5.6Assurance Report of the Independent Auditor

To: the Management Board and Supervisory Board of SBM Offshore N.V.

Assurance report on the sustainability information 2021

Our conclusion

Based on our review nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the sustainability information included in the annual report 2021 of SBM Offshore N.V. does not present, in all material respects, a reliable and adequate view of:

  • the policy and business operations with regard to corporate social responsibility; and
  • the thereto related events and achievements for the year ended 31 December 2021, in accordance with the Sustainability Reporting Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the applied supplemental reporting criteria as included in the section ‘reporting criteria’.

What we have reviewed

We have reviewed the sustainability information included in the following sections of the annual report for the year ended 31 December 2021 (hereafter: “the sustainability information”):
  • Chapter 1: Business Environment;
  • Chapter 2: Performance Review & Impact;
  • Chapter 5: Non-Financial Information.

This review is aimed at obtaining a limited level of assurance.

The basis for our conclusion

We conducted our review in accordance with Dutch law, including Dutch Standard 3810N ‘Assuranceopdrachten inzake maatschappelijke verslagen’ ('Assurance engagements on corporate social responsibility reports'), which is a specific 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’. Our responsibilities under this standard are further described in the section ‘Our responsibilities for the review of the sustainability information’ of our report.

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

Independence and quality control

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.

Reporting criteria

The sustainability information needs to be read and understood together with the reporting criteria. The reporting criteria used for the preparation of the sustainability information are the Sustainability Reporting Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the applied supplemental reporting criteria, as disclosed in chapter 5.1 Scope of Non-Financial Information and 5.2 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.

Limitations to the scope of our review

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

In the sustainability information references are made to external sources or websites. The information on these external sources or websites is not part of the sustainability information reviewed by us. We therefore do not provide assurance on this information.

Our conclusion is not modified in respect to these matters.

Responsibilities for the sustainability information and the review thereon

Responsibilities of the Management Board and the Supervisory Board for the sustainability information

The Management Board of SBM Offshore N.V. is responsible for the preparation of reliable and adequate sustainability information in accordance with the reporting criteria as included in sections ‘5.1 Scope of non-financial information’ and ‘5.2 Reporting boundaries’, including selecting the reporting criteria, the identification of stakeholders, determining the material matters and determining that the applicable reporting criteria are acceptable in the circumstances taking into account applicable law and regulations related to reporting. The choices made by the Management Board regarding the scope of the sustainability information and the reporting policy are summarized in 5.1 Scope of Non-Financial Information and 5.2 Reporting Boundaries of the annual report.

Furthermore, the Management Board is responsible for such internal control as the Management Board determines is necessary to enable the preparation of the sustainability information that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

The Supervisory Board is responsible for overseeing the company’s reporting process on the sustainability information.

Our responsibilities for the review of the sustainability information

Our responsibility is to plan and perform a review engagement in a manner that allows us to obtain sufficient and appropriate assurance evidence to provide a basis for our conclusion.

Our objectives are to obtain a limited level of assurance to determine the plausibility of the sustainability information. The procedures vary in nature and timing from, and are less in extent, than for a reasonable assurance engagement. The level of assurance obtained in a review is therefore substantially less than the assurance obtained in an audit in relation to both the risk assessment procedures, including an understanding of internal control, and the procedures performed in response to the assessed risks.

Procedures performed

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 other things of the following:
  • Performing an analysis of the external environment and obtaining an understanding of 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 an 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 error. Designing and performing further assurance procedures aimed at determining the plausibility of the sustainability information responsive to this risk analysis.
  • Our other 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;
  • Considering whether the sustainability information as a whole, including the disclosures, reflects the purpose of the reporting criteria used.

We communicate with the Supervisory Board regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the review and significant findings that we identify during our review.

Rotterdam, 9 February 2022

PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountants N.V.




Original signed by A.A. Meijer RA