Sembcorp Marine says wholly-owned subsidiary Jurong Shipyard (JSPL) will be building a new shipyard in Brazil to cater directly to one of the fastest growing offshore oil and gas exploration and production markets in the world.

A freehold land area of 825,000 sqm (1.7 times larger than the land size of Jurong Shipyard’s Tanjong Kling location) with 1.6 km of coastline in the state of Espirito Santo in Brazil has been acquired and will be developed as a shipyard.

Located in the municipal of Aracruz, the site is about 80 km by road north of Vitoria, the capital of Espirito Santo state which is the second largest producer of oil in Brazil.

The site is strategically located close to the offshore Espirito Santo Basin, which is one of the recently discovered giant pre-salt oil basins of Brazil, making it an ideal location to support the country’s oil and gas activities.

Sembcorp Marine says it has started designing the new shipyard, with development and construction works to be undertaken in stages. On completion, the shipyard will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including a drydock, slipways, berthing quays and ancillary steel and piping facilities. It will be capable of drillships construction, building of semi-submersible rigs, undertaking FPSO integration, fabrication of topside modules and PSVs construction, in addition to the traditional activities of drilling rig repairs, ship repairs and modification works.

Sembcorp Marine says the investment in the new shipyard is in line with the company’s global hub strategy and it reinforces the Group’s commitment to forging a strategic foothold in Brazil to grow its offshore oil and gas businesses.