Swiber enters cooperation agreements with Petrovietnam

Swiber Holdings Limited
A niche service provider
to the offshore oil and gas industry
12 International Business Park
Cyberhub @ IBP, #04-01 to 04
Singapore 609920
Tel: (65) 6505 0800 Fax: (65) 6533 6448
www.swiber.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Information:
August Consulting
Tel: (65) 6733 8873 Fax: (65) 6733 9913
Giselle LAU – [email protected]
Lynn LI – [email protected]
Swiber enters cooperation agreements with Petrovietnam
Construction Joint Stock Company and Vietsovpetro Joint
Venture to tap oil and gas market in Vietnam
•
Partnership with the two state-linked companies will lead to creation of
new opportunities and extended market reach for Swiber
SINGAPORE – 26 September 2007 – Swiber Holdings Limited (“Swiber” or together
with its subsidiaries, the “Group”), an integrated offshore Engineering, Procurement,
Construction, Installation and Commission (“EPCIC”) contractor with a complementary
business in the supply of marine support vessels, today announced that it has entered into
broad cooperation agreements with two Vietnamese state-linked oil and gas companies Vietnam-listed Petrovietnam Construction Joint Stock Company (“PVC”) and
Vietsovpetro Joint Venture (“VSP”).
The non-exclusive cooperation agreement paves the way for Swiber, PVC and VSP to
jointly explore opportunities for exchanging information, cooperation, and technical
assistance in order to foster mutual development and strengthening of the parties’ position
in the oil and gas industry in Vietnam and overseas.
PVC is a subsidiary of the national oil and gas corporation, Vietnam Oil & Gas
Corporation (“PetroVietnam”). The latter, established in 1975, is a state-owned holding
company responsible for all the oil and gas resources in Vietnam. PetroVietnam’s
activities, through its various companies and wholly owned subsidiaries, covers the full
spectrum of oil and gas operations from oil and gas exploration and production to storage,
processing, transportation, distribution and services.
PVC was started in 1983 to create a niche business specializing in providing engineering
and construction activities for the oil and gas sector. With a staff strength of approximately
2,000, PVC designs and supplies steel structures, pipelines and process pipings, petroleum
storage products for onshore and offshore oil and gas projects.
VSP is a joint venture company established in 1981 between the governments of Vietnam
and the former Soviet Union. The company is involved in Exploration and Production
activities and has produced over 150 million tonnes of oil from its concessions in Vietnam.
In addition, VSP has a services arm that provides a wide range of offshore services in
support of its own and other Oil and Gas companies working in Vietnam. These services
consist of Drilling, Geophysics, Construction, Maintenance, Marine transport, and related
administrative divisions , which in total employ over 6,000 personnel.
The 3-year cooperation agreement will extend the reach of Swiber to Vietnam for the very
first time.
Mr Raymond Goh, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Swiber, expressing his
excitement over the partnership with the two state-linked companies, said, “We are very
pleased to be joining hands with PVC and VSP. Tapping on the support extended to them
by the Vietnam government, we believe that this partnership opens new market
opportunities for us, allowing us to benefit from the two parties’ strong reputation,
excellent track record and vast experience in the oil and gas industry in Vietnam. By
joining hands, we are able to combine resources to bid and execute oil and gas services
projects in Vietnam which we believe have tremendous growth potential. We consider this
as a landmark event in our efforts to build a presence in Vietnam.”
“This strategic collaboration is part of Swiber’s efforts to extend our reach to new markets.
The agreement has established the start of our strategic partnership with these two
Vietnamese companies and we believe this will set the stage for more future dealings to
Swiber enters broad cooperation agreement with two
state-linked companies to tap oil and gas market in Vietnam
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come. With the experience and track record of PVC and VSP, we are confident that they
can help establish Swiber’s presence in Vietnam,” added Mr Goh.
Just recently, on 14 September 2007, Swiber announced that it has signed a Memorandum
of Understanding with Rahaman Sendirian Berhad, to establish a 51:49 joint venture
company (“JV”), in Negara Brunei Darussalam1. Swiber will own 51% of the JV with
Rahaman holding the remaining 49% stake. The formation of this JV is a direct push to
expand Swiber’s presence in the Brunei market.
Swiber was listed on the Main Board of SGX-ST on 8 November 2006. For its second
quarter (“2Q 2007”) ended 30 June 2007, Swiber reported an outstanding set of financial
performance. The underlying buoyant market conditions for the offshore oil and gas
industry sent Swiber’s 2Q 2007 net profits soaring 700% to a record US$6.3 million, on
the back of an impressive 232% growth in revenue for the same quarter to US$25.4
million.
The Group expects continued growth going forward, supported by an outstanding order
book, including letters of intent, of US$218.7 million as at 30 June 2007.
About Swiber Holdings Limited
Established in 1996, Swiber is today an integrated offshore EPCIC contractor with in-house marine
support capabilities (Offshore Marine Support). Through the integration of these two core businesses,
we are able to provide customers with one-stop solutions for all the relevant stages of their offshore oil
and gas projects.
We offer a full suite of offshore EPCIC services which can be customised in accordance with the
requirements of our customers in the offshore oil and gas industry. Of significance, while we are
focused mainly on the development stage, our services are applicable to all stages in an offshore oil
and gas project, spanning exploration, development, production and post-production.
Swiber also operates a fleet of marine support vessels which are chartered to customers throughout
various stages in their offshore oil and gas exploration, development and production and postproduction projects. Currently, we own and/or operate a fleet of 20 vessels, comprising nine tug boats,
nine barges, one crane barge (Dalihao) and one jack up barge.
We serve a geographically diversified base of customers, having handled offshore EPCIC projects for
and provided offshore marine support services to customers based in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei,
1
Please refer to press release “Swiber in JV to expand O&G business in resource-rich Brunei”, dated 14
September 2007.
Swiber enters broad cooperation agreement with two
state-linked companies to tap oil and gas market in Vietnam
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Indonesia, Thailand, India, China, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. With our
subsidiaries strategically located in Singapore, Malaysia, India and Indonesia, Swiber is wellpositioned to tap into the further growth of the offshore oil and gas exploration, development and
production activities in the Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern regions.
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Swiber enters broad cooperation agreement with two
state-linked companies to tap oil and gas market in Vietnam
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