The company’s offer is based on a “no cure, no fee” deal, transport minister Wee Ka Siong said after a meeting with the company’s chief executive officer, Oliver Plunkett, and representatives of the next of kin of MH370 victims at his office here.

Plunkett gave an update on the company’s latest advances in marine robotic technology and its capabilities compared to five years ago.

Wee said Plunkett stated Ocean Infinity’s readiness to resume the search for the missing MH370 aircraft. “Payment will be made only if the company finds the wreckage,” he said.

Wee said he had instructed transport ministry officers to obtain further information from Ocean Infinity for deliberations before consulting the governments of Australia and China.

The Malaysia Airlines aircraft with 239 people on board left for Beijing on flight MH370 on March 8, 2014 but vanished from the radar screen about two hours after departure.

Scientific calculations from satellite information suggested that the plane had been flown to the southern Indian Ocean and crashed off the coast of West Australia.

Large-scale search operations in the area have found no plane or wreckage. In 2018, Ocean Infinity offered to conduct a further underwater search on a no-fee basis. The search ended in June 2018 without finding the aircraft.