KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 18): Practice Note 17 (PN17) firm Barakah Offshore Petroleum Bhd (KL:BARAKAH) said it has received an offer from a potential buyer for its pipe-laying barge Kota Laksamana 101.

In a filing, Barakah said it received the "non-binding offer from an Indonesian firm via a private tender".

The oil and gas services group did not mention the offer price for the 12-year-old vessel.

"The company wishes to clarify further that discussions between the parties are preliminary and have not been finalised as at the date of this announcement," it said.

The Edge Malaysia, in its Sept 16 edition of The Edge Weekly, reported that Barakah is undergoing discussions for the potential sale at under US$10 million (RM43.5 million).

This is lower than its asking price of US$11.4 million as recently as March this year, the report said.

The lower selling price takes into consideration that the vessel is being targeted by potential buyers "more as a modified accommodation barge", the report said, quoting sources.

Barakah "is pushing hard for the sale to go through", the source was quoted as saying.

Barakah fell into PN17 status in March 2019 after defaulting in payments for the vessel to Exim Bank.

Kota Laksamana 101 is currently idle and laid up, according to the report.

In turn, Barakah's hook-up, commissioning and maintenance arm has been the revenue generator for the group, which was in the black for its fourth consecutive year but posted negatice operating cash flow in its latest financial year.

Shares of the group traded unchanged at 4.5 sen at noon market break, giving it a market capitalisation of RM45 million.