Norway's Reach Subsea has struck a deal to keep a P&O Maritime Logistics subsea ship in its fleet on a "pay-as-you-go" deal.
The Oslo-listed company has revised a charter agreement for the 98-loa multifunctional support ship Topaz Tiamat (built 2019).
Reach will operate the unit until demobilisation in December.
The Norwegian subsea company had originally chartered the vessel for a firm period lasting until August 2021.
As a result of the new agreement, Reach said its total assets will fall by NOK 90m ($9.8m).
But the move will also result in a small accounting gain due the deconsolidation of the ship from its books.
P&O Maritime will stick to the original agreement to buy the remote operated vehicle (ROV) launch and recovery system that Reach has installed on the vessel. This will cost NOK 25m.
Financial position improved
Reach chief executive Jostein Alendal said: "We have had a great co-operation with P&O Maritime Logistics and have together successfully introduced a new state of the art subsea vessel to the market, which from next year will move on to a new assignment in another part of the world.
"With this new charter agreement in place, we have made a substantial improvement to our financial robustness and cost position for the upcoming winter season."
But the deal means it has to find a replacement vessel to house the two ROVs currently on Topaz Tiamat for 2021 and beyond.
Arendal said: "We believe this is a good time for finding a competitive vessel replacement for the coming years."
Reach announced record second quarter profit in August.
The company said net earnings to 30 June were NOK 27.55m, from NOK 3.92m in the same period of 2019.
This came despite "challenging market and operating conditions, driven by high utilisation and successful project execution", Reach added.
The operator made a breakthrough in the US offshore wind market, winning Equinor's major survey contract for a lease area offshore New England together with cooperation partner MMT of Sweden.
