2008 Annual Report - SBM Offshore

6 SBM Offshore Annual Report 2008 / OverviewCorporate ProfileIntroductionSBM Offshore N.V. (SBM Offshore, ‘the Company’) is amultinational group of companies selling systems andservices to the Oil and Gas industry. The Company’s clientsare mainly the offshore oil and gas producing companies,both private and government owned, and its marketposition has been established in a strongly competitiveenvironment. SBM Offshore operates through operatingcompanies that are among the leaders in their respectiveniche markets. The Company currently employs over5,000 people.Product lineSBM Offshore's activities include the engineering,supply and offshore installation of floating facilities forthe production, storage and export of crude oil, gas andLiquefied Natural Gas (LNG). These comprise FloatingProduction Storage and Offloading systems (FPSOs),Floating Storage and Offloading systems (FSOs), TensionLeg Platforms (TLPs), monohull and semi-submersibleFloating Production Units (FPUs), as well as self elevatingMobile Offshore Production Units (MOPUs).SBM Offshore was the pioneer in 1979 in offering anintegrated oil and gas production service to an oil companythrough the investment in an F(P)SO for its own accountand the leasing and operation of the facility offshore. Thisconcept is now considered as a mainstream productionmeans by the oil industry, particularly in deep and remotewaters, and the lease and operate business has becomea major component of the Company’s activity.Included in the product line are all the systems, mostlybased on the Single Point Mooring principle, used to moorcrude oil and gas carriers in open seas for the purposeof loading or offloading cargoes. Derived from the sametechnology, the complex mooring systems required to keepfloating production facilities on station on the oil and gasfields are also a core product of the Company; they areof various types such as fixed heading or weathervaning,permanent or disconnectable.In addition to these activities, the Company provides designand engineering services, and for certain opportunitiesenters into turnkey supply contracts for crane vessels,pipelay barges and drilling units of all types, such asmonohull, jack-up and semi-submersible.FPSO Frade - Detail of Turret and Topsides during departure from Dubai