We have performed our review in accordance with Dutch law, which includes the Dutch Standard 3810N 'Assuranceopdrachten inzake maatschappelijke verslagen’ (‘Assurance engagements on corporate social responsibility reports'), which is a specified Dutch Standard that is based on the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000, ‘Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information’. This review is aimed at obtaining a limited level of assurance. Our responsibilities under this standard are further described in the section ‘Our responsibilities for the review of the sustainability information’ of this assurance report.

We believe that the assurance evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our conclusion.

We are independent of SBM Offshore N.V. in accordance with the ‘Verordening inzake de onafhankelijkheid van accountants bij assuranceopdrachten’ (ViO – Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, a regulation with respect to independence) and other for the engagement relevant independence requirements in the Netherlands. Furthermore, we have complied with the ‘Verordening gedrags- en beroepsregels accountants’ (VGBA – Dutch Code of Ethics).

We apply the ‘Nadere voorschriften kwaliteitssystemen’ (NVKS – Regulations for quality systems) and accordingly maintain a comprehensive system of quality control including documented policies and procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and other relevant legal and regulatory requirements.

The sustainability information needs to be read and understood in conjunction with the reporting criteria. The Management Board of SBM Offshore N.V. is solely responsible for selecting and applying these reporting criteria, taking into account applicable law and regulations related to reporting.

The reporting criteria used for preparation of the sustainability information are the Sustainability Reporting Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the internally applied reporting criteria, as disclosed in the sections 4.8 Scope of Non-Financial Information and 4.9 Reporting Boundaries of the Annual Report. The absence of an established practice on which to draw, to evaluate and measure non-financial information allows for different, but acceptable, measurement techniques and can affect comparability between entities and over time.

The sustainability information includes prospective information such as expectations on ambitions, strategy, plans, estimates and risk assessments. Inherently, the actual results are likely to differ from these expectations. These differences may be material. We do not provide any assurance on the assumptions and the achievability of prospective information in the sustainability information.

The links to external sources or websites included in the sustainability information are not part of the sustainability information itself, reviewed by us. We do not provide assurance over the information outside of this annual report.

We have exercised professional judgement and have maintained professional scepticism throughout the review, in accordance with the Dutch Standard 3810N, ethical requirements and independence requirements.

Our procedures included amongst others:

• Performing an analysis of the external environment and obtaining insight into relevant social themes and issues, relevant laws and regulations and the characteristics of SBM Offshore N.V.
• Evaluating the appropriateness of the reporting criteria used, their consistent application and related disclosures in the sustainability information. This includes the evaluation of the results of the stakeholders’ dialogue and the reasonableness of estimates made by the Management Board.
• Obtaining and understanding of the reporting processes for the sustainability information, including obtaining a general understanding of internal control relevant to our review.
• Identifying areas of the sustainability information with a higher risk of misleading or unbalanced information or material misstatement, whether due to fraud or errors. Designing and performing further assurance procedures aimed at determining the plausibility of the sustainability information responsive to this risk analysis. These procedures consisted amongst others of:
  • Interviewing management and relevant staff at corporate and business level responsible for the sustainability strategy, policy and results;
  • Interviewing relevant staff responsible for providing the information for, carrying out internal control procedures on, and consolidating the data in the sustainability information.
  • Determining the nature and extent of the review procedures for the group components and locations. For this, the nature, extent and/or risk profile of these components are decisive. Based thereon we selected the components and locations to visit. The visit to the head office in the Netherlands is aimed at, on a local level, validating source data and evaluating the design and implementation of internal controls and validation procedures;
  • Obtaining assurance evidence that the sustainability information reconciles with underlying records of the company;
  • Reviewing, on a limited test basis, relevant internal and external documentation;
  • Performing an analytical review of the data and trends in the information submitted for consolidation at corporate level.
• Reconciling the relevant financial information with the financial statements.
• Evaluating the consistency of the sustainability information with the information in the annual report, which is not included in the scope of our review.
• Evaluating the presentation, structure and content of the sustainability information;
• To consider whether the sustainability information as a whole, including the disclosures, reflects the purpose of the reporting criteria used.