Singapore Corporate News - 3 Oct 2007

SembCorp Marine unit in Brazil joint venture

JURONG Shipyard, a subsidiary of SembCorp Marine, the world's second largest builder of offshore rigs, has agreed in principle to a joint venture to own and operate Brazil's largest shipyard.

The details of the joint venture with Sao Paulo-based WTorre, which involves the building of a greenfield facility, are being worked out. But already the proposed yard, construction of which began in November last year, is being leased out to Brazilian oil giant Petrobras for the next 10 years.

'The shipyard, when completed in 2008, will be the largest shipyard in the Southern Hemisphere and is ideally located in close proximity to cater to the potential offshore market in West Africa. Equipped with one of Brazil's largest newbuild drydocks, it is well-positioned to handle semi-submersible rigs, FPSO conversions and newbuild production semi-submersibles and topside modules. It will cater to the needs of Petrobras projects,' said SembMarine president and chief operating officer Wong Weng Sun.

Construction of the yard, located in the Southern Brazilian city of Rio Grande, is expected to be completed in June of next year. With an estimated total land area of 553,880 sq m, it will be equipped with a graving dock of 133 m x 350 m in size, with ancillary steel fabrication facilities.

The new drydock, to be fitted with a 600-ton gantry crane, will be the largest and the first purpose-built facility to be built in Brazil for three decades. It is capable of handling the construction and repair of semi-submersible units, including the largest production rigs, ship-shaped FPSOs and full-scale topside fabrication capacity.

WTorre, with more than 20 years experience in Brazilian real estate, has more than four million sq ft built and is considered one of the largest construction groups in corporate buildings.

Jurong Shipyard is in fact Petrobras' leading converter of vessels - nine, including the Petrobras 54, which had its hull converted in Jurong Shipyard, and is currently undergoing the final stages of topside commissioning in Brazil and will be delivered soon.