Contract for Construction of Baku Shipyard Signed in Singapore

During the visit of SOCAR President to Singapore, the representatives of SOCAR, Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC) and Singapore's Keppel Offshore and Marine (KOM) have signed a contract on establishing a joint venture for construction of a new shipyard and repair plant in Baku. The contract on formation of Baku Shipyard Factory Ltd was signed by Mr. Rovnag Abdullayev, SOCAR President, Mr. Afgan Isayev, AIC Head and Mr. Tong Chong Heong, Keppel CEO. The event was also attended by Mr. Choo Chian, chief of Board of Directors, KOM. Under the contract, the shares in the venture would be as follows: SOCAR — 65%, AIC — 25%, and Keppel — 10%. Keppel has also acquired a right to increase its share by 10% in the coming three years.

The Memorandum of Understanding on the aforesaid project was signed at the end of 2009. On March 19, 2010, the President of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev laid the foundation for the new yard. The Singaporean delegation led by Mr. Georg Yeo, the country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs attended the event as well. Currently, the British Royal Haskoning Company and the Dutch TTC carry out the feasibility study of the plant. At the same time, the mobilization works are being conducted now at the construction site. Preliminary surveys for estimating the potential to fulfill construction works have already been carried out among the companies that potentially maybe invited to participate in the project and a final list of companies to take part in the tender has been prepared. The shipyard is planned to be launched in June 2013. The shipyard's capacity is 25,000 tons of metal constructions annually. The plant will manufacture four oil tankers with deadweight of 15,000 tons, and four marine maintenance or towing vessels annually. The main objective of the project is to construct all types of necessary vessels for the Caspian Sea basin.