International oil services company Aker Solutions has expanded its subsea business by establishing a subsea lifecycle service base in Labuan, Malaysia. The objective is to support all installed and future shallow and deepwater projects within the Asia Pacific region.
The new service base, which is located in Labuan Federal Territory in Eastern Malaysia, will provide strategic and effective support services for Aker Solutions' onshore and offshore oil and gas customers. An opening ceremony was held at the new site and was officiated by Dave Hutchinson, head of Aker Solutions' subsea business in Asia Pacific.
"Our new subsea lifecycle service base shows Aker Solutions' commitment to serving our customers who require our services locally as well as being well placed to capture further potential clients. Malaysia represents an important market for our subsea business," says Dave Hutchinson.
The new service base will support Murphy Sabah Oil's current Kikeh and upcoming Kikeh Phase II, and Siakap developments with an expected 20 plus years' field life. Other important projects in this region include Petronas' Kumang Kanowit development.
"We have built a strong footprint in the Asia Pacific region over the past decade with the establishment of service bases in Perth in Australia, Kakinada in India, Songkhla in Thailand and now Labuan. We are now well placed to meet the needs of our customers with the opening of this new base in Malaysia," says Hutchinson.
Labuan Island is located off the northwest coast of Borneo, north of Brunei Bay and faces the South China Sea. Labuan was identified as a strategic location due to its proximity to the current and planned East Malaysian development locations. The site is accessible to other South East Asian locations including Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia and China. Labuan has existing oilfield infrastructure and a port which supports local operators within the facility.
The facility covers 13 680sq/m with a workshop of 1 296sq/m that has a 75 tonne overhead crane and pressure testing capabilities of us to 15 000 psi. A team of 18 staff are currently employed at the Labuan base.
Aker Solutions also operates a high-tech subsea manufacturing centre in Port Klang, Malaysia. This facility can manufacture a complete subsea production system in one location. Aker Solutions is currently investing to double the manufacturing capacity at the Port Klang facility.