Hello, and welcome to the Subsea 7 Second Quarter 2020 results. Throughout the call, all participants will be in a listen-only mode, and afterwards, there will be a question-and-answer session. Just to remind you, this conference call is being recorded today. I am pleased to present John Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Ricardo Rosa, Chief Financial Officer, and Katherine Tonks, Investor Relations Director. Please go ahead with your meeting.
Welcome, everyone. With me on the call today are John Evans, our CEO and Ricardo Rosa, our CFO. The results press release is available to download on our website, along with the presentation slides that we'll be referring to on today's call. May I remind you that this call includes forward-looking statements that reflect our current views and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Similar wording is included in our press release. I'll now turn the call over to John.
Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. I'll start with the highlights from the second quarter before passing over to Ricardo to cover the financial results and an update on the cost reduction plan, and then I'll discuss our recent success in renewables. But first, on slide 4, a quick update on the market conditions as they've evolved over the last few months. Dealing with coronavirus remains a priority for our operations, and we now have well-established processes in place to reduce the risk of infection among our fleet and onshore bases. After the cases on board the Seven Sun in April, we've had no further significant outbreak, and we have continued to deliver projects to our clients.
We estimate that the virus has cost us approximately $30 million in the second quarter, and barring any further cases, we currently anticipate the impact to reduce in the remainder of the year. Since we last spoke, the price of Brent has increased over $40 a barrel, and visibility on our workload for the second half of this year has improved. However, we continue to discuss requests from clients to reschedule work, and there remains some uncertainty surrounding activities in the Middle East, where some of our projects have been on hold since COVID-19 restrictions were first imposed. The highlight of the second quarter was certainly renewables, where momentum continued despite the challenges presented by the macro environment. We'll discuss the recent awards and the outlook for this business later. Turning to slide 5 and our financial highlights for the second quarter.
Against the backdrop of low oil price, as well as the complexities of coronavirus, Subsea 7 continued to deliver on the elements within our control. Our activity levels in the first quarter remained subdued, with revenues roughly unchanged from the levels reported in the first quarter. Adjusted negative EBITDA was $9 million, including a restructuring charge of $104 million. Excluding this charge, adjusted EBITDA was $95 million. Thanks partly to active working capital management and tight control of operating and capital expenditure, we reported strong cash flow generation, and cash increased by $144 million since the first quarter. In addition to a strong balance sheet, access to liquidity was further enhanced this quarter with a two-year extension of our revolving credit facility, which remains undrawn.
We ended the first quarter with a solid backlog, and it continued to build in the second quarter. After some significant wins for SURF and conventional in the first quarter, renewables stole the limelight this quarter, with a record of $1.7 billion in new orders, boosting our backlog to $7 billion. Turning to slide 6 under operational highlights. In the second quarter, we were active in the Gulf of Mexico, commenced pipeline for Mad Dog 2 and the Manuel Project, which will use our electrical heat trace flowline technology. In Norway, Seven Arctic finished the installation of the final bundle at Snorre, and Seven Oceans commenced offshore operations on Johan Castberg. Whilst in the U.K., the Seven Borealis was busy installing the pipe-in-pipe system on the Arran field.
Excluding a three-week outage on the Seven Sun, while we changed crews after a COVID-19 outbreak, the utilization of the PLSVs was high in the quarter. The Life of Field business unit continued to work on its three long-term contracts in Azerbaijan, U.K., and Norway, and it also executed some IRM work in the Gulf of Mexico. The renewables business unit marked a milestone with our cable-lay vessel, Seaway Aimery, completing its first project in the U.S. off the coast of Virginia. Unfortunately, during the quarter, we had an incident on board the Seaway Strashnov on the Triton Knoll project in the U.K. The vessel is now back at work, and with the help of a third-party vessel, is making progress towards delivering the project on schedule.
Turning to slide 7, d espite the sharp reduction in tendering activity since March, Subsea 7 booked awards totaling $2 billion in the quarter, including some significant wins in renewables, as well as some smaller awards in SURF and conventional. Renewables booked a record $1.7 billion of new awards, taking its backlog to $2.2 billion or 31% of the total for the group. We're currently active on offshore wind projects in all the key arenas, including the U.K., Netherlands, Germany, the U.S., and Taiwan. In SURF and conventional, despite tough industry conditions, we announced four new awards in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.K., and Norway. The Hod contract was awarded after the announcement of, in Norway of a tax relief package, and it will see Subsea 7 continue its strong relationship with Aker BP.
Overall, within the $7 billion, our workload for execution for the remainder of 2020 is around $2.1 billion, while our backlog for work in 2021 rose 70% in the quarter to $3.4 billion. And now, I'll pass you over to Ricardo to run through the results in some more detail.
Thank you, John, and good afternoon, everyone. Slide 8 shows the highlights from our income statement. Group revenue in the second quarter was $754 million, down 21% from the prior year, but broadly in line with revenue recorded in the first quarter of 2020. Low levels of diving activity in the U.K. North Sea, as well as the absence of conventional work in Africa and the Middle East, which were features of the first quarter, continued throughout the second quarter. The rephasing of some contracts also contributed to the revenue decline. The adjusted negative EBITDA was $9 million, including a $104 million restructuring charge related to the implementation of our cost reduction program. Excluding the restructuring charge, adjusted EBITDA was $95 million, down 44% year- on- year.
Relatively low levels of vessel utilization for this time of year and costs associated with the incident on Seaway Strashnov contributed to the decline. In addition, we estimate that the operational and logistical challenges presented by COVID-19 adversely affected the quarter by approximately $30 million. Excluding the restructuring charge, the percentage margin for adjusted EBITDA was 12% for the quarter, compared to 18% in the same period last year, and three percentage points higher than the margin recorded in the first quarter. Reflecting the deterioration in market conditions and downward revisions to forecast activity levels, the group has recorded a $578 million charge to impair most of the goodwill remaining from the merger in 2011.
In addition, the quarter includes a $229 million impairment of property, plant, and equipment, and right-of-use assets, in both cases, mainly relating to vessels. The net loss was $922 million in the quarter, equivalent to a diluted loss per share of $3.06. Slide 9 provides additional details on the $104 million restructuring charge related to our cost reduction program, which I will update you on next. This charge is mainly related to the expected cost of reducing the workforce and excludes the impairment charges I highlighted previously. The charge has been recorded in the corporate segment and allocated between operating and administrative expenses as appropriate. Therefore, it does not impact the results shown for the individual operating business units. Turning to slide 10 and progress on our cost reduction program.
As announced in April, we are targeting an annualized cash cost saving of $400 million by the end of the second quarter of 2021. We are planning a net reduction in our fleet of up to 10 vessels, stacking owned vessels and releasing chartered tonnage. To date, we have returned two chartered vessels to their owners and stacked two of our own owned vessels. Our workforce will be reduced by up to 3,000 people, of which approximately 2,000 will be non-permanent employees and around 1,000 will be permanent employees. Employee consultation processes have commenced where appropriate.
Capital expenditure in 2020 is expected to fall in the range of $230 million to $250 million, including approximately $80 million on completing the construction of the Seven Vega, dry docking of vessels, and smaller investments in digitalization and technology. By 2021 and 2022, CapEx is to be kept at minimal levels, probably less than $130 million per year. Slide 11 shows a summary of the changes to the fleet to date, which will be updated each quarter. During the second quarter, Skandi Acergy and Paul Candies were released from their charters, and Seven Antares and Seven Inagha, both based in Nigeria, were stacked. The number of vessels in the active fleet thus fell from 32 vessels to 28.
We plan to release up to two more chartered vessels and stack up to five more owned vessels by the second quarter of 2021. Seven Vega is currently being commissioned and is due to enter the active fleet in the third quarter of this year. Slide 12 shows additional details of the income statement. Excluding the restructuring charge, administrative expenses improved by $7 million when compared to the first quarter, and $5 million against the prior year quarter, reflecting the implementation of our cost reduction plan. Depreciation and amortization decreased by $4 million since the first quarter, and $13 million compared to the prior year, reflecting the exit from the fleet of Seven Pelican and Seven Mar, the former recycled and the latter classified as an asset held for sale.
Included in the second quarter is an impairment of property, plant, and equipment of $212 million, and an impairment of right of use assets of $17 million, both mainly relating to vessels. Of the combined impact of $229 million, $195 million has been recognized in the SURF and Conventional business unit, while $14 million is recognized in the Life of Field business unit, and $20 million in corporate. Following this quarter's $578 million impairment charge, the goodwill balance is $106 million and relates solely to our Life of Field and Xodus businesses.
Despite the $938 million loss before taxes, the tax credit was only $17 million, reflecting the limited effective tax relief available on the impairment and restructuring charges recognized in the quarter. On slide 13, we summarize additional details of the underlying performance of the operating business units after excluding impairment charges. The SURF and conventional business unit generated $626 million of revenue in the second quarter, 25% lower than the previous year, mainly due to the low levels of diving activity in the U.K. North Sea, absence of conventional work in West Africa, reduced activity in the Middle East, and the rephasing of certain recent awards. Renewables and Heavy Lifting recorded $66 million of revenue, 35% higher than the same period last year, largely driven by activity on the Triton Knoll project.
Life of Field revenue in the quarter was broadly in line with last year at $62 million. SURF and Conventional's net operating income was $6 million, reflecting the factors previously highlighted, as well as the adverse impact of COVID-19 on activities, both onshore and offshore, which we estimated at approximately $30 million in the quarter. A net operating loss of $26 million was recorded for Renewables and Heavy Lifting, largely due to extra costs incurred by the Triton Knoll project as a consequence of the delays on the project and the incident on the Seaway Strashnov. Life of Field generated net operating income of $6 million in the quarter, a $9 million improvement on the prior year period, reflecting measures we have taken to rationalize activities and costs. Slide 14 shows our cash flow waterfall chart.
Despite challenges associated with COVID-19 and the market downturn, cash generated from operating activities in the quarter was $219 million, driven by favorable movements in both net operating assets and liabilities of $235 million. This movement was mainly due to very active management of our working capital, which included success in settling certain long-standing outstanding receivables. The improvement also reflected reduced working capital needs in the Middle East, in line with current low activity levels in that region, as well as increased liabilities arising from the restructuring charge. Our capital expenditure in the quarter was $33 million, $54 million less than the prior quarter, with reduced spend on Seven Vega, and we incurred $26 million in lease payments, mainly related to chartered vessels.
At the end of the quarter, we had $483 million in cash and cash equivalents, an improvement of $144 million from the first quarter. Our net debt position decreased by $225 million to just $30 million, with reductions in both borrowings and lease liabilities. As John mentioned, during the quarter, we extended the maturity of our $656 million revolving credit facility by two years to September 2023. It is currently undrawn, as is our Euro Commercial Paper program, which itself equates to approximately $740 million. To conclude, slide 15 gives an updated view of the full year.
In April this year, we withdrew our guidance for 2020 due to the high level of uncertainty regarding a number of factors that impact our business, including COVID-19, delayed FIDs, as well as the rephasing of existing contracts and award of new orders. Visibility for the remainder of this year is now improved, although significant uncertainty still remains, particularly regarding the potential impact of a new wave of COVID-19 cases on our operations and the macro environment in general. We expect 2020 revenue to be broadly in line with the level achieved in 2019. This includes the rescheduling of Sangomar, Barossa, and some Middle East activity, as well as relatively low levels of escalations and spot work. Adjusted EBITDA, excluding restructuring charges, is expected to be in line with current market expectations.
Our administrative expenses are expected to range between $230 million and $240 million, including restructuring charges of $14 million. Our net finance cost is expected to be between $15 million and $20 million, while depreciation and amortization expense is expected to range between $440 million and $460 million. Our tax charge for the year is anticipated to be in the range of $10 million to $30 million. As previously guided, capital expenditure in 2020 should be between $230 million and $250 million. I will now pass you back to John.
Thank you, Ricardo.
Now I'd like to return to a slide you've seen before on our strategy. Last quarter, we discussed in some detail our initiatives regarding the Subsea field of the future, and today, we will turn our attention to the renewables element of our strategy for the energy transition. Subsea 7, through its subsidiary, Seaway 7, have been involved in offshore wind business for more than a decade and has established a strong track record in installing both foundations and inter-array cables, as well as executing full EPCI contracts. To date, we've installed systems on wind farms generating three gigawatts, enough to power approximately three million homes, and we're currently working on projects totaling another 5 GW, enough to power a further five million homes.
In fact, installation contracts covering some 424 foundations and associated cables were awarded in the first half of 2020, and Subsea 7 won the contracts to install over two-thirds of these. Recent projects have spanned the globe from East Coast U.S. to Asia, but now let's look at a couple of case studies in Europe, starting with Seagreen on Slide 18. Seagreen was a major success for us this quarter, with an award totaling approximately $1.4 billion. It's our second EPCI contract for SSE, and we will again be managing the engineering, procurement, and installation of the balance of plant scope. This will cover 114 foundations and 330 km of inter-array cables, which will generate 1.1 GW of wind power.
We've already started work and should be complete on the engineering phase in around three months' time, with the bulk of the procurement to come in 2021 and the offshore phase mainly in 2022. It's interesting to note that Total has joined SSE as an equity partner on the Seagreen project. This is part of the energy transition of our existing oil and gas customers. On Slide 19, we have another of our recent successes, Hollandse Kust Zuid, for Vattenfall, one of the largest offshore wind developers in the world. Significantly, this will be the Netherlands's first subsidy-free project and will represent 1.5 GW of wind power. Our integrated contract includes installation and transportation of 140 monopile foundations and 325 km of inter-array cables.
It will be the first time we will use dynamic positioning during installation, a technique we transferred from oil and gas, and one that should save client time and increase cost efficiencies. Offshore wind is a high-growth market that offers Subsea 7 many opportunities for the future, and I know many of you have questions about it. With that in mind, in mid-September, we will host a half day of presentations and Q&A dedicated to this topic. You'll receive an invitation to this virtual event soon. On slide 20, we have a view of the outlook for awards in the coming 12 months. While tendering activity for oil and gas projects remains low, we see opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico and Norway. We're also seeing the first offshore carbon capture opportunity for Equinor on Northern Lights, another sign of the energy transition taking place.
In renewables, we're working on tenders in Europe, the U.S., and Asia. These are likely to be smaller contracts that diversify our backlog and allow us to continue to build on our credentials around the globe. To summarize, we'll turn to slide twenty-one. We finished the second quarter with strong cash generation and a very robust balance sheet, with excellent access to liquidity. Despite the prevailing conditions, order intake was high, and we have a solid backlog of work for execution this year and next. The outlook is mixed, with challenging conditions in the oil and gas market, while renewables have strong momentum that continues to build upon an enviable track record in offshore wind. Our cost reduction plan is on track and should ensure that we reduce capacity to mitigate the impact of the market downturn, while retaining core capabilities and the flexibility to adapt as the outlook develops.
Now, Ricardo and I will be happy to take your questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you do wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. If you wish to withdraw your question, you may do so by pressing the hashtag to cancel. Questions will be taken in order in which they are received. There will be a brief pause while questions are being registered. Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Haakon Amundsen from ABG. Please ask your question. Your line is now open.
Yes. Hello, guys, thank you. Two questions from me, please. First one, and I appreciate that you'll have a Q&A on the renewables segment in September, but I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on the synergies that you have, having this kind of growing in this growing business included in the Subsea 7 portfolio, rather than having it as a separate business. That's my first question. And the second question, just if you can give us an update on the discussions you have with Petrobras regarding the PLSV extensions. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I'll take both those questions. There is a definite synergy between the Subsea 7 oil and gas business and renewables, and particularly on the very large EPCI contracts. Seaway 7 runs itself as an installation contractor and totally targeted towards renewables. But when they take the very large contracts on, which needs a very large engineering, procurement, and expediting capability, that comes from Subsea 7. So we move staff backwards and forwards between the two divisions. We're very clear that we want to keep our energy transition business shown separately, just to allow how it progresses in the market to be clear to our investors. It's a market that's growing, it's a market that will adapt and will change, and it's one that we want to keep separate.
But we do move people primarily across and processes across, and in the past, we have used the Borealis, for example, to supplement on some of the lifting. In terms of the PLSVs, I think we mentioned at the last earnings call, Petrobras have their next five-year plan due to be issued to the market in August of this year. They tell us they're on schedule for that, and once that has been published, which will then give a better understanding of their future needs for PLSVs, they've told us that they will be continuing their engagement with us. So I would expect, hopefully in Q3, we should see some progress on that front.
Perfect. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Amy Wong from UBS. Please ask your question. Your line is now open.
Hi there. Good afternoon. A couple of questions from me. The first question is a bit of housekeeping, just related to the losses in renewables and heavy lift this quarter. I understand that some of it is related to the additional costs related to the incident. But can you give us some color on the amount of hit it took in this quarter, or help us understand if, you know, absent those costs, if the division would have turned a profit in this period? Thank you.
Thank you, Amy. I'm not going to give specific numbers, but just to sort of scale it for you. The renewables division, the Yudin, was idle during the quarter. She did a bit of work towards the end because she's working in Taiwan, so Taiwan is a bit spotty for work. It starts and it stops on short duration projects, but that's the first phase of development in Taiwan, and we felt strategic. It was important to have an asset in Taiwan there for that front. Secondly then, we took our cable-lay spreads from the U.S. and moved them into Taiwan, so they should be working in Taiwan in Q3. Lastly, then the impact on Triton Knoll. We had an incident.
It delayed the Triton Knoll by about three and a half weeks. But also, we have a tight environmental window on that project, where we cannot get access beyond the end of August. So we brought a third-party, subcontracted heavy lift vessel in to work in parallel with us. So we mobilized another vessel and put that to work. The two are working in parallel at the moment, and we're pretty confident we'll complete the project on time. So it has had an impact in terms of needing to bring another asset in, and there's some learning there for us from a process and procedure viewpoint that we're learning and taking into the main business.
So perhaps just a follow-up, like, you know, as you mentioned, there's a bit of a learning curve on these. Like, when you think about and bid for these projects, are these learnings kind of now, you know, being incorporated into your margin outlook for your portfolio of renewables business?
I think like all fixed price contractors, everything that we learn of every previous job, we try to take into our future outlooks. This was more about a lot of this work is very, very repetitive, and it's the discipline of checking, double-checking, triple-checking before something happens. The incident revolved around a final check on a lift not being complete. And when we thought all the pins had been retracted, one pin was still partially in place, and that had an impact. Again, renewables is a lot about discipline with a highly repetitive piece of activity, and I think that's slightly different from oil and gas. Oil and gas has quite a lot of unique activities.
So I think the learning for our industry is the care and attention, and real attention to detail that needs to take place, has to be done hundreds and hundreds of times in renewables. Whereas in oil and gas, it might be done half a dozen times during a set of activities. So there is learning, and we're taking that on board.
All right. That's very helpful, John. I'll turn over.
Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Kevin Roger from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please ask your question. Your line is now open.
Yeah, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. I'm sorry for that, gentlemen, but it will be once again focused on the renewables activities. Just to follow up the question of Amy, maybe it's a bit disappointing to see that this quarter, the renewable EBIT is once again negative. In your mindset, when should we expect to have this division, let's say, a bit positive, or another way, if we exclude the extra costs that you experienced because of the accident, would you have been a bit positive this quarter? And the second question is more long-term. You have been very successful recently looking at the fixed foundation, but we are more and more talking about the floating offshore wind solution.
What would be your position and strategy on that side, please?
Thank you. I think on renewables, we do expect that next year, we will be seeing a better result from that business. We've been made very clear, I think, in all our analysts and quarterly results, that it is a market with a lot of competition, a lot of people trying to find their feet in that business. And also a lot of intermittency between different parts of the world. So we've seen what was a Northwest European pretty steady business expand considerably with operations running in three different geographies at the same time. Next year, we'd have a bit more stability, we believe, with a lot of European works, so we expect a better performance from the business in 2021. In terms of floating wind, you are correct.
There's a lot of interest in floating wind, and we continue to be very interested in floating wind. And as you might be aware, you know, on Hywind Tampen for Equinor, we have been selected as the cable lay contractor there. So the next big floating wind project that physically goes into the water, we, once again, will be a contractor there working on that work. We have a small investment, in a French floating wind company, non-controlling, but we have, a floating wind investment again, which allows us then just to understand, the technology and what's going on in there. We don't control that business, but we have a small, share in it. So again, for us, we are keeping a very close eye on, that segment.
The important thing I think is though, that again, our clients are still telling us that the very vast bulk of work in the next two to three years is in the fixed wind arena, and that's where we're concentrating our near-term work on. But we do see floating wind coming into play, and, again, we'll be part of that when it arrives in the market.
Okay, thanks a lot for that. And just maybe to come back on the first question, if you adjust your performance this quarter for the accident that you experienced aboard, things like that, would you have been EBITA positive on the renewable division or still negative?
As I said to you, we had an idle time. One of our assets in Taiwan is not really representative of where we want that business to be in the longer term. Longer term, we need our assets to be working and geographically placed so that they're not moving around. So I think, as I said, I would expect to see 2021 being a more representative view of what that business will be in due course.
Okay, thanks a lot.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Sahar Islam from Goldman Sachs. Please ask your question. Your line is now open.
Thank you for taking my questions. Two from me, please. Firstly, could you give us a bit more color on the utilization you expect for the fleet in the second half, particularly for the larger global enablers? And then secondly, I mean, you've always done a great job on the cost savings. Are you starting to hear clients asking to get price deflation on any of the upcoming tenders to share in some of those savings o r do you think pricing is holding flat for new projects? Thanks.
Utilization, for us, it's you know, we're comfortable that we have a plan that balances our fleet with our utilization, in the second half of this year. The big assets are busy. The big pipe layers have work ahead of them. The Vega goes through to work, and she has work, well into 2021 and into 2022. So at the moment, we're pretty comfortable that we're cutting our costs accordingly, and we have the right fleet balance for where we want to be. On the cost saving, you know, we are seeing, you know, the market such that our clients are expecting those cost savings to be baked into their new, their new awards. We haven't seen that much awards as yet, in the new environment that we're in.
One thing I would say, though, is that the supply chain took quite a beating last time, and, you know, a number of players fell by the wayside. The ones that have stayed in the business, they are also making it very clear to us and to our ultimate clients that they need to make a reasonable return in the business. So again, I think it's gonna be very important here that we remember that, you know, cost savings are not easy to attain because COVID-19 has impacted our supply chain as much as it impacted us. We're also seeing, of course, that there is an ongoing cost, as we declared in this announcement here, about $30 million for us this quarter.
So again, I think clients are clear at the moment that they need to recognize that there won't be immediate huge cost savings in the industry.
Great, thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Vlad Osakovsky from Bank of America. Please ask your question. Your line is now open.
Yes, thank you for taking my questions, gentlemen. Just want to join with the recent award in wind farms, you are probably getting close to full utilization for your vessels in 2022 and perhaps 2023. Are there any signs that this wind farm installation market is starting to tighten a little bit and maybe potentially leading to some additional pricing power here? And then two housekeeping questions to Ricardo as well. First one, have you used any parallel labor support schemes in the U.K. or Norway in Q2? And if yes, then what was the impact on the P&L from those, if you can quantify it? And secondly, the big improvement in working capital in the first half came from the liability side. Was there any meaningful prepayments which assisted it during the first half?
What is your outlook for working capital dynamics in the second half of the year? Thank you very much.
So Vlad, I'll ask Ricardo to answer the financial questions first, then I'll come back to the wind.
Okay, good afternoon, Vlad. In answer to your first query regarding support for labor costs, I mean, we've indicated that in this last quarter, we had $30 million costs, COVID-related impact. I mean, that is net of any form of subsidy or assistance we may have received from the various governments. But I do want to emphasize that the amounts we're talking about are immaterial. We did have some people that were on furlough, for instance, in the U.K., and others who've been on short-term working. But the impact would not have significantly affected our results in the first half as well as the second quarter. With regards to working capital, I think two comments there.
First of all, yes, it's true that our liabilities increased quarter on quarter and since the start of the year, and part of that is attributable to the restructuring charge that we took, most of which is for liabilities that will crystallize in the second half of the year. But I think we also had some significant successes in reducing our receivables, and our receivables balance or other assets, net other operating assets, has come down significantly if you look at the notes to our financials. And that is a function of the efforts that we have been focused on collections, some settlement of long-standing receivables that we were successful in achieving. And we are hopeful that in the second half, we will continue that trend.
Vlad, to take your question on wind farm work, I think you're correct in saying that we have picked up a good quality backlog there in wind, which will mean our own assets will be utilized pretty heavily. We see good utilization on our wind farm assets, and as you might have seen in an announcement, we are bringing in Saipem subcontract, the installation activities on Seagreen, because we are busy with our own assets on Hollandse Kust Zuid. One thing I think we see in that business, and we've been part of it for a number of years, there's a lot of subcontracting in the wind business. We have subcontracted to Jan De Nul and DEME in the past, and they are subcontracting to us on Triton Knoll, DEME at the moment.
So there is a capability to bring five thousand ton lift cranes backwards and forwards, in the contracting arena there, far more than you see in the oil and gas space. There's a bit more uniformity of what the assets can do. So for us, at the moment, we'll continue to bid, in terms of capacity, until we feel comfortable that we've got a good quality backlog into 2021 and 2022. But there will be some elements of subcontracting there.
That's great. Thank you very much, gentlemen.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sasikanth Chilukuru from Morgan Stanley. Please ask your question. Your line is now open.
Hi, thanks for taking my question. I had two, please. The first was, again, going back to the renewables and just following up with the comment that you just made. I was just wondering whether Subsea 7 has the capability right now to handle another project of the size of the Seagreen in the near term, or whether you would want to expand the renewables business further before you pursue another contract as the size of Seagreen? The second question, I just wanted to talk regarding the COVID-19 impact.
If the cost impact that you had in the first half, for what you have seen in July, have things improved now materially and whether so far in this quarter, have you seen any impact related to COVID-19? Thanks.
Okay, t he first one, going back the way, we've always had a view that it would be useful for us to pick up one large EPCI contract of the size of Seagreen every two years. So we do not foresee another Seagreen coming in, and part of my prepared remarks said that the bids that we see in the future for us in renewables are smaller contracts, potentially integrated transport and installation of cables and foundations, but certainly not looking to take another Seagreen. The number of people and the amount of resources we need to handle those has a sort of finite size in which we can do those, and we wouldn't want to be taking too many of those.
But you need to remember the ability to install foundations and the ability to install cables. We have different capacities for those, and we will want to make sure that they are reasonably well utilized, with the good market that we have ahead of us. In terms of COVID-19, I think the answer to COVID-19 is we've seen it spread from east to west, and it's still a handful in the U.S., and still a handful in Brazil at the moment. So I don't particularly wanna talk about where we're at, because day by day, things change. We have protocols and systems for handling it. We have all our testing regimes and quarantine regimes in place, but all it needs is one case and one of our vessels, and then it all goes back the way.
So at the moment, I think it's too early to say that we're through it. You know, we'll give you by each quarter what's hit us, but we're reasonably comfortable that we have a method of handling it. Ricardo declares the costs each quarter of what it is. We have a way of measuring those costs so that we have a good understanding of where they're at. So I guess the takeaway is we can manage COVID, but it costs us some money.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Alsford from Citi. Please ask your question. Your line is now open.
Thank you. I'll actually turn it back to the oil and gas business, and just ask a little bit about the pipeline you see for Norway. It's one of the areas, as you mentioned in your prepared remarks, where there is a bit more momentum given the tax changes recently. And I just wondered if you could give a consensus as to what you see as the tendering pipeline for Norway activity over the next 12 months to 18 months, and perhaps, you know, with that, you know, where you see yourself differentiated. I'm thinking, you know, existing alliances, yeah, and/or, you know, technology offering that perhaps differentiates you relative to the peer group. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Michael. Well, first of all, I think Norway, along with the U.S., as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, are still areas where there's activity there. The tax break has certainly made a difference to our key clients in Norway. In my discussions with Equinor and Aker BP senior management, they're very clear that that was a very positive step the Norwegian government took. Equinor have a number of projects that they'd like to bring to market. And the good thing there is that, NOAKA, which is one of the huge field development projects, which has been sort of held up between a dispute between Equinor and Aker BP as to who should lead that, there now is agreement between the two players.
So we'd expect to see NOAKA out into the market, probably in two packages, an Equinor package and an Aker BP package. In terms of Aker BP, they have plans which they're now accelerating on a number of their projects to gain advantage of the tax break, and they also have their share of the south part of NOAKA coming into the market. Lastly, in Norway, I would like to say something I touched on very briefly. You know, Equinor have this project called Northern Lights, which takes the CO2 from a cement plant near Oslo, scrubs it using onshore scrubbing technology, and then a new onshore and offshore pipeline that takes the CO2 and sequestrates it in an old oil field offshore.
Again, for me, a very positive sign that this technology step change that has to happen with energy transition, companies like Equinor and Norway is creating the environment for the first pilot projects to take place. So we'll be bidding. That will hopefully before the end of this year. So overall, I think Equinor have a portfolio, Aker BP have a portfolio, and I did a performance review with the CEO of Wintershall a couple of weeks ago, and again, they're dusting off their prospects there as well. So again, I think it's very important that Norway has a plan ahead. So Norway, I think, will be different from other parts of the world. But also Gulf of Mexico, we're still seeing a lot of progress there. Chevron have their projects moving ahead.
People like Murphy are moving ahead on a number of their projects there as well, so we would expect to see some Gulf of Mexico opportunities come, hopefully, either back end of this year or early part of next year.
Okay. Thanks, John.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Nick Konstantakis from Exane. Please ask your question. Your line is now open.
Hi, guys. Just a quick one from me, actually. Given the vessels, the charter one that you're returning to the owners, when could we expect the lease payments to trend into 2H and into next year, please? Thank you.
Nick, good afternoon. I think what we can say about the charters is that the ones that are under consideration are charters that are not necessarily long term. We have no plans for early termination of those charters. We will be reviewing them in the light of activity in the coming months, and if there isn't activity to justify the continued commitment, we will not renew them. So we're not expecting any significant penalty charges to hit the financial statements. It'll be a gradual downward trend.
Sorry, I wasn't asking as much as that, as in, you know, if those come to the natural termination, where do their annual or quarterly lease payments get to , is what I'm trying to get to.
I think, you know, we don't disclose that information. That's relatively commercially sensitive. What you can do is have a look at our cash flows to get a sense of how much we disperse each quarter for all forms of lease. And I can say that the largest proportion of that is in relation to vessels.
Okay, excellent. Thank you.
Thank you. Our last question comes from the line of Erwan Kerouredan from RBC. Please ask your question. Your line is now open.
Hello. Thanks for taking my question. Two, please, first on renewables. So you mentioned on the platform that the strategy remains broadly unchanged, but given the current strength in the tendering market, could we expect a shift in CapEx mix in 2020 or further out to 2021 with further investments towards renewables? That's my first question, and the second question is on COVID. What are the odds of costs lingering in 2021? And you also indicated that the $30 million impact was roughly split to onshore, onto onshore and offshore. Is there any difference in impact in the foreseeable future on onshore and offshore, with potentially one recovering quicker than the other? These are my questions. Thank you.
Maybe Ricardo, you can cover the COVID-19.
I'll cover the COVID question. I just wanted to clarify the misapprehension there. I think the significant majority of COVID-related costs are incurred in relation to our offshore operations. I mean, to give you an example, in the second quarter, we quoted a net impact of about $30 million. A lot of that was in relation to, you know, vessels that were idle, for instance, such as the Seven Sun, which was held up in Brazil for a while, as well as the friction costs associated with crew changes, for instance, where we have to mobilize more people. They have to stay in for a period of quarantine in hotels. Arguably, those hotels are onshore costs, but they're related to our offshore operations.
So really, the bulk of the cost that we are incurring is in respect of our offshore operations. We include comments on onshore because there are marginal impacts, and we also benefit to a small extent from, you know, government subsidies and support. With regards to 2021, I go back to and refer you to the comments that John has made. Really, I mean, COVID remains one of those uncertainties going forward. You know, as probably as much as we do as to whether or not it'll linger on into 2021. We just tailor the way we approach our contracts and work with our clients to cater for that risk, and the impact it may have on our operation. And just taking your first question regarding investments in renewables.
I think our aim in the next few years is to minimize the amount of CapEx we do as a company. We've got a pretty young fleet in terms of what we do, but we are interested in looking at some of our own gas assets and seeing with some minor CapEx costs, whether or not we could put them to become more efficient in that renewable space. So it's not gonna be major grand gestures, but we might well be looking at could we increase our capacity in some of the areas in renewables to support?
Thank you. That's very helpful.
Thank you. We have no further questions at this time. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. Pleased that you could join us for our Q2. I appreciate all your questions, and we look forward to talking to you offline. We'll meet you again, hopefully on our Renewables Day in September, or if not, we'll talk to you again on our Q3 earnings. Thank you very much.
This now concludes your conference call today. Thank you all for attending. You may now disconnect your line. Thank you.