UAE-based Gulf Marine Services (GMS), a provider of self-propelled self-elevating support vessels (SESVs) serving the offshore oil, gas and renewable energy sectors, has been awarded a contract for one of its Small Class vessels.

GMS said on Tuesday that the new charter was for 12 months including options and was scheduled to begin shortly.

According to the company, the vessel will be supporting well intervention activities for a national oil company (NOC) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Duncan Anderson, CEO of GMS, said: “This new award, which follows last month's announcement of three long-term contracts, is further evidence of a continuing market recovery.

“The sustained higher oil price is having a positive impact in our sector, with increasing levels of maintenance and capex activity generating more contract opportunities for our vessels.”

As for the three deals from last month, GMS won 15 years' worth of contracts for three SESVs in the MENA region with an undisclosed national oil company.

The new charters were for one Small Class and two Mid-Size Class vessels and the contracts are expected to start Q4 2018/Q1 2019. The charter period for each of the three vessels is five years including options.