissioning contracts, in principle, they're not really interesting contracts, right?
If you can play that and you can play it well, you can still make money on that. This is our position. This is basically the DOF fleet. Then we'll have the JV fleet. You have seen this slide before. You know, what really is changing, I mean, this is the fleet one, is our AHTS fleet. I think we were the first in Brazil seven, eight years ago to start, you know, putting ROVs on board the AHTSs. I think that was a big, a big question we have inside. Are we going to play that? The market was so bad, you know, difficulty to place these vessels was so limited. Putting ROVs on board, you know, would increase their capacity, would increase their chance. We start with that.
To the extent that you look into this, you know, Rio, Botafogo, Fluminense, Iguaçu, Angra, Paraty, and Urca, they all have ROVs. They are under contract today with ROV. Ipanema and Amazonas had ROVs before, right? Now we're having the luxury to decide if we want the contract with ROV or if we want the contract without ROV. Depends which one, you know, is more attractive and can give better return to us. This vessel here, this Skandi Iguaçu, is one of our largest vessels, right? It's now operating with ROV, as you see. On the next contract that I'm going to tell you, we signed the contract without ROV. We won the tender with ROV and without ROV. Then we sit down for what is better for us, right?
It's not because we do ROV services that we are going to have an ROV contract because if the contract is more interesting, gives a better return without ROV, this is the case, we take the ROV off. We did a lot to put ROVs on the vessel. Now we are having the luxury to decide if we want to keep or we prefer not to include the ROV. These two vessels here, Mercury and Jupiter, they are now transiting to Brazil. Foreign flag. Those two vessels, we won the contract last year, have been signed in the middle of last year to be mobilized. I have to deliver this vessel to Petrobras. Today is the 8th. By contract, I have to deliver this vessel to Petrobras tomorrow, the 9th. Why have they not been delivered yet?
There has been a kind of a changing policy from ANTAQ on the blocking, you know, conditions in Brazil. Lately, one of the main Brazilian contractors, they have six AHTSs practically in layup. There has been a big movement in order to possibly put those vessels to work. ANTAQ, you guys probably know, ANTAQ is the regulatory agency. They have kind of adjusted, you know, the rules by allowing partial blocking, partial blocking on capacity. What that means? That means that if this vessel, right, 270-ton bollard pull contractor, high spec with Petrobras, in order to do, you know, torpedoes and mooring systems, can also do, you know, pullbacks, right? Heading control. That's part of the scope. So this little variation.
The rules allow vessels that can only do they had in control to block me, right? We have been, during the last three months, after our friends in Brazil, Maersk Supply Service, had their three AHTSs blocked and they lost one contract, we found ourselves with this problem. We did work hard during the last couple of months at the ANTAQ with Petrobras also, so this regulation could be reviewed, adjusted. Just 10 days ago, these blockings, partial blocking, which we consider not regular, because it's going to create a mess in the whole market, they were released. That's the reason that we did not mobilize them to Brazil to be delivered today. The responsibility to give the CAA, which is the authorization to operate as a foreign flag, is with the client. It's a Petrobras responsibility, by contract.
They could not obtain the CAA, so we could not take the vessels to Brazil, be sitting there waiting for Petrobras to get a CAA, whether they would get or not, or how long they would get. We got into a deal where we all worked together in order to allow these two vessels to operate, to get the CAA. That just happened two weeks ago, right? Those vessels had been prepared. You guys know that mobilization for new contracts with Petrobras takes CapEx. Anything takes CapEx. These two vessels, we took the chance to do all the CapEx required, upgrades on the vessels. By the time they were dry docked here in Norway, one late last year, the other early this year. These vessels are ready to go to start the contract.
It would be really a big problem for Petrobras not counting with these two vessels, a big problem to us. Fortunately, it is resolved, right? They are going to Brazil. This is increasing our fleet of 23 vessels now to 25 with these two AHTSs, right? This vessel here, Skandi Involver, is operating in Brazil. It is still called Maersk Involver, right? I think it's the only vessel that is still called Maersk, Mons or not. They had to be imported, right? It's still as Maersk by Maersk Brazil. It's in a contract with Maersk Brazil and Alcatel for Libra. We had to supply that vessel so they could perform that service contract they had. Obviously, we were not able to include Maersk Brazil in the deal, right? We had to support them to finish their service contract.
This vessel is operating in Brazil, but we are not considering this vessel in our fleet because we are not really including that vessel in our fleet operating in Brazil. We hope perhaps next year, when we finish the contract, that we may have the chance to keep this vessel in Brazil and be part of our fleet. We do operate the ROVs. It would make no sense, you know, to have Dag to send or Marco to send ROV people to Brazil, and that's our business. The ROV service on this vessel is DOF Brazil, right? It's not counted as in our fleet. This is the fleet tree, which are the subsea vessels: Salvador, AChiever, Carla, and Geoholm . Carla, Geoholm , and the Stril Explorer are on the PIDF. We're talking about the PIDF. Commander, Chieftain and Olympia are really our RSVs that operate in Brazil.
I'll talk a little bit about this particular contract here and how we did manage to place these vessels on the contract. Going back here, when we talk about the high backlog, this year has been really a special year in terms of tenders and contract awards in Brazil. I will honestly say that, yes, I mean, we always have expectations, but what we are managing to have is going beyond our own expectations. We are very fortunate. We're very lucky with this. We have 11 long-term contracts already awarded, seven AHTSs. This was out of the bid of late last year, early this year, AHTS tender, and then an RSV tender. Out of these two tenders, we have already signed 11 long-term contracts, which are four-year contracts, where we are adding two LE- classes on the AHTS contract. Those two LE- classes obviously are not this, right?
That fleet goes to 25 and then goes to 27. Those have to be delivered in Brazil by February next year. Here where we are today, I'll get into this more, but we were placed second on a new build RSV tender by Petrobras, right? The first was Bram. W e were second. Those are eight RSVs, and each contract can take maximum four. Bram is taking four. We came second. We are due to take the next four. That's where we are today negotiating with Petrobras. Those are 12-year contracts, each one, right? We still need to finalize this negotiation. That's why we're not counting 100%. The chances are really good that we can close that deal. This is what I was just talking about.
23 is going to 25, and then it's going to 27, and then it's going to 29 because of the PIDF that you guys were talking about. I'll get into this a little bit before because the PIDF vessels, Carla and Geoholm , we now are giving a long term to Petrobras. We are looking for vessels, right? In fact, Mons would be nearly asking you guys, anybody who has vessels to offer, we are available to consider, right? We are going to get, no doubt about it, but you know. This AUV operation may give us the chance of another contract because we lost that particular lot in the RSV tender. Now, it's showing up as that lot's coming to us, right? That's very important for us. Obviously, we are increasing as there's increase of fleet, increase of contracts, and potentially new contracts coming. We are increasing our workforce.
We are altogether well over 2,000, 2,100 now with certain parts that we have. This is very important. I think we are first in the group, no doubt about it, in diversification, right? We continue to further expand in this area. Let me go to the next one. This is the PLSV fleet that you guys know very well, the JV with Technip. What really is important here, you guys remember the accident on the Skandi Buzios, June 2023, a very critical fire that took the vessel out of operation. We could have lost the vessel, but we didn't, right, Mons? One year later, that vessel was put back on hard to Petrobras, right? That makes the difference last year in terms of results because from August last year, that vessel was back on hard with Petrobras.
That year of the vessel, off time, time off, we consider as a suspension to be added to the term of the contract. We didn't lose any term of contract due to that accident. To negotiate that hard with Petrobras, that's not easy. We did manage to get that. I think what's really positive last year, just to consider, we did manage to place, that is the last PLSV tender, we did manage to place the Niteroi, Vitória, and also the Skandi Açu on last year's tender. Those rates have increased in the order of 40%- 50% in respect to what we have now. They yet did not even start the contract. As of today, Niteroi is supposed to start the new contract, a new three-year contract awarded last year, now in October, and Vitória in November. The Skandi Açu, you know, the current contract has been extended until mid-2026.
Only going to start in mid-2026. There is something going on, you know, like you see up there, that Petrobras is demonstrating interest. This is nothing yet, let's say, conclusive, but it demonstrates an interest to further extend the current contracts to the end of 2026 and start the new contract signed, you know, last year only in 2027. Obviously, there is a big difference of rates between what is new, what is old, like we have today. Petrobras seems to be available to negotiate, not to work with those rates, but work with a rate increase that may facilitate. It's, you know, everything is to gain. I mean, if we have to start as we have today, we are fine. We start Niteroi, Vitória and then we start the Skandi Açu.
If, you know, the result is good that we can start only in 2027, you know, we go for it. It says the return could be, let's say, attractive to us, right? This JV is really successful, not because I'm there as a Director of the JV, but I have been in so many JVs with my age, you guys can imagine. A JV like this, you know, it's the first time that I see, you know, lasting so long, much more than 10 years, right? It's still with a big future to go, right? It's a very successful, you know, business for DOF in Brazil. We have the largest fleet. We have the largest vessels, Skandi Açu and Skandi Buzios, with 650 tons. Today, they are on 650- ton VLS contracts. The next contract is for 550 tons, right?
Petrobras was very clever, not put, you know, 650- ton VLS class. Otherwise, we practically would be the only ones who bid, right? They have preferred to keep the 550 tons, so Subsea 7, Technip itself, and Sapura, now Seag ems, you know, can compete with us. Let's go to the next one. This is what we do. This slide, you know, probably you guys say, "You're again with the same slide, Mario," but we're just updating this. Just to show that we cover the whole spectrum of, you know, subsea operations in Brazil. We consider our fleet. We don't have the largest fleet in Brazil. We are probably third or fourth. But definitely, we have the high-end, you know, largest fleet, AHTSs, subsea vessels, PLSVs. We are recognized even by our competitors. That's what we do, right?
SAT diving, you know, the Skandi Achiver in Brazil has been doing SAT diving for a long contract with Petrobras, but SAT diving in Brazil, Petrobras kind of is avoiding SAT dive all the way. We don't have more SAT diving chances with Petrobras. We may have with, you know, companies like Perenco or even, you know, that's, that's, so these guys are on the mature fields. On the mature fields, we're talking about some Campos basins, still, the old fields in Chova, Pargos, and everything. Those facilities, you know, even to be decommissioning, may require some interventions of SAT diving. In fact, we did, you know, some good campaigns of SAT diving for Trident, farming out the vessel from Petrobras. It's not giving continuity. It's not giving consistency, right? That's the reason that we decided to place the Skandi Achiever now as an MEPSV/ RSV long-term with Petrobras.
The plant is still there. We're putting the SAT diving plant on a warm lay-up mode. What are you thinking? Maybe to do some type of SAT diving in the future? You never know, right? So far, the contract with Petrobras does not include that capacity. This is, you know, so you, you know, it's a high-end fleet. We have the largest AHTS fleet. We really expanded a lot on survey as a result of the AUV contract that we have. We have been providing services to Saipem. We have been providing services to Subsea 7, you know, supporting their service. We have also included a full package survey in this contract. That's why we have expanded a lot, you know, this capability in Brazil to the extent that we are becoming the global data processing center for, you know, the group in Brazil.
This is what I was talking about that, you know, has even surpassed the expectations that we had. Out of that AHTS tender that was late last year, early this year, that was an auction tender. You guys know what is an auction, right? Tender. You have to go into an auction and bet your rates, right? We were targeting on the AHTS fleet, you know, most. We were targeting six boats. Our five Brazilian. We had to put our five Brazilian: Angra, Paraty, Urca, Iguaçu, and Fluminense. Those were a must, right? We were targeting another, you know, AHTS, which would be an L class. We were first in the tender, you know, on those lots. The majority of the lots, we were first, but not all, right? The two, you know, L classes, Logger and Lifter, you know, they came as a consequence that they need more boats.
Out of six targets, we didn't manage to place seven contracts with two additional L class coming to Brazil. All the vessels that you see here are Brazilian flag. They are on REB, okay? Obviously, all the Brazilians, right? Logger, we have to REB. Lifter, we have to REB, right? Petrobras is kind of moving from the three years firm plus two to the four years firm plus one. You guys know that they have that kind of limitation of five years, which is not, you know, 100%. They may flexibilize, extend, right? Now they are betting having four years, you know, with one plus zero as an option in the contract. These vessels, you know, they are going towards the end of the decade when they start the contract, right? With ROV, they are supposed to start in January. That's why it's all Q1 2026, all these vessels, right?
We have the RSV tender, the same, you know, subsequent tender, auction. We had a target there. Our target was to place our three RSVs there in the next slide, which is Commander, Chieftain, and Olympia. It was a must for us to continue with those three contracts. We were playing the chance to put the Skandi Achiever and the Skandi Salvador, five. We end up with seven. Why did you put Carla and Geoholm ? Because we could not pass the opportunity, right? We were not first in the auction. This vessel here, in its lot, it was probably the fifth vessel. We are just playing our chances. It's an auction, right? We go there and see what happens. We found out that Petrobras were needing, you know, nearly five vessels, and they end up doing an offer that we could not pass.
This vessel was not supposed to go, but it's going. This vessel has not been offered. The two lots that, you know, we target for Salvador and Achiever were the high-spec lots where you have to put 30 tons in 3,000 m in one lot or 17 tons in 3,000 m. Those are not RSVs. Those are light construction vessels, right? We target those two lots with Achiever and Salvador. We were offered three opportunities. We have to bring the Geoholm , right, into the picture. We had a chance to put the Achiever in two lots. We have put on one and opened this lot on the next one. We brought the Geoholm . You know, we put the Salvador in another lot. We end up with seven contracts. This is already signed. The next ones are sanctioned and I'll explain why they have not been signed yet.
I think the question was, what is happening that you are losing Geoholm and Carla? What they are doing now? They are only PIDF today with the Stril Explorer. The new contract that starts next year that we have been sanctioned already will be signed very soon. Three years for three boats. These two boats will be delivered on long term. We have to replace these two boats on the PIDF. That's what Mons is saying that we are considering the internal, you know, scenarios that we have. That's the beauty of the PIDF. I don't like to say beauty of the PIDF. We always say it's the horror of the PIDF because that's what our competitors need to know that the things go bad because they're always looking and trying to create a problem for us.
It's becoming always more competitive, but we do, you know, we did, you know, win the last tender, but we lost these two vessels. We lost. I mean, we have the luxury to put them on long term. Now we have to replace them on the new PIDF for the next three years. This, you know, we're saying these are the potential prospects, including sanctioned contracts. When we call sanctioned contracts, those are that Petrobras has already confirmed that you are going to be awarded. The Petrobras creates the commissions for the tender, and then they select the contractors, and then they abilitate it or they sanction the contracts. The next step is to sign the contract, right? Those three vessels that I was talking about, I mean, I'm sorry, Commander, Chieftain and Olympia, they have been sanctioned already three months ago or more.
Those were the first vessels that we dealt and we closed the deal. We only did not sign those three contracts yet because the start of these contracts are Q4 2026, so Petrobras has time. That was not the main deal. The main deal was a particular lot that today we have the contract, which is the commander. It's missing there one ROV plus one AUV. That's an AUV contract, right? That particular lot, it was only one vessel. We lost, you know, the auction. We were second. Another contractor was first. In the auction, we lost that for $10. Maybe it's another for that for $10. We could lose for $1, but we lost for $10, that opportunity. However, there have been some compliance issues with that particular first, you know, bidder that we have disputed. That contract is, I would say, most certainly coming to us very soon.
In that case, this vessel here goes to another lot with the AUV. It opens this lot on this particular lot. That means that we may have the chance to place an eighth, you know, RSV or 15 boats in addition to the 14. That is the latest that's sanctioned already. That's the largest ever PIDF contract. It's now nearly six years that we go one after the other. We are missing only to sign the contract, which starts in Q1 2026, in continuation with the current PIDF 23, which you guys saw on the previous slide. This has just been signed in August. It's an amendment to the current PIDF contract so we can continue until the end of the year or next year in order to have in sequence with the new contract. It's about $50 million, you know, amendment to the contract, to the current contract.
Coming back here. That is, you know, we soon will have to, we'll be able to confirm to you this award. You can see here, in a way, it's showing we're missing the vessels, right? Those were supposed to be Carla and Geoholm . We are now with several scenarios of our own fleet. The beauty of the PIDF is that Petrobras does not control the vessels. We control the vessels. We can put an AHTS with ROV. We did put already. Skandi Salvador today is on the PIDF because she left Subsea7 and she needs to restart by the end of the year. Where do we put her on the PIDF? We got the extension, right? Is she the ideal vessel? No, because we require, you know, a lower spec, right? She performs like hell.
I mean, put a big vessel that can perform and performance is everything we need on that kind of contract. That's a lump sum service contract. We need performance. We need to deliver. Even if the vessel, you know, consumes more fuel because fuel is on our account, she can deliver more performance than a smaller vessel. Basically, you know, the things stay even. That allows us this flexibility to play with the vessels that we want on the PIDF and we take them off when we want. Everything we have to deliver to Petrobras is performance and data, right, of inspections. The rest is with us. That's why we can put vessels, we can take vessels off. How do we play the spot market in Brazil? All the vessels are booked, right? We play the spot market with the vessels that we put in that project.
If we put a Salvador class in that project, one of the reasons is that we will play the spot market for that particular vessel. I can assure you today, I have signed a contract last week for the Skandi Salvador today on the PIDF to do a spot for BW, two months' work at a very high rate. That project allows me to do that. That's why we play the spot market in Brazil. In fact, when you see here, this is spots here, Geoholm , Salvador, just signed the Salvador. Geoholm , most potential, we love to go out to this. For what you're doing in the PIDF, you said take all the vessels. We have to manage this, right? We have to be careful because we cannot be late with Petrobras. It's a question of how you successfully and very, so it's all about project management, really.
That's what our competitors probably don't have, that track record. You can do a good job on PIDF with Petrobras since you manage all the tasks, all the activities well. Petrobras has a tendency to impose, and this kind of contract, they cannot impose. They need to let us do the job, right? They're letting us do the job. We deliver better than what they deliver with the fleet and allow us this flexibility. This is the new build. We were second after Bravante West. They would take four, and we would take four, right? Definitely, our rate would be better than the West rate because we came second. Our problem is in negotiating how far can we be out of their rate because Petrobras will stick on us to be close to their rate, obviously, right? It's where we are today.
I think we work so hard for this because this is the future. You saw there in Brazil, DOF has a long history of new builds in Brazil, very long list track record. We want to be part of this new phase of new builds in Brazil. You guys know that the first new builds were the PSVs, 12, right? Bram was awarded six. Starnav was awarded the other six. They are already under construction. Then came the OSRV new build standard, which are the same PSVs with the oil rack facility on top of it. Starnav took four. Bram stayed out, surprisingly. There is a newcomer in Brazil that was first. They're still trying to make that contract happen. Then came the RSV standard, eight. That four could be awarded maximum to each contractor.
You know that the standards, they are, you know, 8 years lot, 10 years lot, or 12 years lot. You can be the one, two, three, or four. Obviously, the best is you go for the maximum and for the maximum term, right? That's what's happening. That's why we have four potential new build contracts for 12 years contract each. I have so many slides about this. Just to emphasize, because really, you know, it's an achievement for us. Those are the 15 vessels. Up to here, already signed. The three yet to be signed because of that famous AUV lot, which we will open this lot. In Petrobras, in the tenders, you guys know very well, you are not required to bid one vessel on only one lot. You can bid the same vessel on two lots.
If you win both, Petrobras decides which one they want to put that vessel. That opens that slot for you. You are still first. They come and give us the chance, give you the chance to replace that vessel, but not the obligation. If you have the chance, okay, you have two contracts. If you don't, you just pass, they go to the next one, right? That's what has allowed us to put two LE- classes because of that. That's why we were targeting six. We end up with seven because we were offered another boat. We took it. This happens here with the Carla and the Geoholm . We have a very good chance to put a 15 vessel here. That would be seven AHTS plus eight RSVs. Those are the contracts signed already for the three RSVs that are sanctioned.
As of today, the 11 is giving a backlog of that magnitude. If you add the PIDF, it's another $400 million. If you add the 15 boat, that would be close to or around $2 billion backlog out of this, right? Not yet considering the new builds. We think we're going to close new builds that will jump that backlog quite substantially this year. This year in Brazil, we think we are delivering not only what we were planning, but we are delivering in excess that we were planning. It's a good place to be. The problem that we are having looking for vessels, that's the luxury problem that Mons is saying. It's a good place to be, and we need to deliver. In terms of the finance, there is obviously a big CapEx associated with this, right? It's what impacts our EBITDA.
The issue is how can we quickly recover, you know, this CapEx that we need to, we need to put on all this fleet to deliver the fleet. This is about the aggregate of the group. DOF Brazil is a big contributor to that, you know, EBITDA for the group. What's really important, you know, is how, you know, the rates are showing up. Only the AHTS fleet rate has an average increase of 38% on these new contracts. The RSVs are about the same, you know, the same trend. The PLSVs, you guys just saw, you know, we are even above that. It's looking really good, you know, the expectation for the market in terms of mid-term, you know, long-term. This is the fleet, principally when we talk of all the vessels, right? They are all fully booked, probably they go until 2030.
The Skandi Amazonas, you know, today, she's, you know, finishing the current contract mid-2027. She also has another two years option, like the Ipanema and the Rio, right? Those boats, Amazonas, Ipanema, Rio, and Botafogo, they were not included in the standard because they are under contract, right? They probably will be our target for the next phase of tenders. Petrobras will come probably next year. Angra, Fluminense, Iguaçu, Paraty, and Urca, we just placed them under contract right now. Lifter and Logger, the two LE- classes that will come into the contract. Salvador, Achiever, Geoholm , and Carla, all through, you know, 2029. Olympia, Chieftain, Commander, all through 2029. The Involver, which is the vessel that is not in our fleet, you know, she probably will end this contract with Maersk Brazil and Alcatel around here on Q1 sometime. She has options. We may have opportunity in Brazil.
Obviously, we want to keep that vessel in Brazil as much as we can, but it's a global vessel. She goes where, you know, it's more attractive. The Stril Explorer is the only one left on the PIDF. That's why we need the vessel two and vessel three to complete the three vessels fleet for the new PIDF end of Q1 next year. It's missing here a vessel four, which is, you know, the additional 15 vessels that we can put on Commander's lot. We are really looking for three vessels, right, Mons? Yeah. We are really looking for three. Yes, sir, right? Yeah. We'll make it happen. Yeah. Mercury and Jupiter, you know, that is a blessing, you know, even in the church I was going to have this vessel released, right? We didn't manage, you know, to get them back.
The ship, the vessel owner, our investor, right, is very happy now because we manage those vessels. Those two vessels are not ours, right? They're fixed. We are not owned and we manage them. This is the PIDF, you know, and I'm trying to check my time. You guys know this, but the PIDF, as they go, Petrobras is always increasing the level of inspections. You see all those different inspections. Obviously, the base case, the PIDF one on the bottom, the PIDF two, the riser, PIDF three, the very shallow to the facility where we most need shallow diving there to complete the scope. We do have shallow diving today, and we are going to have a shallow diving on this next contract. You can see the level and the quality of inspections that are in our pricing list. It's always increasing. It's always becoming more high spec.
That's the track record that allows us to beat our competitors. They all know how to do this job. Our main competitors in Brazil, they know how to do this job. They have vessels. This is a service contract. You need to be able to perform and deliver, and you need to be able to learn and use the learning and move forward, right? That's the base of it, you know, and be able to manage well and make money out of that. You can see PIDF one, two, three, only ROV. The PIDF we have now already included the dive and all this inspection. Where you see blank inspections here, they were not there. They have been increased, right? They have been to the extent that look at the new contract that we signed, okay?
We have all the old inspection plus the new ones, and every new inspection, there is a new rate. That's where we try to really make money, right, on the new rate that is difficult for our competitors to understand how long they would take to make in one of these inspections. We are, with the track record, in a better position to figure that out. That's where we are competitive. This inspection here, you see, you have one inspection class here that is only diving, right? IDBS, bell mouse inspection. Inspeção de boca de sino, right, in Portuguese, which is the bell mouse on the FPSUs where the risers get in. They need to inspect that bell mouse facility, that bell mouse equipment to be sure that it is standing, it is not corroded. Sometimes we even do some repairs, and only diving can do that, right?
These are in the new contracts. This is a summary, you know, what is the PIDF. We cover three basins, you know, Campos Basin, Santos Basin, and the Espírito Santos Basin. If we transit a lot, we don't make money, right? We need to reduce the transit to a minimum. We don't make money transiting, nor going to port. We make money doing inspections, right? That's why this is all a contract managing excellence capacity, really. You need to be very talented. The project team that we have created, I think I have one of the best project teams for this, you know, in the market, is a $400 million to deliver, you know, on lump sum basis unit rates and make money. If you do something wrong, you lose money, but we are not allowed to do anything wrong with this. This covers all the three areas.
It's already deep water, right? You can see, you know, how this thing has progressed. PIDF one, the number of inspections, you know, the kilometers, the vessel days, the technical reports, the contract values continue increasing. I was here in 2023 doing exactly this when we have just signed this, just signed this contract that could be up to $300 million. We are in $280 million already, right? We'll get close to $300 million with this additional amendment. This is the new one. So far, we have, you know, practically in terms of inspections, you can see subsea inspection there. We are over 7,000 inspections. This is not only inspect. You need to inspect, you need to clean, you need to show that that particular equipment, pipeline, whatever, it sounds, right? That's Petrobras' obligation towards ANP to demonstrate, you know, the assurance of their facilities and continue producing, right?
All this job is done also with the fleet, the long-term fleet. The difference is that Petrobras cannot get the same performance on the long-term fleet compared to the performance that we deliver here on the service contract. Why? Because there, they manage our vessels. We do what they tell us to do. Here, we do what we decide to do, right? We try to be much more cost-effective and cost-efficient here. This is the new contract, $380 million+ ongoing for the next three years. You guys have this, right? This is the business plan of Petrobras. I'm not going to spend much time on this. You know what we have new here? You know the new Tier-1 player, OCs, showing up in Brazil in addition to Subsea 7 and TechnipFMC. They have already been awarded Búzios 10, right? Here, right? They didn't start this yet.
You know, it has two more years to go. Here, they have not been awarded yet, but they have the lowest price. That's Atapu 2. Sépia 2 is now underbid. That's why we look very closely to these first tiers because they are really our clients. We work for them with our subsidiaries. They need us, right? This is the decommission. Always, you guys know this. This is the decommissioning plan current from Petrobras. It's a massive scope of work. Obviously, you guys know decommission has a tendency to go much slower than planned, right? This always moves to the right. It is a must. This will never stop. This will always increase and increase. That's why we look into this as a buffer to complete the scopes that we have, principally if we have availability of vessels, right?
This is just what the oil companies look, just a picture of what they are doing. Bacalhau, Equinor. It's not only Petrobras, right? Raia with Equinor, all the SURFs. You see the SURF contractors here, right? We are giving a look into this. Maromba with BW. I just told you guys, signed a contract with BW last week in order to use the Salvador for two months. That's for Golfinho. We are looking into that if we could do something here. This is Shell that after so many years, Shell looks like it's really, you know, going forward. I think we'll go forward with Gato do Mato. I think FPSO has already been awarded to MODEC and the SURF to Technip, right? Trident is something, this we'll be looking very close to it. The SURF for Trident, this is shallow water. We can do this with I-classes.
I cannot say much because, you know, this will be competitive. Hopefully, you know, we'll be able to submit a good price if we have the vessel available. Otherwise, we pass. Decommissioning, we bid this. We think, you know, we had the best technical proposal for this with an I-class with the Involver that's in Brazil. We were not first. We were second, right? Very close. If this thing does not go forward with the current, you know, contractor that should be awarded, but you know, who knows? We'll be sitting and waiting. If they are awarded, fine. If they don't, we go back, right? These are our people. I think I need to tell you guys, I mean, our agent and our team in Brazil, you know, they are first class. You know, to mobilize all these vessels, I mean, how you are going to crew all these vessels?
They are Brazilian flag. All Brazilian crew, Marine Brazilian crew, you know, ROV crew, survey crew, one after the other, 14, right? We need a lot of crew. In order to have all this in the market, we have been expanding a lot, all our training programs, a lot. We are producing these people, most of them in-house. To the extent that besides, you know, survey and besides ROVs, we are trying to see how can we train people also on the Marine crew, right? Principally when talking about electricians, right? We can train them, not necessarily we depend on the Navy, right? Basically when we say the tuition programs, you know, those are the entities that we support. Most of them are free of these entities. They are supported by Norway, right? Caramba, you know, Bola Prafrenti.
You know, this lady here, this young lady here, you know, she's working on the engine room. She's one of those, you know, poor kids that have been part of these associations that we support. She's now a very active, you know, officer on board of our vessel. It's just an example that, you know, we do contribute with the social programs. We invest a lot in trainings and innovation. That gives you a picture of what we do, right? Inclusion, obviously. As I told before, in terms of diversity, women, you know, we are leading the group and we expect to continue. Outlook, this is one of the last because we want this to be what you have in mind, right? Outlook DOF Brazil, all-time record adding 2005. It will be difficult to beat the record of this year.
Majority of the local fleet booked to the end of the decade. Workforce growing, training programs expanding. Continuous high-tender activity, Petrobras today with IOC, local operators, first-year contractors. The oil and gas market is still continuously very healthy and promising for the mid-long-term future. This is the long-term future, right? That's why we are going for new builds. We're talking about here, you know, Ecuador margin just coming, you know, south of Guyana, where Marco is going to talk about it. That's the high expectation for the next 10, 15, 20 years. Current tenders, Petrobras has this decommissioned EPRD. We are looking into this to participate. There is another sales bid. This is target to replace the wayfarer of ACOFs, but, you know, it's a bid. Let's see. This is a new build. We have been working for one year on this.
This is the fourth new build, you know, of Petrobras, right? PSVs, OSRVs, RSVs, and now AHTS, right? Initially, that spec was practically prohibitive because, you know, everybody has classified those AHTS new builds of Petrobras. They're nice to have. They want it. Everybody called them monsters, right? We have to build two monsters. We are not going to build two monsters. The fab yards cannot build two monsters. Why are we going to build them? How can we be competitive? One. Second, how can you beat Brazil? Third, how you can put a price that then Petrobras is going to contract? That thing over there initially would cost above $300 million each. During the last six months, not only us, but the whole community of potential contractors have been working on for Petrobras to change the spec, the requirement. They just did it just a month ago.
Now they are really, you know, attractive. Let's put it that way. They are Skandi Amazonas-like plus, right? Now we are interested to look at this new build. This bid is going, it's due at the end of this month. It's going to be postponed to November, perhaps end of November, so we have time to look at it. This is what I was talking about, Trident. Petrobras set to what's in the market today. Obviously, the first tiers are asking us bit to bit. We are supporting them, right? A lot of other tenders that we do not participate. We are not in this business. We are not in that business, only shallow diving, right? We are not in the work-to-work. That's a very short contract yet. We don't have nor time nor vessels nor people to dedicate to this. I mean, we're not interested. That's about it.
Great. Thank you, Mario. We'll do a Q&A here as well before we have a short break. Focus here in the audience.
Assuming that the RSV tender is successful, who will build them?
Yes. We have consulted all the fab yards in Brazil. We have received four proposals. Out of these four proposals, we did assess each one very carefully on the economics, on the capability, on the track record, on the current status of those shipyards in Brazil, which is complicated, right, in order to decide where to go with. We have decided to go for the tender with Navship in Santa Catarina, Navegantes. Navship is the Chouest group. We say, okay, Chouest is going to build four for them and four for you. If we close the contract, that's what is the intention. It really gives us confidence. If probably Chouest, it's just a particular comment, if they had probably won the six OSRVs in addition to the six PSVs, they probably would be in a situation with yard capacity, you know, for the RSVs, right?
Having not been awarded six OSRVs, obviously created a good spot, a good slot there, not only for their four, but also for our four, right?
Thank you. On the RSV and potentially also the anchor handling new builds, could you say a little bit about the economics there? I guess you won't disclose details, but.
We're still negotiating.
If we start off with what you have on the Sea Dragon, vessels that are currently a charter back new build, where you have already disclosed the EBITDA payback of something like seven to seven and a half years, do you consider that as attractive economics or do you have different requirements?
Let's put it this way. I mean, you know, because if to compare, you know, things, you know, with Brazil and then, you know, with Canada and the new build for Canada. We need to work with what we have in our hands available. BNDES, for example, where is this money coming from? FMM, right? Fundo de Marinha Mercante. We have already accessed Fundo de Marinha Mercante prior to bid in order to have the priority to access the money, right, from Fundo de Marinha Mercante. You go to the agent that's really going to do the finance out of the funds from the FMM. That, in principle, is BNDES, right? Different from what we have in the past, that BNDES would not limit, you know, the period that they would finance. We could consider 20 years. Today, BNDES is not financing more than the firm period of the contract.
We are limited to pay BNDES, which is about 70%- 80% of the whole investment in 12 years. We have an equity, obviously, that's up to us. How do we pay the equity? Most of the financing we have to pay in 12 years. Our economics consider that, I can assure you, right? You're telling me, are you paying the boat in 12 years? Nope. We're not paying the boat in 12 years. I cannot tell you in how many years we're paying the boat. We are paying BNDES in 12 years.
Great. Thank you. Another question on the L-class. Is there a chance that you will run into the same issue as you did with Mercury and Jupiter? Perhaps you can explain the difference between international flag and REB and what's required for the REB tonnage.
Yeah. I mean, we have international vessels in Brazil. Today, the Geoholm is on foreign flag, right? The Skandi Carla is on foreign flag. Every year, they are on our contract. They are not with Petrobras long-term. We take care of their circularization. We take care every year that you have to renew their authorization to operate. It's the CAA of ANTAQ. Every year, right? You have to circularize. If there are Brazilian flag vessels that are similar or can block them, they have the precedence. We are in that business because we have Brazilian flag vessels. We block a lot, right? Not only that. We have the foreign flag vessels and we need to avoid them to be blocked, right? There are certain strategies in order to do that, but they have a certain exposure. Stril Explorer is just a common RSV. You guys know the Stril Explorer.
Stril Explorer has been working in Brazil now for over three years with foreign flag. Every year that we circularize the Stril Explorer, Stril Explorer is blocked by any RSV Brazilian flag that is available. We need to overcome that blocking, right? This is something that, let's put it this way, we have a leverage, you know, potential because we have foreign flags, we have Brazilian flags, right? We are blocking our competitors. The same way they block us, we block them. At a certain moment, even if they are so much so attractive to them that they need to go blocking. Otherwise, we find a way to resolve that out of Antaq. In order to have that leverage, you need to have the cards. What are the cards? The Brazilian flag. We have the tonnage. Why are we rebbing Lifter, Logger, Geoholm, and Carla?
Four vessels are being rebbed because those are Brazilian flag tenders. We still had enough tonnage available so we could REB them, right? Once they are REB-ed, they run no danger at all, right? They are Brazilian flag on REB, they operate. The Jupiter and Mercury, when we did the tender last year, obviously we know the market very well. We know all the vessels that could disturb us, all the vessels that could be available, all the vessels that could have a chance to block them based on the regulatory rules at that time, right? Our decision was, okay, these vessels cannot be blocked, not with this spec of contract, not with this ball and pool, not with this scope of the contract. That's why we decided to go with foreign flag. Also, because the vessels are not ours, so the vessels that are not ours, you guys understand.
I mean, it's not the same thing, right? The chances that they could be blocked based on the regulatory that was in place and had been in place for years, they would not be blocked. There was this change that I was talking to you about early in June that allowed a partial blocking capacity or a scope in the contract. That's a big mess. We spent time in Brazil with ANTAQ and all the directors of ANTAQ and trying to tell them what a hell of a mess they have created, right? With an RSV, I can block a PLSV. With an AHTS, with ROV, I block a subsea vessel and the opposite. It's going to be a bloody mess, right? With this partial blocking. Partial blocking has always been there, time-wise. You don't need to block the whole year.
If you have six months, you block only those six months. The blocking business became, the blocking procedures became so hot, but so hot in 2015 and 2016 because Petrobras had so many contracts, foreign flags, and they had to reduce their, they had to reduce their fleet, right? And strongly reduce their fleet. They started with the foreign flag. Everybody became blocking experts. How much tonnage, how much you can play with, as better leverage you have to deal with the market and assure that your vessels can still operate with foreign flag, right? I don't know if I responded. As you want to be sure that you have no blocking exposure in Brazil, put a Brazilian flag on the vessel or make a Brazilian build. When you put a REB flag with a Brazilian flag, you know that becomes a Brazilian vessel. It's a full, 100% Brazilian crew.
With the foreign flag, you still need the crew to keep the flag, right? That was one of the arguments I can tell you guys that we played against with ANTAQ level because sometimes these people, they, I'm sorry, they go on a so different level, right, that they say, wow, a foreign flag, AHTS, a crew of 23, 25, 20, all foreigners, right? A big vessel, a bigger vessel, it's going to sue foreign flag. You know, foreigners, not really. We have to fully listen, out of the crew, foreign crew, we obviously keep that to a minimum. That's obviously, it's a cost implication thing. You pick an AHTS, Skandi Jupiter, you know, 23 crew. Crew is just an AHTS without ROV. Captain, Chief, Electrician, that's it. Foreign. All the rest, Brazilians.
Dear ANTAQ, dear Directors, what you are looking for, Brazilian content here, I mean, you know, we basically, if you don't allow me this vessel to work, you know, out of each vessel, 23, less 3, 20, 20 Brazilian crew are losing their job. Multiply by two, right? Two shifts, 40. I just don't know. We need this vessel. We need this crew. We need these Brazilians to work, even on a foreign flag.
Thank you.
Anything else?
Nope.
No, that's it for now. We do a 12-minute break. We'll be back at 1:45 P.M. Grab some coffee, drink.
Hello everybody. I'm Marco Sclocchi. I'm the EVP for North America, one of the four regions of DOF Subsea , or the fourth region of DOF Subsea because we were established in 2013. North America, at a glance, we've been a growing region from now 20 years that we are established. We operate in the U.S., Canada, Guyana. We have a project in Suriname, Trinidad, and occasionally Mexico. After the acquisition of Maersk, we expand our fleet now to 14 boats. We were the first region operating Jones Act or chartering third-party boats, especially to comply with the Jones Act requirement. We have new incoming vessels in Canada in 2027, as you all know about it. In terms of backlog, our long-term backlog is most in Canada with the Maersk vessels and the Skandi Vinland.
We still have a good backlog in Guyana, but now, after we were awarded in 2022, a three-year contract by Exxon, the three years now is coming to an expiration, and the contract now they're going year-by-year extension. We're calling that a year-by-year backlog in Guyana. While in the U.S., Trinidad, and Mexico, we really play the project market. We're not concerned of a long-term backlog. Of course, we would like to have a long-term backlog, but the U.S. market has not been a typical long-term contract for IMR boats. We have to play how the market rules, the rules of the market. We've been growing our footprint. Pretty much, we work for every single client that is currently in the Gulf of Mexico. We maintain a frame agreement or MSA, you know, Master Service Agreement, so we can be called with a seven, you know, three days' notice.
We've been able to keep the boat busy. The Guyana, you know, we have two FSV, three with the Skandi Nomad. We're also playing some activity in the mooring, SURF, the commissioning. We see a market into the light well intervention coming. There was recently a publication about where the market is evolving. It's evolving in small- type BECs and is evolving in light well intervention. Why? Because, for example, in the Gulf of Mexico, you know, there are 50 existing deepwater facilities. Like, you know, we talked about the SURF before. The main tier work contractors are too busy. They have a backlog that now goes into 2029 and they don't have a capability. The operators are looking at how we can keep the production flowing. They needed to replace productions.
Of course, now a capital project is $2 million- $7 billion, but they needed to keep the oil flowing. There is a lot of effort in figuring out how to bring new wells into the existing facility, even alpha mile wells, right, that they can give him the 10,000 barrels-15 ,000 barrels a day extras. From an organizational standpoint, we've been growing both in engineering and ROV services and delivering projects to our clients. I've been there from 2009, coming from another larger company. Even if they know us, you know, they know that DOF has beautiful vessels, very capable vessels. There was this lack of experience into the project. It took a while to convince the client that we can deliver an integrated project. DOF Subsea in North America was established in 2005 with the acquisition of Century Subsea. Until 2010, we played more pretty much a survey role.
In 2010, we were awarded the first two contracts, one in Canada for ConocoPhillips and one in India for an emergency work with the right well control at the time. From there, we take off. We become the region that was occasionally winning projects using the vessel from the North Sea when the market in the North Sea got tight. In 2013, we physically established the region and we started to hire long-term Johns. We started to hire long-term Jones Act vessels that really opened the market for us to the local IMR and activity. We had a long-term contract with Chevron and a long-term contract with Freeport-McMoRan that took us up to 2016, in which we not just deliver vessel days, but also fabricate jumpers and do a lot of other activity for them, really supporting their field development.
In 2017, we were awarded the 10-year contract for the Skandi in 2016. We were awarded the contract that we delivered the boat in July 2017, which was our first long-term contract, first FSV long-term contract on 10 years. In 2022-2023, we were awarded the three-year contract for Exxon in Guyana to support their subsea infrastructure in the Stabroek block. In the meantime, we've been working in Mexico. We've been working in Trinidad from 2019 and also in Guyana from 2019. With the acquisition of Maersk in 2024, we increased the scale of the vessel capacity, especially in Canada, where again, you know, there was an already existing contract. We also took in February 2025 the advantage of having the Skandi Implementer and the Skandi Nomad in Guyana.
We will show a little more about what we did with the Skandi Implementer in the Gulf of Mexico after the termination of the contract in Mexico. In March 2025, we delivered two boats in Canada, the Mover and the Mariner, bringing the total vessel to 13. We still operate in third-party vessels. We still operate in the Chloe Candy Jones Act boat. Next year, we will have the Cade Candies, anotherJones Act boat, 150 ton that we already signed two years ago. We have that for two years. In terms of fleet development and profitability, you can see how the fleet in North America has increased year after year, clearly with the starting with the Jones Act boat and the 10-year contract in 2016 for Cenovus. Then we had the Skandi Constructor, the Avila Phoenix, going for ExxonMobil in Guyana.
That was our first, honestly, it was our second project for ExxonMobil, but it was the first FSV project that we have on long-term contract with them. Like I mentioned, the contract, they added the vessels in Canada with the Skandi Implementer and the other boat already existing in the contract in Canada. In terms of financial development, the revenue grew from $150 million to roughly $280 million. Now we are pretty much equivalent to the other regions. Of course, we're talking DOF Subsea. We're not talking the DOF , the entire group, right? We're talking what just from the DOF Subsea side we're doing as a fourth region. Started in 2013. It took us pretty much 10 years to come to the same levels of the other regions. Like I mentioned, we work for pretty much every single operator that is into desire.
From a regional market and dynamics, again, I listed all the countries where we work. Honestly, it's important because when you say North America, people think the U.S. Really, U.S. for us is probably 30% of the revenue generating. The revenue comes from Guyana, Canada, Trinidad, and occasionally from Mexico and Suriname. We're pretty diversified. We play in all the market. Clearly, that quarter is in Houston. Canada is a big office, pretty much independent, even if it reports to Houston. Talking about America, again, we always play into the Jones Act market from 2013 because there is a need, there is a demand for compliance with what is the Jones Act . We've been very successful, again, from 2013 to keep vessels on long-term charter from American suppliers and the delivery project with them. Like I mentioned, there is a lot of infrastructure already existing.
The next phase that we see, you know, there are still always two or three capital projects every year, right? OBP, we started to develop a project in the Gulf of Mexico, Shell, and then you have the small independent like a log. There is a big focus in keeping the production growing or maintaining the existing production, 1.6 million barrels per day, you know, the Gulf of Mexico produce. There is, you know, interest from the operators to develop a subsea back. In Canada, you know, the story is waiting for Equinor Bay du Nord project. You know, it was, it started, it stopped, restarted, it stopped. I can say DOF is probably the largest vessel operator in Canada at the moment, you know, thanks to the acquisition of the Maersk fleet. We work for every single operator there.
We have two, one, two or four boats with them, Cenovus, ExxonMobil, and Suncor. In Guyana, fantastic story in Guyana, right? ExxonMobil now delivered the fourth field development with the targeting on 900,000 barrels a day. They're expecting to, they have three projects in development, another four projects planning. When we talk to ExxonMobil, you know, their target is, you know, they're already planning a 2032 activity. You know, we have another seven years of activity, even if our contracts now are on year-to-year renewal. We just installed the 100th well and they're targeting 300 wells by 2030. The problem of Guyana is one operator. You have a single client like it was Petrobras, you know, a few years ago. Personally, I do not see new operators coming into the specific market. The good thing is that both Trinidad and Suriname are really growing. One because need gas.
The LNG terminal in Trinidad is less than 60%, roughly 60% capacity. There is a big demand for replacing the gas. In Trinidad, you see Shell, BP, and EOG, you know, the existing supplier there, you know, the existing operators there developing small, both the capital project and also subsea type BECs. We have a boat just transiting right now to Trinidad to support Shell. Of course, the new frontier, how TotalEnergies called Suriname, you know, the new frontier will be the next big project for them. We deliver in 2028, roughly 30 wells. We already work for them. Clearly, the job is with Saipem, but there is opportunity for taking the lesson learned from Guyana and growing into Suriname. Mexico has been in trouble for the last two or three years.
We have a boat in Mexico until the end of this year, working through contractors at the end of the day for Pemex. Pemex decided that they don't want to pay anymore. They want a six-month payment terms. At the end of the day, we pull out the boat. A new government came into power, and they physically are selectively open for business. They're changing a lot of how they want to bring a vessel in. They give more power to the Navy. Let's say it's more official, right? It's more, probably more clear. They really want to bring international business into Mexico. That is the message that we receive. Woodside is the first deporter project, also scheduled for 2028.
We just awarded a small project for them that will take a vessel into Mexico before the end of the year, we hope, or potentially in the first part of the year. Again, very small. At least we established ourselves with Woodside. There is still any other independent that they have a lot of production, for what they consider any 80,000 barrels a day, just from one field. They for sure demand, requiring services. We're not established in Mexico or in Suriname or in Trinidad. We just go on a project-by-project basis. Pretty much, we are, I don't want to say daily, but almost daily in talk with the operators into this region.
We have also to touch renewable, that even if clearly the message is that the current administration wants to shut down as much as they can the development of floating wind, offshore wind, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Considering the limitation of the Jones Act tonnage available, because again, nobody built boats from 2013, there is a lot of potential for service contract in the East Coast. I will say that, even if the U.S. administration is against the wind, the local market, the local governor, New York, California, stuff like that, they're still pushing their own agenda as much as they can, which is good. One of the things that I always like to say is that our ambition is to be a solution provider to the operator, both for marine and subsea services.
We like it when the client calls us and says, "Hey, we have a problem. We need help to resolve, you know, whatever is, you know, their requirement offshore." Canada is becoming an important area for DOF Group ASA, like we mentioned. We have now a large, a very large fleet in East Canada, like I said, operating for all the current operators. We also already work for Equinor when they were doing drilling. Just two M-classes are being mobilized on a three-year contract in Canada, one in May and one in the middle of April. We just extended the contract for the Skandi Cutter, which has just come out of dry dock. We'll show you a picture of it. We have the new delivery boat in 2027 that will start a 15-year contract for the West White Rose field.
One other thing that we have been successful in Canada is engineering and planning for Cenovus. Pretty much two years ago, we were able to replace Technip FMC on the engineering and management contract for all the RMIR activities. Now in Canada, we have roughly 20 engineers, and 75% of them, they just work for Cenovus. They work for DOF Group ASA, but they pretty much take care of all the activity that Cenovus has to run offshore. In Guyana, like I mentioned, we've been in Guyana now from 2019, first supporting Saipem and then supporting ExxonMobil. We had three permanent boats now, and occasionally we have the fourth boat, the Skandi Skansen, here supporting SBM into the installation of the third FSO. That occasionally comes and goes.
The other advantage of Guyana is that having a contract in Guyana, we have the possibility to do call out of in Trinidad or vice versa. If we have a vessel in Trinidad, we have the possibility to support Guyana on a call out project. In Guyana, again, starting from November 2022, right now we achieve roughly 5.3 million man-hours with zero SDI. Like I said, we have three vessels. So far, we already installed 158 subsea hardware. That is trees, jumpers, flying leads. Everything that ExxonMobil needs to install after the post for soil, which is with Saipem. Saipem roughly installs 50% of the subsea hardware to deliver for soil. DOF Group ASA is installing everything else with the two 250-ton crane boats that we have there.
We are also being successfully called for some special projects, you know, like a flushing, jumper removal, umbilical replacement, gas to shore project. That today, they are worth roughly $3 million in extra services above what we are doing regularly for ExxonMobil on the call out. We also now perform all the subsea pipeline online inspection and photometry for ExxonMobil on the three fields, which is an activity that has to be repeated after, you know, every two years due to some movement of the pipeline. When we started the contract, you know, ExxonMobil has two contract strategies: EPCI, Saipem, and Time Charter, right? I take a boat and I tell you what to do. It's not what's happening with us because when we arrive in Trinidad, they realize that they have a lack of engineering capacity and management capacity.
Pretty much now they are assigning us project tasks, you know, like they do for, you know, Equinor here in Norway, right? They give us a specific task and we deliver them a full engineering solution. We provide intervention and the dock tooling and also specialize survey. We have expanded our services in Guyana to just provide boats and ROVs. In terms of deporter mooring and lookup, you know, we want to remind that, again, even if we don't have an assigned anchor handler to the region, we always have been successfully able to secure good projects in North America, bringing the boat from Europe most of the time during the winter, right? We take advantage of a slow market in the North Sea and bring the boat across.
Pretty much almost every year, we were able to bring the Skansen, adding value to the fleet, you know, because, again, the market in the North Sea, you know, for anchor handler, you know, it could be a little depressing. We've been able to deliver projects in North America. This is a picture of the current Skansen in Trinidad, mobilizing for a job in Guyana right now. We just departed two days ago. This was the project of the Elogue Salamanca in 2025 that it was completed in July. The Skandi Implementer, you know, like for the Skandi Inventor, we were tasked at the last second to what we do with these vessels after the Mexican decided to don't pay the vessel. Mons pull, the boat out of Mexico, the boat was in, like I said, in Mexico.
We have to do a small stop in the Bahamas for some maintenance. We have to, you know, again, figure out how to replace this long-term charter that it was in Mexico for another year, right? April 2026. We have to mobilize, plan, and mobilize ROV and survey pretty much almost on the day. We have to fly the ROV to Trinidad, mobilize the ROV to Trinidad. There is a lot of, you know, stuff that is going on because, again, there is, you know, with the American administration, there is import and export control. It was a logistic nightmare. It was a logistic nightmare to mobilize these two ROVs coming from Norway. We have umbilical coming from Trinidad. We have a large or other umbilical coming from the U.S. I think we booked five different flights to move the ROVs into the Bahamas.
We were able to mobilize these two ROVs and secure immediately a contract with ExxonMobil for the Marshall & Madison decommissioning. That was a, you know, a large scope of work for what, you know, for what usually we do. That included hot tapping, so pretty much drill into the pipeline to be able to flush the line. Flushing the line and after that, recovering a subsea jumper and other subsea structure, clearly free of oil, right? That was the task. That was a 60-day job in which, with the two ROVs that we mobilized in the Bahamas, and we tested in transit from the Bahamas to Port Aransas. Five days transit. We tested the ROV across the Gulf of Mexico down to 3,000 m because that is what the ROV rated. We were able to achieve the job with only two days of not performing time, call it downtime.
After that, again, this is a beautiful boat, right? The ROVs are top of the class. We were able to secure two projects with BP. This project, they really need, especially the subsea manifold, they really need a 400-ton crane. It was a nice premium rate for the boat because, again, there is a market, right? 100 ton to 150 tons, 250 tons, and 400 tons, right? I don't want to say you can ask what you want. You need always to negotiate, but it's a totally different market when you provide a 400-ton crane, or for the crane or for the deck space. We were able to install two manifolds and two subsea jumpers in two separate campaigns, roughly 30 days of work with a maximum lift of 260 ton in 2,000 m. We kept the boat busy with Eni, and now the work is working for Talos.
There have been another couple of projects between. Pretty much, we've been able to keep the boat consistently busy, right? We didn't have much of downtime. Of course, between projects, you can have a couple of days, right, to change crew or fix a few stuff. Again, Mons is happy, so I'm happy. This is a Q&A. I know this is a picture of the Skandi Cutter. The boat just extended for three years after Dry Dock. This is the second Maersk supply boat now in the red color. The I mplementer will be, we have one boat in Dry Dock at the moment, right? We will have the Implementer in December. No, sorry. Late September, going also to Dry Dock, already planned. It will be the first of the 400-ton crane boat with the red color.
We believe we will keep the boat busy for, you know, we cannot say too much about pending contract, but we believe we will keep busy the boat until the end of the year and then see what we're doing with that. That's it.
One question from the webcast, which is, do you see potential for further growth in Canada or is the market sort of at capacity in terms of vessels there?
I don't think there is a potential growth for vessels in Canada at the moment. Cenovus, like Suncor, of course, they need to maintain production. I don't want to say problem, but you know, everybody has IMR task to perform. Two years ago, we did a very interesting project for Cenovus doing a partial of the mooring replacement. We know now they're talking about doing some umbilical replacement, doing other projects that they can, which we are doing engineering, right, because we are the Cenovus engineering firm, if you want. There is that type of potential. Like I said, Canada is waiting for Bay du Nord.
Good. All right. We move on to the next section, which is Martin, please.
Thank you. Yeah. Now we're going to see how these operations, commercial achievements, and good execution turn into numbers. I would say for the last, yeah, even for the long run, it's looking very good, yeah, both on revenue, EBITDA, of course, now better than ever, partly due to an increased fleet, but also a lot due to the increased capacity, capabilities, and project activity within the group. Driven further development in earnings without major investments outside of the Maersk acquisition. Also, of course, there is a restructuring in this lower graph, but it's also good to see continuous deleveraging both on a gross level, but also on a net level, but also on a gross level. Of course, in here, there is a big acquisition of 22 large modern vessels with $500 million in additional debt. Yeah.
An important point as well is the ability to have stable margins through cycles. We think that's going to continue. Just, yeah, very recently, we did a $150 million senior secured bond loan. Very good process, very well received. Yeah, pricing almost where we wanted it to. Very happy with that. The reason why we did it, I would say it's threefold. It is refinancing a near-term maturity for January of next year. It's a small international tranche left in Nordskan after the restructuring. It is, call it, an ordinary course of business. These contracts Mario talked about in Brazil require a little bit of mobilization cost and CapEx that this helps resolve. It is also because we want to be in the bond market. We think it is a value to be present. It helps us reduce the average repayment profile on the debt.
It's, yeah, it's not a big portion of our capital structure today. Of course, we want to keep the opportunity open for it to become a larger portion of that at a later stage. This is the maturity profiles of the debt in DOF. This is on, call it, including the JV and everything. This was the only near-term balloon in the maturity profile. Total balance was $77 million. The balloon was $70 million out of that for January of next year. Now there are, yeah, you see the change here. Now it's a flat repayment profile for the next four or five years until the big refinance facility comes due in 2030. Of course, there will be a bond loan as well then due in the same year. This is, yeah, it's the same level of repayment that we've done this year.
$200 million is a big amount for a company with increasing earnings and EBITDA levels. It is reducing the debt quite substantially. It is very comfortable for us to do it. We mentioned, or Marco mentioned the Sea Dragon, the vessel, which is, let's call it a special project because it's kind of a free fleet renewal. You do a 15-year contract on a vessel that is fully repaid in a much shorter time period than those 15 years. What we have worked on and is working on doing is financing this project. We put it in an SPV in our Canadian operations. We financed that SPV with 100% of the new build cost in the U.S. private placement market. The only thing we have, we have to operate the vessel and we'll get dividends. That is what our, call it, exposure to this vessel for those 15 years.
No equity used on this when the vessel is in operation. No guarantee, no recourse to DOF Group ASA. Now it is, with this, it is in fact, call it a free fleet renewal. This, of course, you would have liked us to put numbers on this. We're not doing that at this point. It is an illustration that shows, of course, we mentioned a lot of the contracts. We mentioned the HSDSs in Brazil. We mentioned the RSVs in Brazil. We mentioned a few of the pipelayer contracts commencing. We have a few CSVs commencing. It is, of course, an all-else equal analysis. It is important to say it's not to scale. It's not a 30%, 40% increase that the graph is showing. We are pretty comfortable saying that 2026 is an uplift from 2025.
The alternating factor for 2026 is whether the spot vessels, the projects, and so on are delivering more or less than in 2025. Of course, as you heard from the speakers before me, we are pretty positive to that market. Backlog. Mons looked at the backlog and showed how, call it, a bigger portion of next or this year's revenue that is in the backlog. Of course, backlog also turns into cash flow. We wanted to show also a bit of an illustration, of course, but we are showing how much of mandatory debt service and maintenance CapEx that you need to do in each year. You see, it's rough numbers. Let's call it $200 million amortization, $100 million interest, and $100 million maintenance CapEx. It gives us a level around $400 million that we have to pay each and every year to keep the business going.
The percentage is showing how much margin you would need to have on the backlog to, or yeah, how big a percentage of the backlog is in that number. We see for the years to come that it's already at a very comfortable level. Of course, we foresee that there will be good returns also on the equity for DOF holders. This is, again, we're not guiding for 2026 and onwards, but we have pretty clearly stated that we have a dividend policy and it is linked to the leverage of the group. We have said that we are going to stay between 1.5x and 2x, and that increased visibility puts us in the upper end of that range. We've also clearly stated that what we see now is a good visibility.
We have said that we are looking to stay or go at the upper end of that range as long as the visibility is at the current level. What we are illustrating here is that the relatively rapid deleveraging, and this is using earnings EBITDA from on the, call it, current levels, on guided levels for 2025. We are reducing leverage pretty quickly, giving opportunity and room to increase dividends. Included in this analysis is the debt amortization according to schedule. It is the maintenance CapEx already referred to, and it is the dividend payment on the current level. This represents the possibility to increase it all else equal, of course. I guess this is partly saying the same, but of course, we have said that we have an ambition to have a stable and increasing dividend level.
I think, of course, it's up to the board to decide and to give dividends at each and every quarter, but these are the factors that contribute to doing those, taking those decisions. I would say now we have strong visibility through backlog. We have a clear path to increase the earnings in the near term. We have resolved the near-term maturities on the debt side. We are at the deleveraging path where we thought we would be and are looking to be below the guided range of 1.5x or in the, yeah, within the range of 1.5x- 2x at the year-end this year based on Q2 balance and full-year guidance. Mons, you want to do the wrap-up?
Yeah, you can do it if you want. Yeah.
Yeah, I've done it before, so see if you are better than me on doing it.
That is a challenge, yeah.
No, I think today's sunset is up pretty well. I think DOF Group ASA has a different and better position than a lot of our competitors due to the one-stop shop integrated services on our own fleet. We have shown that historically we have managed to have less volatility in earnings due to both the operational model and the access to clients. I think our global reach, of course, it doesn't come for free. We have Brazil 25 years, U.S. 20 years, Australia 20 years. We've spent a lot of time and money building that organization that today is yielding returns. I don't think I would, yeah, it's not come for free, but today we can utilize that full setup without any incremental investment, giving a very good return on capital because the capital is only the vessels. Apply more people, skills, and knowledge, and make more money.
We have a large backlog. It is one of the key strengths of DOF Group ASA, always has been. The backlog is with very, very good clients. We have historically always could rely on the backlog. I think it is key to our strategy to keep visibility, to avoid short-term fluctuations in activity through having as much backlog as possible. I just mentioned the clear path to increase earnings, two contracts that are yet to commence that is already entered into. Of course, reducing leverage day by day, installment by installment, and quarter- by- quarter with the earnings levels that we have today. I also think it is an ambition to us, and it's been clearly communicated an ambition to have a sustainable shareholder returns. I think we have gotten off to a good start, and that development in that area is to be positive. That leaves us with questions.
Yeah, the final Q&A round. Of course, from the audience as well, but we have a few from the webcast. First one goes to you, Mons, and that relates to the CSV new builds that are coming in from a year ahead and beyond, many without contracts. Are you starting to get offers to rent those at attractive terms, or do you see any opportunities here?
I don't think we have got any offers at attractive terms. I think, you know, we have had some questions whether we would be interested. I have not seen what I would say is attractive terms yet. Of course, it's difficult. It goes to, and that's a problem with new builders. They, of course, it's the long lead time. They deliver in 2027 and 2028. Of course, it's difficult to take a decision on charter boat in two, three years from now. I think those guys, at least in the subsea segments, will have to wait a while before they find backlog for them. Yeah.
Thank you. Lucas now at Arctic. You said you were short vessels for next year. How many and what vessel types?
The short vessel, you saw, of course, we are short vessel in some segments, and especially in that, let's say, medium CSV segment. Yeah. Of course, we can sort, of course, if we, especially with the two, three boats in Brazil so far. We have a few other deals in the pipeline that might increase the need for boats. It can be sold. We have ability on, you know, our own fleet is either the very big 400-ton crane boat we will not use on these jobs, or it's on our anchor handlers. Yeah. It might be that we send an anchor handler to serve the PRDF because that gives a lot of spot market opportunities, or it might be that we have to source third-party boats for it. Yeah. We haven't decided on that.
Okay. Just thinking about the dividend, a year ago, you announced it on the Capital Markets Day. You flagged it that it was coming in May this year, so eight months ahead. You made it clear that it was $0.30, not $30 error. Now you have better visibility, I guess. You have a higher backlog. How should we think about what are the decision criteria besides the math that you are showing on the slide, staying within the leverage range?
I guess the driving factor is, of course, that is the one and a half to two and that upper end if you have a good backlog. That is what drives it. Of course, it's not Martin or me that decides the dividend. It's for two. What to say, I guess, is that we'd be very surprised if there is not an increase in dividend in two quarters, three, that we can say, I guess.
The potential Brazilian new builds that are sort of being negotiated or discussed, have you sort of a ballpark number, what kind of a CapEx commitment that would represent?
Yeah, of course, you heard Mario. Of course, we are talking hopefully close to 80% year- on- year. I think we said on the Q2 call that this will have no impact on the cash flow in 2025 or 2026 and 2027. The deliveries start in late 2029 into 2030. It's a very minor installment to the yards before that. It will have no impact on, and I guess that's the question, if it impacts on the dividend capacity. Not in 2025, not in 2026, and not in 2027.
Okay. The new contracts, the long-term contracts that you are sort of signing in Brazil, how protected are you in terms of Petrobras trying to get out or trying to reduce their CapEx budget, etc.?
Because, you know, I guess all of our contracts in Brazil are with either Brazil flag or REB flag. There is no risk of blocking. I guess the best answer is through our 25 years in Brazil, we have never had any termination or any serious renegotiation rate levels on boats on contracts. I think that is the best answer. I think it is, you know, if there are four-year contracts, there are four-year contracts. We are, of course, Petrobras was perhaps the best client we had through the whole downturn.
Okay. Thank you.
I have two questions, if I may. The first one is the illustrative chart on the EBITDA is useful, and we do see that a lot of the EBITDA improvement is coming from the shipping segment. During the Q2 call, you say that some of the rates were up by 30%. If you had to quantify maybe the kind of average fleet, the rate increase for 2026 versus 2025, can you provide a kind of gross number? The second one, do not take it as a bad, but 2025 has been exceptional in terms of order intake, notably with Brazil. You mentioned that it was even better than your expectation, probably more than $2 billion of orders. How should we think about the 2026 commercial pipeline? Is there any country that can, in a way, offset a miss in Brazil?
Because probably the activity level here in terms of tendering pipeline will go down. Just to try to understand what could be the commercial performance of DOF Group ASA in 2026 versus 2025.
The last, of course, it's, you know, for the vessel, of course, it goes a bit in cycles when they come available. Yeah. Of course, it's always, like Mario mentioned, it might be a discussion on the pipelayers next year that could be for the extension of the tree that has new contracts, or it could be something on the tree that doesn't have new contracts. You know, it is, so then you really have to sit down and see what boats come available when and when you expect to. To repeat, the 2024 order intake will be a tough ride. There are, as I see it now, and what is that, you know, I'm eager to tell you stuff that I can't tell you because, you know, it's not only the one we have shown you where we see there are opportunities. No. So. It's
been a lot of tough years and still, you know, you feel almost like you are walking on water because everything you want and a bit more comes your way. Of course, that will stop sooner or later. It goes in waves, but I think, you know, with 70 boats, you will see a continuous order intake, short term and long term. Of course, to do 14, 15 contracts on two tenders at the same time, that is not often you do. You just have to see when the boat comes available. Of course, then we can do deals on third-party boats as well. It's difficult to say what kind of order intake you will have in 2026. I'm saying if it goes according to what we expect, there will be more nice announcements for DOF Group ASA in the remainder of 2025. You agree, Dag Raymond?
What was the first you had?
I can provide a quote number on what can be the implied derating decrease on 2026 versus 2025 on the background.
Yeah, I guess that is very difficult since there's so many different vessel classes and service elements and all that. I think the best answer is that you saw, of course, the uplift in second quarter this year compared to second quarter last year. We had on the legacy fleet, not the DOF Denmark fleet, we had, was it 30% more?
Yeah, 35% more.
Yeah. Of course, you saw the five-anchors in Brazil were 38% more. Mario commented at PLSV's starting hour that was up quite a bit and so on. We don't have an average figure. It also goes to depend on the mix of services in the backlog. The story Martin showed, I guess we didn't have numbers in it, but of course, it is substantial. I guess you analysts, of course, you have, what is the average analyst estimate for next year then? Eight, 34?
Thirty-something, yeah.
Hi, Erik Aspen Fossa, SB1 Markets. Mario, I have a question for you. Petrobras, at least how they communicate to the market after the OpEx plus have come down a little bit, kind of changed a little bit towards being more focused on cost. You can maybe also link that to the change in how they attend the rigs now. I'm wondering if you've seen any change in behavior from Petrobras towards you and the market that you operate in.
Change? Can you further?
In terms of they're a lot more focused, at least how they communicate externally to the market, they're a lot more focused on cost cutting, cost improving efficiencies, trying to save as much as they can to kind of offset the lower oil price to continue to pay our dividends. I'm just wondering if you've seen any change in behavior because of that and how they kind of potential future tender processes with them or how they collaborate with you.
I think, you know, these latest tenders compared to last year you saw, right? It demonstrates that Petrobras, you know, for their future, they need to guarantee the fleet. You know, whether it is the PLSV fleet, I mean, the entire fleet, you know, contract a long term. They cannot afford to lose that. This has been going on now for, I would say, a few years. They continue to be sure that they keep the fleet and they increase the fleet. A problem that, you know, we had or Petrobras had in the previous AHTS tender when we saw those five PLSVs contracted. One vessel, and that was in 2022, one vessel that was not given to Petrobras at that time was this guy in the Amazonas, right? Why? Because Amazonas and Iguaçu are the same boat, basically. Both of them were offered with ROV, right?
The Amazonas had not an ROV already installed, so we had to mobilize an ROV. We were very happy, you know, to fix this kind of Iguaçu with the ROV already existing, but we needed more money to compensate the ROV on the Amazonas, right? I think the difference, Mons, at that time was a couple of dollars, right? Petrobras could not pay us a couple of dollars more in order to fix the Amazonas. The question was, do we give the Amazonas or we don't give the Amazonas, we play the market? We decided to play the market. Petrobras was, you know, that Petrobras, you know, in every tender, they fixed their budget, right? You never know what their budget is. When you negotiated, you know, they are not allowed to go above the budget. This was a particular case.
For $2,000, they could not, you know, contract the Amazonas, and they were very, very, you know, pissed off, right? You know, for not taking the Amazonas for $2,000. It was a big question to us. I mean, let's give the Amazonas, but really, we need to make more money because we were spending more money. We decided to play the market. We did good playing the market. That means what? They have set their targets, you know, budgets too low, right? That difference from that timing to last year and this year is that they really increased their budget. They had a flexibility to really play the market and be able to secure the vessels. All right? When you say that they are, you know, whatever, limiting cost or whatever, I think what comes first in their strategy is to be able to secure, you know, the vessels.
I think I can tell you that. I mean, we never thought we would give this kind of Carla to long term to Petrobras. Never. They offered us a rate that we just could not pass. I mean, what to do? The Carla was there. When they gave us the rate, we were not believing. That means what? They really need to have that amount of vessels to guarantee continuity. How many AHTSs were contracted? We got seven, right? The number is 15, huh? Altogether, 15 AHTSs contracted. We seven, and then CBO five, and Solstad, I think, three or four, right? RSVs, how many? We are providing eight, right? Seven, eight. There are 20 contracted. That's why we didn't manage to put the Carla. We never expect, if you ask me, you know, I would have a PIDF contract to deliver and try to make money and perform.
We were happy to let the Carla on the PIDF. From the time those guys come in and offer $20,000 above what is the average, how can you pass, right? What that means, they really, you know, Petrobras is tough, you know very well, right? They really must make an effort in order to contract for the lowest, you know, rate ever. They really put threats on you. You need to be, you need, I would say you need to run a certain level of risk if you want to get, you know, the better rates. When you are at that level that you are trying to negotiate the rate, you can really just go just above what they want and think they are going to give you and then they cannot. It's pretty much a good feeling that you need to have in order to get the better rates.
What I can see, you know, they have been trying to flexibilize, you know, the budgets that they have. They could not, you know, avoid to give contracts because, you know, their limit budget is too low. This is the experience from this latest, you know, rounds of contracts. I don't know if I answered you. Yeah.
You're clearly deleveraging quite a lot, or you are going to going forward, and that might also require some more debt to be put into the structure. How do you see demand from banks currently, and are you having, or do you expect to have discussions with the banks or potentially flattening out the amortization profile of the term loan?
Yeah, I think that's a really good question because the flip side is, of course, from reducing deleveraging is either taking up more debt or not repaying the one that you have. I think we maintain all options open with regards to that. It's certainly not a bad solution to discuss with your current lenders whether you could reduce the amortization profile on the existing debt. I also feel that we are in a good market with regards to obtaining new bank debt on vessels. Of course, we have most of the vessels within the big facility, but there are also a few outside of it.
You said on the Q2 call that you see the project pipeline for next year shaping up similar to what you saw this year, which I think was a key comment on the Q2 call. Could you add some more color on what regions where you see a lot of requirements or where there are other regions that are more muted?
I guess the guys are here. The only one who is not here is Apex. He just won a one-year contract for one of the other classes. He has shown that there is a need for them going. That boat is going to Chevron now for a year run. You know, and I think, you know, perhaps the guys can answer themselves why I am positive that we will get a good backlog for the projects in 2026. Start with you now, Marco.
There is a lot of tendering ongoing and a lot of interest, like I said, from operators to, you know, secure other contractors for different jobs. This could be, you know, a $5 million job or a $50 million job. There is a lot of activity, tendering activity ongoing that gives us confidence. I cannot win everything, but.
No, I share Mario's view on it. I think all the years building up to our level is bearing fruit. We see that on tendering, but we also see that on the niche segments in construction. We see that there is a different tendency to come to DOF Group ASA. We see that on the IMA side. We see that basically on the decommissioning, which is, of course, in the North Sea, is a very mature market. We see 10 years of a very strong decommissioning market ahead. Mons Aase alluded to getting ready for renewables. Cables is part of that too. In just the last two years, we have executed three cable repair projects, and we have been making solid money on that, equal to oil and gas as well. So yeah.
The three I class are available. They're very attractive vessels in the market because we can cover a lot of tasks, you know, with the deck and the crane, which we didn't have before November 2024.
I mean, my last question, do you see any opportunities or are you discussing to potentially do some more investments in your vessels? Could you put a crane on more of the anchor handlers? Could you, are you even debating to put VLS on some of the big CSVs?
No, of course, I guess we didn't mention that earlier in the presentation that, of course, we have had, you know, we put a crane on the Hero. Of course, Constant Herkules all have had it forever. Yeah. The Hero has been a great success where we have, of course, I think I already said, you know, that high-grading anchor and fleet, we are looking into perhaps a crane on one or two of the M classes as well. That makes it more attractive in the mooring space. Of course, we also, I guess, on the Hero, we have used for survey and fire arm and all type of work. You get much more versatile on the boat. Of course, on VLS, it's, yeah, of course, we are asking ourselves the same questions that you are asking us. I guess that's the answer. Of course, we are looking into that.
It could be, you know, but I'm not saying that that is a tougher decision than to put a crane on an anchor. That's, but it's a relevant question.
All right. We wrap up. Thank you guys for the presentation. Thanks to everyone who participated here and on the webcast and for your questions. A round of applause for the presenting team.