Offshore staff
BAKU -- Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd. (Keppel O&M) is teaming up with Azeri state oil company SOCAR and Azerbaijan Investment Co. (AIC) to develop a new 52-ha (128 acres) shipbuilding and ship-repair facility in Baku..
The SOCAR-Keppel Shipyard will be assembled over a two- to three-year period, for an outlay of $386 million. Following signing of the joint venture agreement, Keppel O&M will have a 10% interest in the yard and SOCAR and AIC respectively 65% and 25%.
Keppel O&M will be responsible for management and operation of the yard, and will have the option to boost its stake by a further 10% in the next three years.
The new yard will be designed for construction of vessels ranging from offshore support ships to tankers, as well as handling repair and conversion jobs.
Keppel claims that the new yard, with its strategic location along the East-West energy corridor of the Caspian Sea region, will help meet the growing needs of the local oil industry, as well as supporting the renewal of SOCAR’s vessel fleet.
The completed yard will feature a 1,630-m (5,348-ft) waterfront, and will be capable of handling 80-100 repairs and conversions per year, with an estimated average annual steel throughput of 25,000 tons (22,679 metric tons) when operating at full capacity.
“Through this new yard, we will be sharing our technology, know-how, and world-class operational standards in a sustainable way. It should also create employment opportunities for around 2,000 people," said a Keppel spokesman.
3/19/2010
