Creating new energy Belleli Energy

CREATING NEW ENERGY

Barbara Rossi speaks to Sergio Garrone, MD of Belleli Energy Srl and Belleli Energy CPE (Critical Process Equipment) Srl , to find out about the wide range of products and services on offer and the developments which have taken place since Industry Europe last reported on the two companies.

Belleli Energy Srl and Belleli Energy CPE are two totally independent entities, but share the same MD, some services and work in close partnership. They are both headquartered in Mantua, northern Italy, where Belleli Energy CPE also has production facilities. On the other hand, Belleli Energy Srl operates plants in the Middle East, particularly in the UAE. Both companies are wholly owned by Exterran, an American organisation listed on the NYSE, which operates on the global gas market, supplying products and services for gas compression and treatment.

Hi-tech products

The range of products offered by both companies is extremely diverse. It includes the supply of equipment for various industries, namely oil & gas, petrochemical, energy production and water desalination. With regards to oil & gas, it mainly serves the refinery sector, offering large reactors and weights produced using sophisticated technologies, high-pressure heat exchangers, and tank farms which are prefabricated at the Belleli facilities and then installed on-site. The petrochemical industry is supplied with ammonia, urea and methanol producing equipment under licence from the most important process owners in these markets. In terms of energy production, Belleli supplies oil, gas and nuclear plants, alongside the emerging coal gasification segment. In water desalination it supplies equipment and plant engineering services for the transformation of sea water into drinking water. It goes without saying that Belleli holds all the relevant certifications.

Belleli Energy Srl is active in the oil & gas, petrochemical and energy sectors with a recently recorded turnover of USD 170 million. The company is mainly focused on EPC, particularly plant construction and revamping (including desalination plants) and the manufacturing and installation of tank farms, with operations mainly based in the Gulf. It has two facilities in the UAE, one in Hamryiah (Sharjah) and one in Dubai. The Hamryah plant comprises four workshops, occupying a large covered area. This facility has recently been developed thanks to a considerable investment. “Although this is not its core business, in the Middle East Belleli Energy Srl is engaged in the fabrication of many offshore and onshore modules for Exterran,” Mr Garrone explains.

As mentioned above, many hi-tech products (for instance heavy wall reactors and heat exchangers) are designed and manufactured in Mantua by Belleli Energy CPE. The company’s facilities have recently been expanded and new equipment has been acquired; its most recently recorded turnover figure was USD 100 million. “However, when there are complex orders, either in terms of volume or logistics, the company can work in synergy with Belleli Energy Srl and its facilities in the UAE. This formula has allowed us to acquire important orders, comprising a mix of products, which reflect our high level of range diversification.

“A recent product development for Belleli Energy CPE is coal gasification. For instance, we have developed the main components for IGCC (Integrated Gas Combined Cycle) plants, which produce gas and steam from coal combustion. We have also developed GTL (Gas to Liquid) reactors,

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for example for Shell. This a technology for the transformation of gas into liquid fuel and it involves both the Belleli companies.”

With regard to Belleli Energy Srl, its range has been expanded to include cryogenic plants which keep different fuels at low temperatures. In addition to this, the company has been working on increased geographical diversification. It now also operates in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Success in a competitive market

“The future is really hard to predict. I can say that we are not planning to carry out acquisitions, but otherwise it is not easy to paint an exact picture of our future development. There is ever-increasing competition on our market and we will be seeing highs and lows.”

In fact, Belleli has to take into account changes which have affected the market and therefore the new landscape that has been created. This is down to various factors, namely the decrease in oil prices and the political and financial conditions affecting countries such as Brazil, Russia, Egypt, Iraq, Libya and others, which have caused a slowdown in the important projects that they still have in the pipeline and thus a slowdown in the global market for Belleli’s products. This followed a 5–6 year period during which the market was flourishing, encouraging new competitors to invest in this once promising business. This temporary boom brought an increase in the number of suppliers and therefore the level of international competition. Today some of these competitors can count on low labour costs (for instance India and Korea) or a weak currency (Japan).

“We have had to ward off competition and keep our wide range of international clients thanks to our reliability, quality and flexibility. We will continue to do this, as we know that not all of our competitors can claim to be able to do the same. Moreover, thanks to our organisation we are able to offer an impressively wide range, from the most complex to the most basic equipment, whilst always guaranteeing the same quality and reliability levels.

“We have noticed that many customers rely on this, because it allows them to have a highly skilled and fully reliable company as their sole supplier, instead of having to deal with a number of different companies. n