Cypriot floatel owner Prosafe has seen utilisation cut back in 2017.

The figure was 36.1% in the fourth quarter, against 43% a year ago.

For the whole year, the figure was 38.4%, down from 43%.

Safe Caledonia finished a Total contract in late October, and is now laid up in the UK.

Safe Concordia, Safe Zephyrus, Regalia, Safe Bristolia and Safe Astoria were idle in the quarter.

But Safe Zephyrus has a 12-month firm contract with Statoil lined up for May.

Prosafe has a standstill agreement with Cosco in place until 20 April over the delivery of two new floatels.

The company said it remained in talks over a commercial solution with the Cosco Qidong Offshore shipyard for Safe Nova and Safe Vega.

The standstill deal will now last until 20 April, 2018.

In addition, the Safe Eurus is in a preserved strategic stacking mode at the yard and negotiations continue with Cosco over this unit too.

If no agreement is reached, Prosafe has the right to claim cancellation of the newbuild contracts due to delay, and claim repayment of the instalments paid, including interest, of $60m in total, secured by a refund guarantee from Bank of China.