Scottish firm CessCon Decom has announced the creation of a new joint venture company, Anson International, based in Brunei, as it looks to capitalise on a wave of work across the region.
CessCon, which is headquartered in Livingston but also operates the Fife Energy Park decommissioning yard in Methil, said the new consortium would develop Brunei’s “first commercial integrated decommissioning and marine maintenance yard”.
Together with partners Qaswa Holdings (part of Adinin Group), SDC, and Dongil Shipyard, Anson will develop a site on the island of Pulau Muara Besar, and has won the backing of the country’s The Ministry of Finance & Economy, Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) and the local unit of supermajor Shell.
The agreement was signed on Wednesday at the Ministry of Finance and Economy in Brunei by CessCon group CEO Lee Hanlon and representatives of Qaswa Holdings, Dongil Shipyard, the Minister of Finance and Economy, BEDB, and Brunei Shell Petroleum.
Plans include the creation of a 16-acre integrated yard which will serve as the anchor facility for the Brunei Darussalam Maritime Cluster once operational in 2024.
Anson’s goal is to first service the domestic decom market before its aims to expand to pick up wider regional demand.
CessCon group CEO Lee Hanlon, who also takes on a position as a founding directors and board member at Anson International, commented: “The opportunity to build and operate the integrated yard was an open bidding process facilitated by Brunei Economic Development Board alongside other government and national agencies, and we are proud to have been selected with our consortium partners as the successful bidder after many months of hard work.”
“We look forward to working with our partners to deliver safe, efficient, and cost effective decommissioning, dismantlement and recycling operations in Brunei and the wider region.”
More than 200 offshore fields are expected to stop producing in Southeast Asia by 2030 with total decommissioning costs estimated to range from $30 billion to as much as $100 billion, according to forecasts made in 2019.
Indeed, the potential market opportunity in Southeast Asia could be huge with more than 1,500 platforms and over 7,000 wells projected to need decommissioning by 2030.
Last year, CessCon Decom’s yard in Fife took delivery of two Spirit Energy platforms for dismantling, transported via Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit heavy lift vessel and Iron Lady barge.