(EnergyAsia, January 25, Friday) — The Lloyd’s Register Group said it has achieved formal recognition in the Republic of Kazakhstan, following the conclusion of an agreement that grants the classification society the authority to issue statutory certificates for IMO-related international conventions. The Lloyd’s Register Group will be the second classification society to be formally recognised in the country after the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping.

The agreement marks the group’s official entry into the local market at a time when oil and gas projects in the Caspian Sea are poised to generate rapid and significant growth in the offshore, marine and transport infrastructure sectors

Under the agreement, the government of Kazakhstan has delegated the Lloyd’s Register Group to carry out statutory certification services on ships and other floating facilities – including offshore mobile drilling units – registered in the country.

Chris Renwick, International Development Manager and General Director of Lloyd’s Register Kazakhstan LLP says:

“We are anticipating a huge increase in the number of ships in the Republic of Kazakhstan’s offshore support fleet related to oil and gas projects. More than 400 offshore support ships are expected to join the fleet within the next five to eight years alone. We now have a solid basis in the country and will be able to offer the growing Kazakhstan fleet a full range of services from across the Lloyd’s Register Group.”

Sergey Klimenko, senior surveyor for Kazakhstan, said: “The agreement gives the Lloyd’s Register Group the ability to develop a strong body of specialists in the marine, oil and gas and transport industries focused exclusively on delivering our services in Kazakhstan – efforts which will be also be strengthened by our growing LRQA (quality management systems) business here.”

Kazakhstan is set to develop a fleet of ships rapidly for the support of offshore oil and gas operations in the Caspian Sea. The government is keen to adopt best practice in standards of safety, quality, and environmental protection so as to integrate further with the worldwide marine community.

Mr Renwick said: “In order to ensure that our service delivery will be able to match the growing needs of the local industry, Lloyd’s Register Kazakhstan LLP intends to bring in experienced colleagues from across the Lloyd’s Register Group to mentor and develop our local employees. We will be opening offices in Atyrau and Aktau in the next three months and in the next six months we will be recruiting an additional three staff, to meet the developing market needs, one experienced Lloyd’s Register Group surveyor and two new but experienced engineers. Following that we aim to recruit at least two more young engineers to build a sound base of local expertise for the future.”

Lloyd’s Register Kazakhstan LLP was founded by Lloyd’s Register EMEA in June 2005 as a local legal entity. The group is already engaged in a number of major energy projects in Kazakhstan as well as the certification of quality management systems such as ISO 9001: 2000 for an increasing number of Kazakh companies mainly in the oil and gas, natural resources and related engineering sectors.