COSCO Signed Letter of Intent to Build further Two Sevan 650 Drilling Units

singapore exchange (“sgx”) mainboard﹣listed cosco corporation (singapore) limited, a leading ship repair, shipbuilding &﹔ marine engineering ａnd dry bulk shipping group, is pleased to announce that its 51％﹣owned cosco shipyard group (“csg”) had signed letter of intent (“lois”) with two wholly﹣owned subsidiaries of sevan marine asa (“sevan”) listed on oslo bø﹔rs ﹣ to exercise the options secured earlier to build two sevan 650 drilling units. separate agreements also provides further options for si more sevan platforms. sevan has made prepayment of usd 7 million to secure the steel materials procurement for the two units under the loi. formal agreement is expected to be signed at a later time.
the further two units will be fabricated at cosco nantong shipyard, which is currently building its first sevan 650 drilling unit contracted in march 2007 sevan marine has developed a cylinder shaped ﹣ sevan 650 drilling units, designed for operations in ultra deep water ａnd all ice﹣free areas including barents sea. the drilling units will be equipped with 10,000ft of riser storage, internal oil storage capacity up to 2 150,000 barrels of oil ａnd variable deck load of more than 15,000mt. the rigs are intended for deployment for ongc ａnd petrobras sa.
mr. ji hai sheng, vice chairman ａnd president of the company ａnd vice chairman of cosco shipyard group said, “these will be our second ａnd third projects ｆrom sevan after they contracted us to build the first ever cylindrical sevan 650 drilling unit last year. given the technically challenging cylindrical design of the sevan drilling rig, this loi is a further vote of confidence in our technical competence ａnd project management capabilities, ａnd paths the way for our further advances up the value chain to secure more high﹣value offshore marine engineering projects.”
none of the directors or controlling shareholders of the company has any interest, direct or indirect in the transaction.
the transaction is not expected to have a material impact on the net tangible assets (nta) ａnd earnings per share (eps) of the company for the year ending 31st december 2008.