TWMA develops solutions for the safe and efficient transfer, storage and processing of waste generated from drilling operations. The company’s specialist teams ensure international clients meet and exceed the demands of local legislation, whilst generating significant commercial, environmental and safety benefits in the process. Hannah Barnett spoke to CEO Halle Aslaksen to learn more.
ASthe only singularly focused drilling waste management business of its size, TWMA has made its name in the energy industry. This focus has allowed the company to become true specialists.
“Our vision is to turn drilling waste into a valuable resource,” said Halle Aslaksen, CEO. “We’re doing that in key regions throughout the UK, the Middle East, Norway and the US. It’s not just about doing the right thing and making the more sustainable, it’s also about adding value to the process.”
The company’s in-house engineering teams design, manufacture and install equipment packages specific to the client,
project or rig site requirements. The TWMA flagship product is a market-leading, award-winning offshore processing technology called the RotoMill. It is the safest and most efficient way to process drilling waste at the wellsite or at a centralised processing site.
The RotoMill uses a process of thermal desorption to separate drill cuttings into their three constituent parts – oil, water and solids – for recycling and reuse. The technology recovers one barrel of oil for every tonne of drilling waste processed. This reduces a client’s carbon footprint up to 90% by removing the supply chain and emissions associated with offsite treatment solutions.
Experts in the field
TWMA was founded in 2002 and started working with ADNOC back in 2012, a true milestone moment. “ADNOC has become by far our largest client and as a result of that, we are becoming more and more Middle East-centric,” said Mr Aslaksen.
“Quite a few of our assets now operate in Abu Dhabi and offshore there.”
Indeed, the company will likely reach 750 employees by the end of 2024 and most of that growth will come from the Middle East. Additionally, in the UAE, TWMA recently passed five million hours worked with no lost-time incidents.
In 2023, the company increased turnover, from around $68 million, up to $71 million. The first six months of 2024 have already delivered $37.8 million in revenue. “We also had an EBITDA of $9.5 million compared to revenue of $35.2 million and an EBITDA of $7.0 million in 2023,” Mr Aslaksen added,
“so we do see significant growth is starting to show itself in the numbers now as well, not just in headcount.”
As the world becomes more dedicated to combating climate change, there is an increasing focus from governments and businesses alike on the environmental impact of drilling. That means expanding opportunities for TWMA and its technology.
“We expect legislation within the drilling waste management segment to become more stringent, and that obviously opens up new markets to us,” explained Mr Aslaksen.
“Additionally, there is clear client focus on cost and emissions reduction, both areas where we can show our strengths.”
Securing contracts
In a successful 2024, TWMA secured new contracts with some of the world’s largest operators, including TotalEnergies, bp, Shell, Equinor and ExonnMobil.
Similarly, in October 2023, TWMA announced it had secured a $100 million contract for a major sour gas development in Abu Dhabi. This huge contract will double the company’s operations in the Middle East.
The project also involves deployment of RotoMill 2.0, engineered for the future of drilling waste operations, with increased unit efficiency and throughput. It features the XLink™ system, a new hardware and cloud-based software solution that
provides deeper operational insights and enables users to monitor and modify operations parameters in real time, from anywhere in the world.
“This has meant significant growth for our worldwide operations,” said Mr Aslaksen.
“As a result, of the 750 people that we will employ by the year end, around 450 of those will be based in the Middle East. We view all these contracts as very much long term. The sour gas project is officially a five-year agreement, but we expect this to substantially extend. This is going to force us to think into the future when it comes to design and engineering, plus the next stages in the company’s development.”
The company is also contributing to the UAE’s push towards Net Zero emissions by electrifying its fleet and preparing a transfer from diesel to electric engines. It is also looking into developing a hybrid plant, run on a mix of diesel generators and solar.
Working together
Essentially, TWMA recovers oil and reuses it in the drilling process. This allows the company to play a clear and key role in the circular economy. Another advantage is that the recovery process is also a highly cost-effective solution.
“Clients can make money on this,” Mr Aslaksen explained. “We make the energy industry more acceptable to financial markets, authorities and the public, by decarbonising operations aa well as promoting the circular economy and the
effective reuse drilling waste. This is a clear and compelling value proposition, it’s the right thing to do, taking waste and turning it into value.”
Rather than always trying to find a lower cost, TWMA is the kind of company that focuses on building and maintaining long term-relationships with a network of partners.
“That is the key to our success,” said Mr Aslaksen. “Suppliers need to understand our business – and we need to understand theirs. We work together to reduce the risks associated with, say, a supplier going out of business. That also means compensating them fairly for what they’re doing for us.
We’re always trying to leverage the local supply chain and enhance incountry value where we operate, in particular in the Middle East.”
The company is set to continue to grow, alongside the Middle East, it is also focusing on markets in Norway, Africa and the Americas. “They are going to be key,” Mr Aslaksen added. “What we are starting to see in those places is a stricter governmental control on what is discharged into the sea, which means more regulation.”
For Mr Aslaksen, working in the energy industry in the 2020s is all about making the energy transition work as smoothly as possible. And a company is only as strong as its people. “Personally, I find my motivation from getting different groups of people working together to achieve a collective result,” he concluded. “I’m an outdated engineer, but I’m good with people, so that is my main driver.” n
