Specialists in offshore and onshore equipment

SPECIALISTS IN OFFSHORE AND

ONSHORE EQUIPMENT

Protea, from Gdansk, Poland, is an international engineering and equipment manufacturer supporting the offshore and onshore energy industry. With facilities in Poland and Norway, Protea delivers tailor-made material handling systems predominantly for vessels, drilling rigs and oil producing installations.

Founded in 2001, from the very beginning the company’s main focus has been on providing cost-effective but high-quality equipment using Polish engineering expertise and facilities.

Protea initially targeted the Scandinavian market and in 2004, owing to the rising number of orders, it merged with engineering specialist company, NTD Olesno. This merger further extended the company’s engineering capabilities, particularly in relation to the design of complex structures.

By developing successful business relationships with its customers, the company expanded rapidly with significant growth in its sales and profits. Protea obtained many international orders from such markets as Russia, Norway, the European Union and Asia.

To reduce its reliance on subcontractors and to provide a more efficient service to its customers, Protea invested in a new manufacturing and assembly facility in Ligota Gorna near Kluczbork, Poland. This was opened in 2008 and had an annual fabrication capacity of 1000 tonnes of machinery.

The global economic crisis caused a slight fall in both income and revenues in 2010 and Protea delivered fewer orders compared to previous years. However, in 2011 the situation changed rapidly with many new enquiries from global clients. Protea made a rapid decision to invest further to expand its capabilities to meet the growing demand; its factory was extended, and the annual production capacity increased to 2000 tonnes of machinery. In 2012 Protea added a new assembly workshop to allow for the indoor assembly of the latest heavy lift and BOP cranes. The assembly hall is 26m high and has added approximately 900m2 to Protea’s production facility.

Today Protea employs over 140 people and has an annual turnover of over €15 million and will continue to expand its capabilities to meet the demands of the global energy industry.

Strategic partnership

Having developed a successful working relationship during the construction of the GMC Pride modular pipelay barge, Protea and GMC Limited became strategic partners in 2011.

GMC is a leader in innovative engineering, project management, installation solutions for offshore oil and gas SURF, drilling and production projects. Established in 1990, GMC’s customers include national and international oil companies, large and small independents, as well as many offshore engineering companies, and it has seabed to surface expertise of a wide range of offshore operations.

Together, Protea and GMC combine their extensive offshore operational and engineering expertise into a partnership that provides innovative and cost-effective equipment solutions – ranging from specialist handling equipment through to turnkey pipelay systems.

The GMC pride modular pipelay barge is a showcase example of this strategic partnership in action. Drawing on over 22 years of pipelay experience, GMC engineered and delivered a sophisticated modular pipelay barge, incorporating Protea’s state-of-theart deck machinery.

Scope of activity

Protea offers turnkey engineering solutions complete with comprehensive post-delivery support – from delivery logistics to installation and commissioning, provision of spares and through life engineering support.

It supplies a wide range of handling equipment to meet specific customer requirements including Proteus® offshore pedestal cranes, BOP gantry and semi gantry cranes; overhead travelling BOP cranes systems; offshore hydraulic winches; offshore pneumatic winches; pipe lay equipment, launch and recovery systems, mud tank systems; rig elevators; rails and bogies; trolleys and other offshore deck equipment.

Core Protea expertise also includes heave compensation technology, allowing it to deliver both active and passively compensated handling systems. It manufactures tailor-made equipment for individual orders and has a flexible and cooperative relationship with its clients. Moreover, it can manufacture very sophisticated equipment of the highest quality with lower production costs than its competitors.

Recent deliveries include a new series of pneumatic winches and a Proteus® series SWL 30mT king post offshore pedestal crane for an oil production platform off Venezuela. The crane was designed according to the ABS Lifting Appliances and API Specification 2C for open sea lifting operations between offshore installations and supply vessels. This was followed by a number of active heave compensated winches and its engineers are currently focused on the delivery of a subsea trenching vehicle launch and recovery system.

Protea has a representative office in Vestnes, Norway, and is also represented by its agents in the UK, Venezuela, the USA, Brazil, South Korea, and Singapore. These markets are very active and the company is expanding its activities there.

Independent verification of quality

In 2004, Protea implemented a quality management system certified according to the ISO 9001:2008 standard. In order to achieve OH&S and environmental protection targets PROTEA decided to implement an integrated quality management system according to the already initiated ISO 9001:2008 and additionally based on ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 standards. Currently, the company is in the final stage of implementation of these standards.

Among others, Protea has also been awarded a certificate of qualification under the Achilles Joint Qualification System. The certificate is given to those suppliers to the oil industry in Norway and Denmark whose products and services meet specific industry qualifications.

In 2012, Protea completed the American Petroleum Institute (API) certification for manufacturing and supply of offshore pedestal cranes according to API Specification 2C. First offshore pedestal cranes were already

manufactured according to API Specification 2C and several more are still in production. The certificate API 2C-0103 will allow Protea to extend production capability and venture into new oil and gas markets.

The future

In the coming years, Protea will continue to support its customers in the energy industries. It will focus on growing and developing long-term relationships with its clients, both new and old, by supplying innovative and cost-effective handling systems. n

www.protea.pl

HYDAC

“HYDAC was founded in 1963 as a company for hydraulic accessories and is today an internationally active company group with over 7000 employees, 50 branch offices and 500 trade and service partners world-wide. HYDAC stands for hydraulics, systems and fluid engineering. Our supply program includes hydraulic accumulators, fluid filters, process filters, coolers, electrohydraulic controls/industrial valves, sensor systems for pressure, encoder measurement and solenoid technology, cylinders, pumps, mounting technology, armatures, Condition Monitoring and much more. We plan and supply ready-for-use hydraulic control and drive systems, including electronic controls and regulators for mobile and stationary machines.”