Benefits to Local Communities: Myanmar

Number of Myanmar nationals working for the SBM Offshore Group, and subcontractors:
- Shore base: 3 employees
- Floating Units: 51 employees
Local employees' rights

Scrupulous attention is given to the protection of the local employees' rights, and to their training and promotion. At present, the FSO Yetagun is 85% operated by Myanmar nationals. The promotion of these nationals aboard the FSO resulted in a major success, and this trend will continue.
The SBM Offshore Group is using the following local service companies: Hanseatic, ELPL, United Engineering.
SBM Offshore is sponsoring two programmes under the umbrella of the United Nations organisation of UNAIDS, UNICEF and the National AIDS Program:
1. a HIV/AIDS awareness program at the Maritime Institute of Yangon. This education program, which has been supported by the Group for the last three years, has been given to 9,939 seafarers with a potential of 60,000 seafarers that could be reached through this effort. Targets to reach another 4,000 seafarers have been set for 2005.
2. a HIV/AIDS awareness program reached 4,104 employees in eleven Yangon garment factories mainly populated by young females, and five other small enterprises in 2004. Indirect beneficiaries from this training could number approximately 15,000 people from families and communities. This programme, which has been supported by the Group since mid-year 2003, proposes to complete the education of 4,000 to 4,500 factory and industry workers and ten other businesses in 2005.
Ongoing audits of accounts and management meetings are held to reconfirm both the legitimacy and the effectiveness of these programs with respect to SBM Offshore's sponsorship.
In 2003, the Company committed to the SA8000 norms in terms of social accountability in its Myanmar operation. This commitment implies in particular the continuous and traceable checking in Myanmar of the Group's suppliers and sub suppliers in relation to forced labour and child labour.