Ceona Appoints New Chief Executive Officer

Ceona, SURF contractor with deepwater subsea construction capabilities, has announced that the company’s Executive Vice President Commercial and Business Development, Mark Preece, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Mark takes over from current CEO, Steve Preston, who after 40 years in the industry has decided to retire from operational management and step down. Steve has worked tirelessly to establish Ceona as a key subsea player over the last three years, having been a prime mover and overseeing the construction of the company’s purpose-built flagship, Ceona Amazon.

John Smith, Chairman at Ceona, said: “Steve is an inspirational leader who has worked with our teams to develop the strong building blocks for our business. His dedication to seeing the Ceona Amazon come to fruition, combined with his passion for innovation, saw him lead the project from design concept right through to the successful launch of the next generation, hybrid field development vessel, on time and on budget.

“We are sorry to see Steve go, we extend our best wishes to him for the future and look forward to Mark building on the foundations he has laid. Mark is a highly-experienced industry figure who has been involved with the subsea market for over 32 years. We believe he will be well placed to lead Ceona through what is an extremely challenging market environment for the industry as a whole.

Our industry is cyclic and we remain confident in the long term fundamentals for the deepwater subsea sector. The Ceona team, with the Amazon, will deliver a quality, cost-effective service, while our focus continues to involve working with all our stakeholders to ensure that our cost base is aligned to come through this down cycle strongly.”

Mark Preece commented that: “Working with Steve has been great and he leaves some big shoes to fill, but with the team’s support, especially Stuart Cameron the COO, who has been fundamental in getting the company this far, and despite the strong head winds, I feel optimistic for the future”.

Ceona is a SURF and heavy subsea construction contractor in the deepwater market, specialising in full-service engineering, pipelay and construction project management and execution, including floater installation (Semi, TLP, SPAR). The company has already established an impressive track record which has seen it expand into West Africa, the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil.

The ground-breaking Ceona Amazon is a powerful, purpose-built hybrid vessel that can execute complex logistical projects in remote, harsh and deepwater territories in one trip. Designed to deliver full flexible or full rigid pipelay, she can change easily and quickly between each mode within five days and is weather resilient. Due to her on-board capacity – the Amazon has a deck area of 4,600m2 and the ability to carry 9,500te of pipe on deck and in her two holds – she can carry more product than any other of her counterparts while the multiple, vertical-lay pipelay system features a top tension of 600 tonnes and capable to lay rigid pipe to 3,000m (10,000 ft) water depth.

The Amazon can cover the majority of deepwater field development needs including 100% of tie-backs while her two 400te cranes, which have been designed to operate in tandem to support work in water depths of up to 3,000m (10,000 ft), enabling her to lay manifolds and other structures.

Ceona, which is backed by majority shareholder Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, has offices in London, Aberdeen and Houston, with strategic partners in Brazil and West Africa.