Singaporean company to build shipyard in Azerbaijan

On Nov. 20, in Baku a memorandum of understanding was signed on the construction and operation of the shipbuilding yard by the Singaporean Keppel Offshore & Marine Company. The plant will be built near the Baku Deep Water Jacket Plant named after Heydar Aliyev of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan).

Under the new concept, the plant is envisaged to be constructed on the basis of already existing infrastructure, so the cost of the project declined as compared to the initial estimates. According to the preliminary feasibility study, the plant's construction totaled nearly $400 million (excluding the cost of construction of the port), but recent estimates will vary between $300-350 million (excluding VAT).

30 percent of project funding will be provided at the expense of SOCAR and the remaining funds will be attracted from external sources.

According to the Minister of Economic Development Shahin Mustafayev, the plant will be put into operation within 2-2.5 years after the start of construction, which is scheduled for late 2009 - early 2010. The new plant will be equipped with technology to meet modern standards, the Minister said.

The plant will be able to provide ships for both Caspian Sea Oil Fleet and border services, the Ministry of Defense and other companies and entities operating in Azerbaijan, said the Minister.

The shipyard will be an addition to the project of building a new oil terminal and port in Garadagh district of Azerbaijan. This terminal will transport Kazakh oil for onward transit through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

It is supposed that there will not be analogue of this plant in the region and the orders to build ships will be accepted both from the country and abroad.

Currently SOCAR owns Caspian Oil Fleet possessing 250 vessels. All these vessels are involved in supporting marine operations of SOCAR. In addition, the vessels of the fleet are involved in marine operations of the foreign companies working inside and outside Azerbaijani section of the Capitan Sea. Insignificant number of vessels is possessed by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, State border Service.

The vessels transporting cargos and passengers in Caspian are owned by the Caspian State Shipping Company. Today the transport fleet of the Shipping Company includes 85 vessels, with 40 tanker fleet (including 1 water carrier), 35 dry cargo fleet, 10 subsidiary vessels. The fleet also includes universal vessels Po-Po, as well as marine railway-passenger ferries.

/Trend Capital/