Caspian Energy (CE): What could you tell about successes the Company achieved over the years of operation in the Caspian market? 

Zamig Ismayilov, Director, Caspian Marine Services Limited (CMS): Despite the fact that I came to this Company in April 2013, for many years I worked in the area of offshore ship-based servicing of oil-gas projects. Therefore, I am not a stranger to the activity of CMS in this industry. 

CMS is a foreign company with the representative office officially registered in Azerbaijan. The Company is relatively young. Though it started operating in 2007, within 7 years the Company managed to achieve success that no other companies would manage to gain in this hard and labor-intensive sphere. So, if the Company used to operate only one or two specialized vessels at the earliest stage of its development, now we already possess 21 vessels operating under our management. 20 of them are currently operating in the Caspian sector and one vessel is under construction at one of biggest shipyards (Incat) of Australia.  In future, we intend to build two more high-speed passenger vessels which are also to be constructed at the same shipyard. Thus, our fleet will already have numbered 23 units by 2015. 

It is also noteworthy that 20 units of the fleet are not simply vessels designed for servicing maritime offshore platforms. We operate such unique large-size units as crane vessel Gurban Abbasov with the carrying capacity of 600 tons, pipelay vessel Israfil Huseynov and diving vessel Tofig Ismayilov. These are specialized vessels carrying the crew of at least 100 people. 

At first the Azerbaijan representation of the Company employed mainly foreign specialists. At the same time, thanks to the targeted strategy of the Company seeking development of local specialists and their involvement in the working process, by now we have managed to involve many high-skilled local professionals who are the citizens of Azerbaijan. Among them there are many specialists with the extensive experience in the largest foreign companies of the oil-gas industry.

We are proud to emphasize that the list of CMS’s customers currently includes almost all largest and transnational companies involved in operations in the Caspian Sea, such as SOCAR, BP, McDermott, Saipem and others. 

CE: What is the current potential of the Company? What range of services is the Company ready to offer?

Zamig Ismayilov: Our objective is timely and safe delivery of cargoes from the port to offshore platforms along with the high level of services for our clients. 

Meanwhile, should our clients need new vessels of other types not available in the Caspian, our internal resources enable us to place an order for construction, or lease such vessels, and if necessary even purchase them. 

CE: What projects in the Caspian is the Company now involved in?

Zamig Ismayilov: As you know, the Government of Azerbaijan has recently made the strategically important investment decision on Shah Deniz 2 gas project in the Caspian Sea. Within the framework of this project, our vessels will be involved, for instance, in laying undersea cables. Besides, a considerable amount of shipments from all cargo operations for the project will account for the vessels operated by our Company. 

Besides, we are currently involved in some short-term contracts outside the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. For example, recently we have transported the Astra jack-up drilling rig to a new drilling location in the Russian sector of the Caspian. In Turkmenistan our Company relocated the Neptun jack-up drilling rig. In Kazakhstan we also performed a cargo transportation project. 

CE: Could you please tell about Company’s potential outside the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea?

Zamig Ismayilov: I think the Company has already reached that level of development when it can expand its activities beyond the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. Also, as I said earlier, CMS already has the extensive experience of operation in foreign waters. In particular, we worked with the companies from Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. We plan to keep on expanding the range of our competitive services outside Azerbaijan. 

Besides, one of the largest Brazilian oil companies has already shown interest to the vessel currently under construction in Australia that I mentioned above. We do not exclude the possibility of providing ship control services to that company. It is a high-speed passenger ship capable of transporting employees to offshore platforms in South America. The current capacity of the ship is 150 passengers. However, if necessary we would be able to enhance the capacity up to 200 passengers. If we successfully implement this project, it will be our first contract outside the Caspian Sea. It will be a start of our activities in foreign waters. 

CE: What work does the Company plan to implement in the existing fleet?

Zamig Ismayilov: We plan a repair of the Gurban Abbasov crane ship to modernize ship characteristics and add technical capacity. In particular, we plan additional deck erection with possible future usage of the ship as a floating hotel (the so-called ‘floatel’) for offshore employees. The matter is that the older platforms are, the more repair works they require and, accordingly, it comes the necessity to hire additional personnel. Usually, there is no enough space on platforms for accommodation of the personnel. So, along with job on the platform specialists will enjoy the opportunity of having proper rest in our ‘floating hotels’.

On the other hand, all diving ships in the Caspian were constructed in the USSR times. The latest of them was built in 1989, while as a rule diving ships are no longer operated after 10-year operational period. The problem is that technical requirements to such vessels become tougher and tougher from year to year, new technologies are introduced and new trends appear. As a result, old ships face the necessity of constant modernization, which is followed by the growth of expenditures. We plan to conclude a contract for construction of a new underwater supply ship by IIIQ 2014. It will be a diving complex enabling to implement repair of pipelines and fiber-optic cables on the bottom of the Caspian Sea. 

I should mention that before Azerbaijan did not have own shipyard in Azerbaijan and we had to purchase only small vessels from abroad capable of cruising through the Volga-Don Canal. The shipyard has been already constructed in the Caspian, so there are almost no problems now with sizes of new ships. We can build ships of any types that the Caspian is ready to embrace. New ships will be at least two times larger than those we could pilot through the canal. 

Large oil companies such as SOCAR and BP have long-term plans to upgrade their fleets in the Caspian. In this period (2014-2018) we plan to place an order for construction of four tug-boats (anchor ships) and about five service ships in Baku. 

CE: How well do the ships of the Company comply with the international technical and environmental standards?

Zamig Ismayilov: All our ships are under strict control of the State Maritime Administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan and should comply with all international standards. At present all our ships fly the flag of Azerbaijan. At the same time we work with large oil companies, which carry out audits and inspections of our ships. 

We hold the certificate ISO 14001, testifying the compliance of our Company to environmental standards. We also possess the quality management certificate ISO 9001 and the certificate ISO 18001 for occupational health and safety management. In the future we plan to obtain the certificate ISO 50001. It is a new standard on energy efficiency. 

CE: How much attention does the Company pay to personnel training and social issues?

Zamig Ismayilov: Our employees, both office employees and crews, are provided with health insurance. We pay premiums and special subsidies to young families. As to personnel training, we organise trainings to keep the certificates for seamen compliant with the international standards. All this is performed at the expense of the Company, both beyond Azerbaijan and inside the country. 

Unfortunately, at present the demand for professional maritime employees is higher than the current supply in the labour market. We have to compete with other shipping companies for involving the best maritime employees and naturally we should retain the existing team. In the best shipping companies 70-80% of employees work for at least 10 - 15 years, so they perceive their company as a family. We attract the best available personnel with our social package, we create conditions for blue coats to have a chance of growing to the position of captain, while for captains we create conditions for developing their managerial abilities to be able to manage affairs of the entire company. The most important point is that we pay great attention to nationalization of the personnel. All our captains, senior engineers and officers are the citizens of Azerbaijan. We managed to attract the Azerbaijanis who worked abroad. We attracted them with our social package and created for them good conditions of labour activity in their own country with good salary.

CE: What future would you foresee for the Company?

Zamig Ismayilov: During the forthcoming 5-10 years we plan to become the largest service provider in the field of supplying vessels for oil-gas projects in the Caspian. At present the fleet under our operation meets quite a considerable part of SOCAR’s production needs in the Caspian. If to approach this issue from the point of view of importance and usefulness, the contribution of our Company will be even more considerable. Lots of foreign companies work in the Caspian, however, we are going to become the most attractive contractor both in terms of price and quality of provided services. 

I guess along with the development of the quality of services, our customer base will keep on expanding more and more in coming years and CMS will manage to position itself as a reliable partner with the high level of professionalism and business ethics.