The central government of China has officially launched an offshore asset management platform to manage the $30bn worth of idle offshore asset owned by state-run companies.
The new group, named SinoOcean, has been jointly established by seven shareholders China Chengtong Holdings (25%), CNOOC Investment Holdings (25%), CSSC (10%), CSIC (10%), Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry (10%), China Merchants Offshore Investment (10%) and China Communications Construction Company (10%).
The sharp decline in the offshore market in the past few years has led to a large amount of offshore assets being idled at Chinese yards, mostly abandoned by owners. According to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), the total value of the idle offshore assets at Chinese yards amounted to around RMB200bn ($29.7bn) by the end of 2018.
The new platform aims at consolidating the idle offshore assets of the shareholder companies and promoting the transformation of the offshore industry in China.
An official at Dalian shipyard, DSIC, told Splash that the idled offshore rigs have created huge financial burdens for the yards and SinoOcean has already started working on the strategies to sell or charter out these assets.
In February, China Merchants sold two idled jackup rigs to Shelf Drilling for $87m and Shelf Drilling also agreed to charter two additional rigs with options to buy them.
