The Chua Chor Teck Memorial Fund Trustee Committee presents the 30th Annual Lecture on “Singapore’s Marine and Offshore Industry – What the past 45 years can teach us about the future” to be held on Wed, 17 February 2016 at 6.00 pm @ Singapore Polytechnic Convention Centre. The keynote speaker is Mr Choo Chiau Beng, Chairman, Keppel Fellows and the lecture will be chaired by Chairman of Temasek Holdings, Mr Lim Boon Heng.

About the Lecture
The lecture will cover developments from the time Mr Choo returned in 1971 upon graduation from Newcastle. Ship repair then was mainly conducted in Keppel Shipyard, Jurong Shipyard and Sembawang Shipyard. Other yards were soon formed and they included Hitachi Robin and Mitsubishi, as well as smaller local yards, such as Far East, Singapore Shipbuilding, and others in the Tanjong Rhu area. Over time, these yards consolidated into Keppel Offshore & Marine and SembCorp Marine through the merger of existing yards. The industry then faced an uncertain future but re-structured to move upstream and from 2000 to 2014, Singapore delivered the highest number of jackup drilling rigs and completed the most FPSO conversions in the world. Singapore’s yards also delivered the most semi-submersible drilling rigs, drilling tenders and accommodation units, emerging as one of the top five countries to have delivered specialised vessels. What lessons have we learnt in the last 45 years as the industry is now going through another difficult period? We have seen that cycles will always occur and we must therefore not be overly optimistic in good times nor overly pessimistic in bad times. Oil and gas remains as a key component in our energy needs in the foreseeable future. We must therefore continue investing prudently to develop our people and technology so that when the good time returns, we would have sharpened our core skills and will be ready to capitalise on new opportunities.

About the Speaker
Mr Choo Chiau Beng was Chief Executive Officer of Keppel Corporation from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2013. Before that, he was CEO of Keppel FELS from 1983 to 2008, as well as Chairman and CEO of Keppel Offshore & Marine from 2002 to 2008. He was Executive Director of Keppel Corporation since 1983 and Senior Executive Director since 2005. Upon his retirement on 1 January 2014, Mr Choo was appointed Senior Advisor to the Board of Keppel Corporation until 31 December 2015. Mr Choo was awarded the Colombo Plan Scholarship to study Naval Architecture in the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours) in 1970 and a Master of Science degree in Naval Architecture in 1971. He attended the Programme for Management Development in Harvard Business School in 1982. Mr Choo was conferred Doctor of Civil Law by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 2009. Mr Choo is the Chairman of M1 Limited and NRF Holdings Pte Ltd. He sits on the Board of Directors of Keppel Care Foundation Limited and KrisEnergy Ltd. He is a Board Member of National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of Raffles Institution and a member of Singapore University of Technology and Design’s Board of Trustees. In July 2014, Mr Choo was appointed by NUS as Provost’s Chair and Professor (Practice) in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Department of Management and Organisation, NUS Business School. At the same time, he was also appointed as Rector of Residential College 4 of NUS. Mr Choo was conferred the Public Service Star Award (BBM) in August 2004, The Meritorious Service Medal in 2008 and NTUC Medal of Commendation (Gold) Award in May 2007. He is Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to Brazil.

Refreshments will be served at 5.30 pm, the formal programme at 6.00 pm and Buffet Dinner to follow after lecture.

This annual lecture is jointly organised by SMA, SNAMES and Keppel Offshore & Marine. The Chairman of the Organising Committee is Mr David Chin, Executive Director of Singapore Maritime Foundation and the members are from SMA, Keppel and SNAMES.

Interested parties may wish to contact Ms. Joan Chua (SNAMES) via email at secretariat@snames.org.sg for RSVP and enquiries.