European oil and gas issue 10 2013

issue TEN 2013

oil&gas european

europeanoilandgas.co.uk f r o m e x p l o r a t i o n t o e n d u s e r

matters Career

Understanding the oil and gas recruitment market

Going digital Engineering simulation in developing digital oilfields Clean living The challenges of offshore oil waste products

this ISSUE: Oil and gas industry experiences

service at your fingertips Our people are our assets. Individuals who work alongside our customers to achieve powerful solutions; with instantly accessible management reporting and intelligence. All possible through combining technology and innovation with a workforce committed to delivering unrivalled customer service.

Over 600 mobile engineers give you greater coverage and faster response, plus our skilled engineering workforce also delivers service solutions to a wide range of plant and ancillary equipment.

It’s all part of our strategy to deliver expert fleet management with true customer focus.

This is how Briggs will transform the industry.

Get in touch

www.briggsequipment.co.uk

Tel: 03301 23 98 14

Editors Chairman Andrew Schofield Group Managing Director Mike Tulloch

Sales Director David Garner Corporate Advertising Sales David King dking@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Sales Finlay Johnson Head of Research Philip Monument Business Development Manager Mark Cawston Research Managers Natalie Martin Ben Richell Editorial Researchers Ed Hipperson Kieran Shukri Jeff Johnson ­Office Manager Tracy Chynoweth

© 2013 Schofield Publishing Limited all rights reserved 10 Cringleford Business Centre Intwood Road Cringleford Norwich NR4 6AU T: +44 (0) 1603 274130 F: +44 (0) 1603 274131 schofield-media.com please note: The opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers within this publication do not necessarily coincide with those of the editor and publisher. Every reasonable effort is made to ensure that the information published is accurate, but no legal responsibility for loss occasioned by the use of such information can be accepted by the publisher. All rights reserved. The contents of the magazine are strictly copyright, the property of Schofield Publishing, and may not be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher.

By now

you’ll have read enough articles about the challenges of the oil and gas ‘skills shortage’ to have made your own mind up about energy sector recruitment. However, the fact of the matter is that while yes, there is a shortage of skilled workers in the oil and gas business and considerable emphasis continues to therefore be placed on recruitment, the employment landscape in oil and gas isn’t as bad as you may think.

According to Daniel Younger of recruitment consultancy, CY Partners, “The world’s demand for petroleum-based products has increased, not decreased, and new ways of tapping into the planet’s resources are being explored on a daily basis. The knock-on effect of this increased level of exploration and industry stability means that oil and gas jobs are now highly desirable and plentiful.”

In this issue’s lead feature Daniel goes on to explain that the advent of new technology, innovative new methods of producing energy such as unconventional gas developments, and the diversity of the global industry are all creating new and exciting opportunities for career progression.

Reinforcing this idea, our second lead article is an interesting Q&A with Mike Hawkins of Jee Ltd. As Jee celebrates its 25th anniversary this year Mike talks about his experiences of working with a company from its grass roots, as well as highlighting the rewarding opportunities that a lifetime in oil and gas can bring.

If you’re looking at oil and gas employment, then it’s time to start thinking positive to ensure our sector continues to flourish in the years ahead.

editors Libbie Hammond & matt high

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Art Editor Gérard Roadley-Battin Advertising Design Jenni Newman Production Manager Fleur Conway Production Administrator Vicky Howes

this increased level of exploration and industry stability means that oil and gas jobs are now highly desirable and plentiful”

European oil & gas

Managing Editor Libbie Hammond libbie@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Editor Matt High mhigh@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Staff Writers Kirsty Birkett-Stubbs Jo Cooper Editorial Administrator Emma Harris

1

Contents

Regulars

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Profiles

3

Lead Feature

Understanding the oil and gas recruitment market

7

IT

Engineering simulation in developing digital oilfields

10

News

A look at some of the recent developments in the oil and gas industry

12

Lead Feature

30

Mike Hawkins on his experiences of the oil and gas industry

16

Technology

The challenges created by offshore oil waste products

20 Decommissioning focus

Decom North Sea

30 Ferguson Group 32 Megarme 34 Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering 37 Port of Fujairah Authority

22 Heerema Marine Contractors

41 Apply Leirvik

25 ASCO

43 Michell Instruments

28 Enviroco

46 Jian Feng Sling

41

49 Sandvik Process Systems

2

52 PressureFab Group 54 Axel Christiernsson 57 Xcite Energy Resources 59 BassDrill

3

63 V Ships 67 Analytical Technology & Control (ATAC)

12

25 67

59

Lead one

matters T

he oil and gas industry is an exciting, international, vibrant, skilled and varied industry to work for. The scope of work undertaken in the oil and gas industry is vast. It often works with cutting edge technology and has an excellent health and safety record; but it also operates in remote, offshore locations, in difficult climates and very high-risk environments.

Recruitment within the oil and gas sector is different from any other industry out there. This is because the energy industry is one that has not had to ‘downsize’ because of the economic recession unlike many other industries, in fact the oil and gas industry is on the rise.

Rather than adopting a ‘slash and burn’ policy of job cuts, closing production and generally reacting in the same way to the global recession as every other industry, the oil and gas sector has managed to survive the most uncertain of economic times by freezing wages and waiting for the storm to pass. That storm has now abated and the industry has emerged stronger, leaner and ready to do business on a grand scale.

The world’s demand for petroleum-based products has increased, not decreased, and new ways of tapping into the planet’s resources are being explored on a daily basis. The

European oil & gas

Daniel Younger takes a closer look at the current state of the oil and gas recruitment market

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Career

3 knock-on effect of this increased level of exploration and industry stability means that oil and gas jobs are now highly desirable and plentiful.

Oil and gas engineers are constantly inventing new technologies to extract oil from increasingly deeper levels beneath the Earth’s surface. Because of this exploration, engineers are trained to be the best in their field, and there are new and excellent opportunities for career progression.

This industry has evolved along with the rest of the world and has realised the need to develop new ways of producing clean energy for the global market. There are few industries that can offer such long-term prospects and employment opportunities, but these can be found in Unconventional Gas (UCG); this is a relatively new field that is growing rapidly and offers people the chance to develop skills that can be utilised on projects worldwide.

Matthew Cawood, HR director at clean energy company, Five-Quarter said recently: “UCG is a perfect example of where new technologies and new employment opportunities are developing both worldwide and across the UK. FiveQuarter is a pioneering gas exploration business involved in the discovery and extraction of gas from coal seams found both in the UK and various other European countries.

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

4

Oil and gas companies are looking to hire experienced and highly-skilled engineering professionals from a wide range of disciplines but the fact is that demand for oil and gas professionals has outstripped supply

“Large-scale coal mining ended some time ago but coal did not ‘run out’ and thanks to new technologies and the need to find alternative energy sources, the growth of the Coalbed Methane (CBM) market looks set to continue for decades to come.

“This is an exciting field of work both for existing oil and gas specialists as well as those looking for re-training opportunities, and for those who have faced redundancy from areas of industry that have declined in recent years.”

Matthew continued: “In the North East of England, FiveQuarter is developing a recruitment campaign that will focus predominantly on North East-based personnel, providing training and re-skilling where necessary and helping the local economy prosper, rather than simply going to the wider market to hire in skills from abroad.”

Companies like Five-Quarter are making the oil and gas industry even more diverse, and in turn creating additional

job opportunities, especially in the UK. The industry on the whole employs a huge skills base and rewards those who are prepared to work hard, use their initiative and are ambitious, with this comes good pay and ample opportunity for advancement.

The depletion of the UK skills base for jobs in a growing sector has been a worrying statistic in many reports over the last few years and one that needs to be tackled. Alongside the industry boom, a great deal of publicity has been given to the so-called ‘skills gap’ or ‘talent shortage’. This is especially true for engineers, who are the lifeblood of the oil and gas sector.

A maturing workforce, a lack of investment during the 1990s and early 2000s and an increase in science, technology, engineering and maths graduates choosing a career in the City as opposed to the oil and gas industry have all been contributors to the situation we now face.

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Lead one

5

Oil and gas companies are looking to hire experienced and highly-skilled engineering professionals from a wide range of disciplines but the fact is that demand for oil and gas professionals has outstripped supply.

Recruiting staff from other industries where engineers can transfer their skills to oil and gas is very common. An industry such as Defence is an area where companies are targeting and having success in attracting engineers with high-technology backgrounds. Although the opposite can be said for the oil and gas industry, most engineers once in oil and gas feel they do not want to transfer elsewhere.

Recruiters are busy finding a new generation of workers, and training programmes have sprung up to prepare them.

Some young people are signing on for jobs that promise good pay — but there are still a lot of positions to fill.

There is a range of career opportunities in the oil and gas sector. Careers in the industry, generally speaking are

long-term, well paid, can offer excellent progression and development and there’s extensive travel opportunities with jobs throughout the UK and worldwide.

Oil and gas is so diverse that if you don’t like the idea of travelling or working offshore there are related opportunities which are still in the industry, but don’t actually involve working away from home. A lot of the oil and gas companies that CY Partners recruits for have facilities or headquarters in mainland UK and in Europe. These facilities have scientific or engineering research and laboratory functions and it is here where the instrumentation and technical equipment that is used in the industry is designed and developed. So scientists and engineers can be directly involved with the oil and gas sector without having to work offshore at all.

Opportunities for physics, chemistry, software, electronics and engineering disciplines are very much in demand within these facilities.

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Lead one

There are many ways to enter into the booming industry, including: 66 Straight from school or college and progress through operator and technician roles onwards up to craftsperson status 66 Through apprenticeships such as the ‘Apprenticeship in Process Technology’, oil and gas extraction industry or chemicals manufacturing and petroleum industries 66 Vocational qualifications such as Process Engineering Maintenance or Operations and Maintenance Engineering 66 Higher education courses that have been designed to equip graduates with practical and hands on knowledge 66 In house training and development, of which there is a strong tradition in the sector

6 The increase in talent demand resulting from so many projects getting the go-ahead has widened the talent gap even further than industry expectations. The future of the oil and gas industry is solid, so long as there is the talent to keep it running.

If you are still unsure if this industry is for you, below are common advantages and disadvantages of working in the industry.

3. Good career prospects - you may start at the bottom of the ladder as a roustabout but hard work and dedication will soon see you move up the ladder.

4. Variation of roles and excellent training packages at regular intervals.

5. Great opportunities for international travel.

Oil & gas jobs and rig jobs – disadvantages 1. You can be away from family and friends a lot – some find it difficult to cope with the ‘Fly In, Fly Out’ rosters.

2. Difficult working environment – sometimes having to work in remote, hot, difficult environments.

3. Cramped living – the living quarters are not exactly penthouse suites.

4. Lack of privacy – lack of privacy in oil and gas jobs and rig jobs is one turn-off for many people. You seem to share everything with your colleagues – right from your soap to your towel.

5. Finally, as a general rule, the oil and gas projects require highly skilled workers, with good levels of numeracy and literacy. Maths and science certificates are required in many of the jobs in oil and gas sector, and training for the various categories of jobs/careers can often take at least three years.

Oil & gas jobs and rig jobs – advantages 1. Great pay – for engineers who choose to work in the sector, the financial rewards can be attractive. When it comes to the pay packet of oil and gas jobs and rig jobs, they can compete with any industry in the world. For the same job that you do on land, your pay is hiked by a good percentage when you are offshore and working on the rig.

2. For engineers who choose to work in the sector, the financial rewards can be attractive. According to the Oil and Gas Global Salary Guide 2012, industry professionals in the sector enjoy average salaries of £55,850 per annum - more than twice the national salary average of £26,244.

The guide also suggests that contractors in the North Sea are among the best paid anywhere in the world.

CY Partners Daniel Younger is founder and consultant at CY Partners, a specialist recruitment consultancy primarily operating within the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, FMCG, medical device, forensic, food and related scientific and engineering industries. The business is independently owned by Daniel and Probier Chatterjee, who together have over 25 years of recruitment experience.

For further information please visit: cypartners.co.uk

IT

Going

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Engineering simulation and advanced sensor design helps to develop digital oilfields, says Ahmad Haidari

7

A

s the oil and gas industry looks to increase production from old fields and deepwater reservoirs, the idea of the digital oilfield is highlighted as a potential solution to many of the challenges presented by higher temperatures, higher pressures, longer tiebacks, and more expensive operations.

A digital oilfield is “one where operators, partners, and service companies seek to take advantage of improved data and knowledge management, enhanced analytical tools, realtime systems, and more efficient business processes� (CERA Digital Oil Field of the Future). It involves a shift towards a real-time, or near real-time, way of working and connecting one or more remote sites together via technology, enabling teams to work closely together. In fact, it’s commonplace

today for control rooms to monitor and optimise the operations of sites thousands of miles away. To put this into perspective, digital oilfields have been estimated to tap an additional 125 Bbbl of oil by 2015.

This creates opportunities to improve processes, have advanced warning about product performance, and manage assets with real-time field information. The hundreds of terabytes of information collected and analysed in these control rooms everyday provide operations with intelligent data that ultimately will improve drilling, production, and operation across the supply chain.

It should be no surprise, then, that other advanced technology like electronic devices, sensors, controllers, and wireless connections are taking root and changing the industry's drilling practices. One example is the integration

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

8

of advanced electronic sensor technology into downhole and drilling operations. Data generated by sensors provides invaluable insight to engineers and operators to determine how to best drill, as well as how best to operate subsea facilities for maximum return.

Deploying sensors and developing products that respond and operate with embedded sensors leads to products that could have additional components, smaller sizes, and novel materials. Therefore, many factors must be addressed to ensure seamless, successful operation before the sensors can be placed in the well and drilling can begin. Factors include accurate sensor positioning, the signal and product integrity of the sensors, and the response of the equipment to control and operating conditions.

These are new challenges, so product development practices in many engineering and R&D departments must evolve to keep pace. Leading oil companies are extending capabilities and refocusing product development processes to take advantage of three enabling activities to meet these new challenges within their engineering and R&D divisions: 66 Detailed integrated multi-physics engineering simulation (early in the design process) 66 System design 66 Smart product developments that incorporate electromagnetic analysis and embedded software

Engineering simulation The growing development of drilling and evaluation and completion technologies influences the way engineers drill wells. They now have access to informative intelligence and data that helps with more efficient and smarter drilling.

These sources include electronics and sensors, which help accurately direct and control drill bit position while logging and measuring. This not only reduces nonproductive time, but also leads to faster drilling rates and helps reduce damage and drill wear. These electronic sensors need to withstand thermal, vibration, and impact damage.

Today, advanced engineering simulation tools can evaluate both single components as well as the interactions among components and subsystems of the entire design using single and multi-physics simulations. These science-based engineering tools include electronics, electromagnetics, fluids, and thermal and structural mechanics simulation technology.

With these tools, oil and gas companies can model well, drilling, and sensor designs with a high degree of detail and fidelity even with complex geometries and complex physics.

System design New design practices must account for product performance over the life of the equipment. For instance, the sensors and drill tools need to be subjected to real-life conditions of vibration, fatigue, high temperatures, and interferences from other equipment and electronic signals before reaching the field for commercial application. To do so, engineering teams are shifting from a component, or subsystem view, to a higher-level perspective that considers performance at the complete systems-level – applying multiple physics, multiple scales, and a collaborative, cross-functional engineering approach early in the design stage. By modeling systems-

IT

Electromagnetic analysis Understanding the formation properties and environment of the oil wells is critical to successful drilling. An oil company must factor in the depth of a well and design appropriate downhole tools and sensors that can handle the expected environment. One area where sensors play a crucial role in drilling is logging while drilling (LWD). There are three important LWD engineering tasks that require electromagnetic simulation analysis: 66 LWD antenna design to maximise sensitivity for complex three-dimensional drill bit trajectories into complex formation layers, while accounting for realistic environmental conditions such as antenna shape, mandrel affect, borehole effect, mud invasion zones, anisotropic formation properties, and mandrel eccentricity.

66 Parametric study of tool and environmental variables to enable rapid interpretation of complex logs, allowing operators to quickly interpret operating conditions and adjust equipment as needed.

66 LWD antenna electromagnetic characterisation for compatibility with receiver/transmitter electronics to maximise signal integrity and to ensure the tool never operates ‘blind’ in the field.

These engineering design issues require 3D electromagnetic field solutions together with electronics system simulation to provide design capability and system validation. The 3D tool can be optimised electromagnetically in a virtual environmental formation to look at the antenna

design and expected effects on measured logs.

While new to the oil and gas industry, the underlying computational technology used to perform these examples shown is deployed widely in other industries. For example, the electromagnetic field calculations for low-frequency are used in the design of electric machines, alternators, transformers, and other high-frequency electromagnetic applications may include simulation of antennas, cell phones and tablets, biomedical devices, radar systems, and many others.

It is clear that the oil and gas industry is using more advanced electronics and is operating more equipment and plants remotely. The underlying power controlling the behavior of the electrical, mechanical, and fluidic systems driving the digital oilfields is embedded software.

The embedded software manages the complex interaction between software, hardware, and human/machine interfaces.

For a new design, a system-level simulation approach combined with verifiable methods to help model the behavior of the hardware and the software before it is implemented enables engineers to gain insight into the performance of the well, downhole tools and sensors, and their controllers before they are implemented. For existing systems, and with sensors already in place, the real-time field data can be combined and even help drive detailed 3D simulation to perform root cause analysis, identify improvement opportunities, and to enhance the controllers and reliability of product and processes.

Technology is changing operations and processes in many oil and gas fields. There are substantial investments in R&D and engineering behind every safe, reliable, and cost-effective innovation implemented in the field. Increased product complexity and the remote operation and control of oil and gas equipment and processes creates new drilling challenges.

Detailed engineering simulation, coupled with system-level modeling, is empowering engineers to effectively design and deploy next generation sensors and smart products to gain additional efficiency and reliability in oil and gas drilling, production, and processing.

ANSYS Dr. Ahmad H. Haidari has more than 20 years of experience in the application of engineering simulation and modeling technology to address industrial-process-equipment design, equipment troubleshooting, analysis, and scale-up. He obtained his Ph.D. from Lehigh University and has made numerous presentations and written publications on modeling chemical and hydrocarbon process equipment and oil and gas machinery. At ANSYS he is the global director of the energy and process industries, where he ensures the full portfolio of ANSYS’ engineering simulation software provides appropriate capabilities to meet the modeling requirements of energy and process industry companies.

For further information please visit: ansys.com

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Embedded software

European oil & gas

level interactions and product responses to multiple forces, engineering teams are able to rapidly and continually finetune the entire product system and to predict systems-level performance in a virtual environment well before physical assembly and testing.

Extremely complex to design and build, next-generation digital oil fields incorporate many complex parts and components that all have to work together — putting systems-level engineering front and center. Innovative leaders in the oil and gas space are now assembling multidisciplinary, cross-functional engineering teams to manage intricate processes and predict systems-level performance at a very early design stage.

By modeling systems-level interactions and product responses to multiple forces, these leading-edge engineering teams are able to rapidly and continually fine-tune the entire oilfield in a virtual environment, well before physical assembly and testing.

Because the idea of a digital oilfield is relatively new, historical real-world testing may not provide all the data needed to eliminate risk — and to ensure project success.

Understanding unique component interactions in the digital oilfield is extremely valuable in identifying how to fix a design problem. Engineering simulation supplies this data and enables engineers in this space to rapidly finetune the entire product system in a virtual environment.

9

Above: First Minister Alex Salmond and Howard Woodcock, chief executive of Bibby Offshore, officially open Bibby Offshore’s brand new purpose-built headquarters, Atmosphere One in Westhill

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Key initiatives First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, officially opened subsea installation contractor Bibby Offshore’s brand new purpose-built headquarters, Atmosphere One, on Tuesday 28th May 2013.

The company recently relocated

European oil & gas

from Aberdeen Harbour to the new office facility at Prospect Park,

10

achieve a turnover of £220 million

Westhill, to provide it with the additional capacity necessary to support its significant increase in staff numbers and services.

Bibby Offshore is on track to by the end of 2013 and plans to increase this to £650 million by 2017, creating more than 100 onshore jobs in the north east.

Bibby Offshore’s chief executive Howard Woodcock said: “Continued investment in the development of the energy industry is exceptionally important and we are delighted to have had the opportunity to welcome the First Minister to officially open our new premises.

“The move was essential due to the speed at which we are expanding, the impressive demand for the company’s expertise, and our growth strategy to triple the size of our business around the world in the next four years. We have a number of key initiatives in place to ensure we recruit and train the most talented people in order to ensure the business can continue to grow.”

Above: An EFC Group technician testing equipment in the workshop

Thriving business EFC Group, a leading designer and manufacturer of instrumentation, monitoring, handling and control systems for the global oil and gas industry, has announced the launch of a new manufacturing plant in Moray.

The base in Enterprise Park, Forres, marks the Group’s second phase of expansion in the area and a £100,000 investment. This follows the opening of a new satellite office in the same business park in September 2012.

The new 4000ft2 plant has been opened six months ahead of schedule, demonstrating how EFC Group is driving forward its aggressive growth strategy. The company achieved turnover of £14 million last year and projects it will exceed £30 million turnover by 2016.

EFC Group CEO Bob Will said: “I’m delighted that we have been able to open our second Scottish manufacturing facility, which will support our existing, busy plant in Aberdeen and the thriving order book we have achieved in last 12 months. This new base will support the increasing level of work that EFC Group is experiencing, particularly in our subsea and well control divisions.

“We have enjoyed a successful year across each of our global bases and are well on track to achieve our business objectives. We plan to use this rapid growth in the UK as a springboard for achieving further international success in the long term.”

Significant expansion Apollo Offshore Engineering is on track for significant expansion - with a doubling of turnover and a major increase in staff, and to facilitate a rapidly growing order book the company has moved into new premises at Aberdeen's Waterloo Quay.

Apollo has developed apace since its creation - at the height of the global financial crisis in 2010 and its directors exercised endeavour and prudence from the outset, working as consultants by day and creators of the business by night and at weekends.

Managing director Jonathan D'Arcy said: "The initial focus was on early revenue because we understood that Apollo would have to support itself financially from the word go if it was to be the sustainable business of our vision. Our strategy was to maximise cash flow and build capital until accumulated reserves allowed business premises to be leased and staff employed."

From a standing start the company now employs 40 staff. In its last financial year, to September 2012, revenue increased by 400 per cent and is set to double to over £3 million this financial year, which is in line with a domestic and international growth plan to employ 100 staff and generate profitable revenue of £10 million by the end of 2015.

News

Above: Jee managing director, Trevor Lee

Multi-discipline subsea engineering and training firm Jee Ltd has continued to focus on improving

Family owned shipping firm, The Craig Group launched its latest platform supply vessel (PSV), the Grampian Sceptre recently at the Balenciaga Shipyard in Northern Spain.

The vessel was officially christened by Mrs Frances Murray, wife of Alistair Murray, logistics team lead at Talisman Sinopec Energy UK Limited Craig Group committed £50 million to the construction of this vessel, and it’s sister vessel the Grampian Sovereign. The vessels are the largest ever built by Craig Group and both have secured long-term contracts with Talisman Sinopec Energy UK Limited. The Grampian Sovereign commenced work recently in the North Sea while the Grampian Sceptre will start her contract in September later this year.

Douglas Craig, chairman and managing director of Craig Group, said: “Our major investment in state-of-the-art oilfield support vessels firmly underpins our position as market leaders in the provision of offshore support, ROV survey, platform supply and emergency response and rescue vessels. It also shows our commitment to the marine industry and that we continue to offer our customers an unrivalled service.”

The vessels are 83 metres long with an 18-metre beam and have diesel electric propulsion systems offering a greater fuel economy and efficiency. They have been specifically designed to meet the requirements of operators in the North Sea.

standards across its business and has

Positive safety environment

company continues to expand its

Expro has been recognised for the ninth consecutive year by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) for its outstanding global safety record. Expro has been awarded a RoSPA Commendation for excellence in health and safety at work within the oil and gas sector in the Society’s 2013 Awards.

The company has received awards from RoSPA for the past nine years, achieving a gold award in 2005 and then winning the Oil & Gas sector award in 2006 and retaining it in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Above: In 2010, Expro received a coveted Gold Medal in David Ford, Expro’s group HSEQ manager recognition of six years of industry-leading health and safety performance and commitment. In 2011 and 2012, Expro was also commended in the oil and gas industry sector highlighting its long-term commitment to safety.

David Ford, Expro’s group HSEQ manager, said: “Expro is very proud to have been recognised nine years in a row by RoSPA, which rightly demonstrates the importance we place on safety in all of our global operations. This award is testament to the hard work and commitment of our employees in creating our positive safety environment.” David Ford was presented with Expro’s Commendation in a special ceremony at Birmingham Hilton Metropole.

these accreditations, as they endorse

been awarded re-certification for the international standards ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 under the risk management foundation DNV (Det Norske Veritas).

The company has been re-certified for ISO 14001 Environmental management, and OHSAS 18001

globally recognised accreditations

European oil & gas

Safety management, and has

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Leaders in support

Improving standards

are especially relevant to Jee as the

11

transferred its ISO 9001 Quality management certification, held since 1995, to DNV to bring the three accreditations into one integrated business management system. The

offerings into developing markets.

Jee managing director, Trevor Jee, said: “We are proud to hold Jee’s dedication to maintaining the highest standards. This outward demonstration of our commitment to the environment as well as health and safety, represents our long-term focus on excellence and offering the best service possible to our customers.

“With a large talent pool of experienced engineers and highly qualified course tutors, we set a high standard at Jee for the services we offer. These accreditations are synonymous with our standards, ensuring all of our customers and course delegates receive unparalleled service and Jee continues to be a company of choice for subsea engineering and training.”

Valuable

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Mike Hawkins of Jee Ltd discusses his experiences of working at a successful business in the oil and gas industry

12

Below Mike Hawkins, technical director of Jee Ltd

T

his year, Jee Ltd celebrates its 25th anniversary. From its beginnings as a one-person consultancy, the company has grown to become a leading independent multi-discipline subsea engineering and training firm, with a team of 90 and three offices located around the UK. Jee was founded by Trevor Jee in 1988 and Mike Hawkins joined as the first full-time staff member soon after. He has been with Jee for more than 20 years and has witnessed the company’s phenomenal growth first-hand. Now working as Jee’s technical director, Mike shares his thoughts on his time with the company and his experiences of working in the oil and gas sector.

Q

What brought you into the oil and gas industry?

My involvement is due largely to my family – my father was a mechanical engineer in the oil industry and I wanted to follow a similar career path. The North Sea was relatively young when I started out and it was an exciting time to join the sector. I knew it would be a stimulating career that could teach me a lot and provide new experiences.

As I have progressed within the oil and gas industry, I have seen many advancements and my position at Jee has allowed me to be involved with large changes within the industry, as well as the company.

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Lead two

13

Q

How did you get started at Jee Ltd? I had an existing relationship with Trevor from the early days working together at BP. When Trevor founded Jee, the staff comprised just himself and a secretary. On his request, I began doing some freelance consulting for the company and, as the workload continued to grow, Trevor reached the point where he wanted to take on full-time staff.

At the time I was working for a large company and going from that to a smaller business was a challenge, but it also provided an exciting opportunity to help actively grow the company through an organic growth strategy.

One of the most rewarding aspects of working at Jee has been watching the company evolve. I have seen many developments in my time here, and look forward to seeing

how we can continue progressing to remain a company of choice for the subsea industry.

Q

How have you seen the oil and gas industry develop during your 20 years in the workforce?

From legislation reform to technological innovation, I have seen the industry transform tremendously in the past two decades.

Charting advancements in the sector, Jee has adapted with costeffective and integrated engineering solutions, and has grown its offerings to stay in step with the ever-changing industry.

Within Jee, we have transformed from a small consultancy to a full-service company fulfilling large contracts for international clients. Not only has the company added a

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

range of additional services and capabilities during my time here, but also I have seen our roster of clients grow as Jee became recognised for its technical excellence and commitment to service.

In the beginning, the company worked exclusively on pipeline technology. We were able to specialise in a niche market and could undertake highly technical studies or pieces of work, but such specialisation inevitably limited the size of the company. The decision to move from being purely a pipeline company was one made quite deliberately, as it enabled the business to continue to grow by fulfilling the needs of our customers and provide whole life of field engineering to their projects. By expanding our staff and introducing new expertise in structures, controls, materials, installation, decommissioning and renewables, we have allowed Jee to not only grow, but also to thrive.

14

Q

What have been some milestones of your time within the industry?

One of the biggest achievements during my time at Jee is also a milestone of the oil and gas industry as a whole. In one of my early pieces of work with the company, I assisted in convening a joint industry project (JIP) on pipeline trenching in connection with the British government.

In 1995, Jee managed the Trenching Guidelines Joint Industry Project, which accomplished a change in design philosophy for small diameter pipelines. For nearly two years, we managed this project, which involved collaboration from more than 20 companies within the industry, to develop design methodologies and data to enable operators to install pipelines without trenching.

The JIP provided influential change for the industry and proved financially successful. The resulting government guideline was especially significant in certain locations around the North Sea and West of Shetland, saving considerable installation costs for operators.

Internally, one of Jee’s major milestones was introducing a management team and board of directors within the company.

Ten years ago, Jee’s workforce was primarily composed of engineers. We realised that to take the company further, we needed to have a team who could manage technical contracts, as well as a board who could decide company strategy.

By adding both of these, we moved from a small group of consultants doing engineering studies to a fully-fledged engineering company able to complete major projects.

Q

How can oil and gas companies such as Jee ensure they continue to grow and thrive in the industry?

I think innovation is the most important aspect of this industry. Companies have to be able to adapt and encourage their staff members to examine novel approaches and devise new solutions, rather than remain stagnant with existing policies.

At Jee, we are identifying new skills that we want to develop within the company to broaden our range of integrated engineering capabilities. We are currently looking

to further expand our expertise in flow assurance capabilities, increased materials capabilities and structural design. We have recently completed a large renewables project and will use the experience gained from this to continue expanding our focus in the field.

Employing openness to change and modernisation is what has helped Jee achieve its lasting longevity and will be necessary for all companies working in the oil and gas industry.

Q

What developments do you expect to see within Jee in the next five years?

Jee is currently focusing on an aggressive growth strategy, aiming to increase our workforce from 90 to 150 in the next four years. This year, we opened an office in central London to attract new staff as well as give a more localised service to our clients in the area. We have already seen staff numbers there grow exponentially and we anticipate seeing this continue. We are also moving our Aberdeen office to a location double its size to accommodate growing client requirements.

Though not currently under development, but certainly within the longer term, it is inevitable that we will open an office in the US. We still have plenty of scope for growth within the UK sector at the moment but in the future

we will be looking to expand overseas and America is a natural choice.

Our focus on expansion is also seen in our engineering courses. Jee offers a wide variety of courses that are continually adapted to the changing industry. Similar to our engineering capabilities, we add new course subjects as the industry demands. Currently, we are developing new courses in the renewables area as we advance our skills in that field.

Our portfolio will continue to evolve as the company grows and furthers its range of expertise.

Q

What developments do you expect to see in the coming years for European oil and gas?

The European offshore oil and gas industry is now mature, which brings very specific issues and drivers. Cost-effective safe operation of aging assets, extension of the life of assets beyond original design life, reduction of the cost of new developments and efficient decommissioning of infrastructure will be brought to the forefront. Operators will have to put organised plans in place to effectively deal with these initiatives.

Lifetime extension (LTE) will continue to become more prevalent in the industry in the coming years to enable safe operation of existing assets and infrastructure beyond its

original design intent. At Jee, we are working consistently on LTE projects and have contributed to the authorship of ISO 12747, an internationally recognised code addressing LTE for rigid metallic pipelines.

The industry will also be driven towards low-cost options for development of subsea tie-backs to maximise viable production from depleting fields. Alternative novel techniques for pipeline installation could become extremely valuable if savings over conventional installation methods can be proven.

The engineers and staff at Jee will keep a close eye on this and other industry advancements to remain at the forefront of technology and practice, and to ensure we continually deliver optimal service to our current and future clients.

Jee Ltd Jee Ltd is a leading independent multi-discipline subsea engineering and training company, focussing on the oil, gas and renewables industries. The company employs a high ratio of chartered engineers to graduates and continues to grow as a centre of excellence. Its projects range from integrity management to decommissioning and analysis.

For further information please visit: jee.co.uk

European oil & gas

One of the biggest achievements during my time at Jee is also a milestone of the oil and gas industry as a whole. In one of my early pieces of work with the company, I assisted in convening a joint industry project (JIP) on pipeline trenching in connection with the British government

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Lead two

15

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Clean

16

Mark Zwinderman dispels some of the popular myths about oil waste products and the associated offshore challenges they create

A

few years ago I was lucky enough to be invited to an internal event that was organised by a major international oil company to discuss health, safety & environmental issues from the field in an open and free forum. Today I still count this as one of the most informative and encouraging experiences of my career in the oil industry.

Attendees were there to discuss any HS&E issue face-toface with the highest senior management. It is this kind of open forum and focus on safety culture that has made the oil industry a very safe place to work. There is a pride in delivering the often technically complex projects on a daily basis. It is, however, still often the case that in finding and producing the

oil, waste management remains the ugly duckling.

It is hard to argue that waste treatment in the oil industry has had a spotty past. There are many locations on the planet where decades of oil waste has been left, dumped or leaked - hazards to the health and safety of many and the environment of us all. There are also many locations on this planet where oil companies, service companies and waste management companies are doing a fantastic job.

There is no doubt that the production of significant volumes of hazardous oil waste streams (slops & sludge) by the oil industry from offshore drilling, exploration and production related activities has been one of the greatest challenges to be overcome by the offshore industry over the last 25 years.

The daily volumes of hazardous liquid waste being

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Technology

17

produced are continually on the increase, primarily due to produced emulsions and increased flow back volumes from poorer producing wells. Increasingly fracking, well stimulation and water flooding is needed on a routine basis to maintain production.

There are a range of activities surrounding the use and removal of drilling mud within drilling and exploration activities, and completion, production and work-over operations. All of these generate significant volumes of oil liquid waste, which comprises of heavily oil contaminated liquid mixtures of fine solid particulates, water or brine, cleaning chemistries, drilling mud and emulsified oils. This particularly potent combination of ingredients results in a veritable soup that contaminates all equipment and storage

tanks it comes into contact with, which results in further cleaning being required at many points downstream, thus generating additional volumes of slop waste.

The waste is notoriously difficult to treat, especially so at the site of production. Given the large volumes containing high proportions of emulsified fine solids, water and oil present in the material it can be highly viscous, cause line and pump blockages resulting in significant rig downtime, plugs filter media, and minimises the amount of oil and clean water that can be recovered. As a result the large majority of this waste is simply contained for transport back to shore for treatment and disposal as hazardous waste, resulting in a significant onshore headache.

In remote and developing regions this aspect is even more

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

In one production facility alone waste volumes in the last four years have been reduced by 86 per cent, saving the facility over $12 million in waste disposal costs. In addition, over 2000MT of high quality crude oil have been recovered and recycled from the waste stream in the process, boosting the profitability of the operation still further

18

problematic since the extensive infrastructure necessary to cope with this waste may not actually be present (yet) or available at onshore locations near to quayside facilities.

Ultimately this leads to a logistical challenge to continually transport thousands of tons of hazardous waste over large distances by road or rail, so that it can be treated at appropriate fixed and installed waste transfer stations before the solids fraction can be disposed of to landfill or used as aggregate for construction for example.

Very often the infrastructure is not only lacking in presence but is also less developed, which increases the opportunities for accidents, environmental problems and other HS&E issues.

During the transport process yet more waste is produced, as these transport facilities and infrastructure also require cleaning. The dirty slops produced add to the total volume of the waste. This of course is in addition to the significant costs being incurred by operators, service companies and waste management companies to fund and sustain this operation.

Drilling mud (itself typically an emulsion) displaced and removed from surfaces through the use of solvents and emulsion forming cleaning products forms more emulsions in place through daily operational procedures. The lack of apparent effective and economic solutions to treat these hazardous waste streams at the point of production results

in huge mountains of waste being contained and transported back to shore for treatment and disposal every year.

The liquid waste is typically contained and shipped to shore for potential treatment using a variety of traditional techniques, all of which struggle to rise to the challenge due to the nature of the waste itself. Filtration media clog up rapidly due to the high amount of fine solids present, and energy intensive methods such as thermal treatment both lack the high throughput capabilities required and tend to lose economic efficiency as the proportions of oil and water increase in the waste stream.

Furthermore, traditional chemical treatment by way of pH adjustment with emulsion breaking chemistries used in gravity separation techniques tends not to be robust to significant variances in the waste stream, and is both unpredictable and has limited effect as a result.

According to a recent World Bank Report there are currently some nine billion tons of drilling and production waste residing in various onshore storage facilities, pits and lagoons awaiting treatment. This fact is testament to the failure of the industry collectively to think ahead on the issue.

This monumental legacy reflects poorly on the sector, which proclaims in the public domain to maintain high standards of environmental awareness and the employment of best practice and best available technology wherever

Surface Active Solutions Mark Zwinderman is commercial director and co-founder of Surface Active Solutions, a leading provider of highly effective chemistries that simplify cleaning, treating and disposal processes. Since 2000 the business has been offering unique chemistries to the oil and gas industry for the cleaning of oil contaminated waste, drill cuttings, drilling muds, heavy crude oil sludge, and refinery waste.

For further information please visit: surfaceactive.com

European oil & gas

possible. Is it any wonder people are reluctant to allow fracking near their homes, playgrounds and forests? We simply have to work twice as hard to show society what we can do, how we will do it and show people how we have done it in other places.

These volumes of hazardous waste serve to provide a significant ongoing risk and a serious liability issue to the producers of such waste. Many governments are now exerting increasing pressure on oil operators to tackle this issue due to the risks associated with producing, transporting and storing hazardous wastes of this type for long distances and over extended periods of time – not to mention the dumping of this waste without employing any attempts whatsoever to treat it. This position is surely unacceptable in the industry in which we operate?

Surface Active Solutions (SAS) has developed Microemulsion Injection and Separation Technology (MIST) to aid in the prevention and management of these liquid waste streams. Our partnerships with many global, regional and local services companies and waste management businesses have produced a process of chemically enhanced centrifugation that has been successfully developed to treat both drilling waste and emulsified crude oil waste streams.

It uses proven engineering that provides a high throughput waste treatment and oil recovery process for the treatment

of oily slops using conventional solids control equipment to recover high value oil, water or brine, and virtually clean solids without the need for using energy intensive methodologies.

This process has been adapted for the offshore drilling market to tackle the problem ‘at source’ and has been used and demonstrated thus far at onshore fixed installations to treat over 50,000MT of drilling, exploration and production waste transported from the field. In one production facility alone waste volumes in the last four years have been reduced by 86 per cent, saving the facility over $12 million in waste disposal costs. In addition, over 2000MT of high quality crude oil have been recovered and recycled from the waste stream in the process, boosting the profitability of the operation still further.

In many cases more traditional chemistries are still used in these key application areas and the creation of large volumes of liquid slop waste unfortunately still remains common. In such situations microemulsion technology can be applied to the slop waste on the rig site. The treatment approach can be designed to fit within a standard size container and typically consists of a chemical injection system in combination with static inline mixing and centrifugation methods.

The microemulsion product breaks the slop waste generated through the use of standard cleaning products and is passed through a decanter centrifuge for recovery of the solids phase. The liquids can then be separated under gravity or by conventional hydrocyclones to recover the oil phase for recycling. The water fraction can once again be filtered and may be discharged on site.

It is important to point out that we at SAS merely provide the tools to the industry. Not even the industry, but rather, the people in the industry. Having worked in this exciting, often chaotic, amazing oil industry, I have met many great people at all levels. All of who are looking for the right tools, and to show the world what they can do if provided with the right tools and the opportunity to use them.

Fracking is bringing the oil industry increasingly close to all our homes. We either show the world how it is done or we will not be given the opportunity to even try. At SAS we have an environmental background. I graduated an Environmental Engineer at the Van Hall Institute in Holland.

I believe technology and attitude can make these things happen in an economic and profitable manner and we will continue to work and do our bit.

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Technology

19

perspective Industry

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

The decommissioning industry

20

Decom Offshore was designed to provide a collaborative industry perspective on the key challenges facing the decommissioning sector over the coming years

in the North Sea is continuing to grow at a considerable rate, with analysts predicting activity levels of £4.5 billion between now and 2017. This increase means that Decom North Sea (DNS), the organisation that was established to represent the North Sea’s oil and gas decommissioning industry, is set to play an increasingly important role.

Accordingly, over the last year the forum has been at the forefront of the industry, spearheading a number of initiatives and programmes designed to support long-term growth. These include a standard template for decommissioning programmes that will be used by operators to obtain approval for decommissioning operations in the North Sea, a joint industry project aimed at promoting the reuse of key items of equipment, remuneration models and the encouragement of greater knowledge transfer and market information between organisations and companies in the industry.

The latter point remains a key objective for DNS as it strives to promote greater understanding and communication between entities to encourage the sharing of best practice, technological innovations and methods of overcoming challenges. While the organisation has a number of methods of achieving this, a major role is played by the various events that are planned and hosted by DNS each year.

For example, its annual decommissioning conference, which in 2012 was jointly hosted by DNS and Oil & Gas UK was a great success and attracted leading industry figures from around the world with the sole purpose of sharing decommissioning knowledge and participating in interactive discussions on topical issues.

In fact, the success of the conference has led

DNS to create a new event – Decom Offshore 2013 – held in March this year. “Decom Offshore was designed to provide a collaborative industry perspective on the key challenges facing the decommissioning sector over the coming years.

Groups of our operators and main contractors, working together, outlined the main issues relating to the sub-surface, subsea, infrastructure removal and onshore disposal phases of a typical decommissioning programme,” explains DNS’ CEO Brian Nixon.

“The event was designed to be highly interactive and each session included open discussion and debate. Importantly, it allowed individual supply chain companies to validate and clarify points of importance as they arose, meaning that they will have much greater confidence in their respective business opportunities. Furthermore, Decom Offshore 2013 served to highlight emerging technologies and techniques from decommissioning specialists, helping to introduce operators and major contractors to sources of talent and expertise.”

The nature of the event was such that encouragement and collaboration was centre stage. As Brian comments: “Whilst it may be possible to anticipate some of the challenges likely to be highlighted, we purposefully organised the event in such a way that experienced representatives from our industry identified and articulated the outcomes.”

Decom Offshore 2013 is just one example of the hard work that DNS engages in when supporting the growth and development of the North Sea decommissioning industry. “It’s just one of the initiatives that we deliver throughout the year,” says Brian. “For example, we have also established a special interest group with companies in the Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft

use in other European countries (albeit with some minor alterations perhaps being needed), helping operators and contractors alike to standardise their efforts across the North Sea.” All of these projects are progressing well, underpinned by the aims of DNS and its desire to improve and support the industry. One of those aims, and a spirit that Brian is always keen to pursue is that of collaboration. “There is encouraging evidence of collaboration in many areas,” he says. “With work underway to map out the full supply chain, share experience through case studies, consider technology improvement, and establish joint venture arrangements to reduce the number of contracting interfaces. Cost remains a challenge for operators and taxpayers alike, with some parties looking for game-changing approaches to these complex projects.”

If this spirit of collaboration continues, there is little doubt that the decommissioning sector in the North Sea will grow in a positive fashion despite any possible challenges. One that Brian highlights is the potential pinch points and restraints in terms of capacity. “Over the next five to ten years we believe that there will be some acute capacity restraints and pinch points that may have a bearing on the industry due to increased activity in all of the operating sectors.

We will shortly conclude two consultancy projects; one is intended to provide an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the supply chain, while the second will hopefully provide an assessment of possible future capacity constraints. We hope these analyses will be complete by April.” With DNS maintaining its role at the forefront of the decommissioning industry, there is little doubt that 2013 looks to be a busy, and exciting year.

Over the next five to ten years we believe that there will be some acute capacity restraints and pinch points that may have a bearing on the industry due to increased activity in all of the operating sectors

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

area to address the particular challenges and opportunities relating to the lighter weight assets in the Southern North Sea. We also lead regular learning journeys to Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and key regions of the UK, and have recently completed our first visit to Louisiana to research synergies and approaches used in the active Gulf of Mexico market.”

Alongside these developments, DNS continues to work towards the initiatives mentioned earlier in this article. One of the initiatives to come out over the last year was the development and introduction of a standard template for decommissioning programmes that will now be used by operators to obtain approval for all decommissioning projects in the North Sea sector. The standard template was the result of six months of collaborative work and was facilitated by DNS and supported by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and a working group of DNS member companies (BP, CNR International, Talisman, Marathon Oil, GP Decom and Optimus Decom), with additional input from Perenco and Wood Group PSN. Speaking to European Oil and Gas earlier this year, Brian highlighted this initiative as an excellent example of the collaborative spirit across the industry and was highly positive about the benefits it would bring to the industry.

Updating us on the progress, he explains: “The Standard Decommissioning Programme has now been formally endorsed by the UK regulators and has been used by two operators for different types of asset. The Template is now live on both DNS and DECC websites with operators being encouraged to adopt it during 2013 before it is expected to become mandatory. It is hoped that in time this Template could also be adopted for

FOCUS

European oil & gas

DECOMMISSIONING

21

For further information please visit decomnorthsea.com

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

22

expertise Complete

Heerema Marine Contractors Cape Industrial Services Andy Dawson, operations director at Cape Industrial Services, said the provision of safe systems for access had been a key consideration for Heerema during the Ekofisk project.

"Cape supplied scaffolding hardware and systems which facilitated safe access to elements of the assets at Ekofisk, deploying trained staff certified to SG4:10, TG:20 and Construction Industry Safety Scaffolders Record Scheme (CITB) standards.

"With scaffolding systems in place, this allowed Heerema and its contractors to proceed with works on Ekofisk with minimal risk, which is a vital consideration in any decommissioning project."

(HMC) is a world leading marine contractor operating in the international offshore oil and gas industry. The business, which is headquartered in Leiden in the Netherlands, excels at transporting, installing and removing offshore facilities such as fixed and floating structures, subsea pipelines and other infrastructure in shallow, deep and ultra-deep waters. The company has expertise across the complete supply chain and prides itself on its excellence in project management and engineering delivered by a passionate and experienced workforce.

HMC belongs to the Heerema Group, and can trace its history back to the late 1940s/ early 1950s when the company was originally carrying out construction and installation work in South America. From this initial work the business has built continued experience in working with drilling and construction platforms and installations, registering many important developments in the industry. For example, in the 1960s the company was a pioneer in the use of crane vessels in the fledgling North Sea oil and gas industry, it also commissioned and successfully operated the world’s first semi-submersible crane vessels (SSCVs) to increase heavy-lift capacity and operability in the North Sea. While these developments occurred largely under the Heerema umbrella, in 1997 Heerema

Marine Contractors formerly commenced operations as an individual business division, using three fully owned and operated SSCVs that had become in high demand in the North Sea in previous years. Always mindful of staying ahead of the industry, the business converted one of these vessels, the SCCV Balder, into an advanced deepwater construction vessel (DCV) in order to cope with increased market demand.

Subsequently, over the last decade HMC has become a recognised expert in the deepwater field, executing many unique projects, setting a number of industry records and establishing itself as a leader in deepwater full field developments (including subsea infrastructure).

Today, HMC’s services can loosely be divided into four categories – decommissioning and removal, heavy-lift, float-over and the previously mentioned deepwater work. For the latter the company has the capacity to provide a complete solution to clients, encompassing design, procurement, and installation and testing of infrastructure used in deepwater field developments. Through more than five decades the business has developed tried and tested methods of operating, using installation procedures that enable operators to install deepwater infrastructure while maintaining excellent safety standards.

The company offers a number of key products in the deepwater field: mooring systems, export pipelines, flowlines and risers, in-line structures and subsea tie-backs and installation of floaters, and currently operates two deepwater construction vessels. At present a third vessel, the DCV Aegir, is under construction and is due to become operational in the Gulf of Mexico towards the end of 2013.

More recently, the decommissioning sector has been a fast growing industry through the global oil and gas sector, and it is one that HMC has been able to turn its experience and skill to easily. In this field the company performs turnkey platform decommissioning and removal services such as topsides removal and offloading, jacket preparatory work, pile cutting/soil plug removal/conductor removal, and jacket removal and offloading. All of these services are carried out using reverse installation methods.

HMC is currently working on the removal of platforms in the Ekofisk development in the North Sea, which is the largest contract ever awarded in HMC’s history. ConocoPhillips Skandinavia contracted HMC to decommission, remove and dispose of/recycle nine platforms

Being in the North Sea means that the project is being carried out in particularly harsh conditions. The water depth on location varies between 70 and 90 metres, and the jacket weights vary between 3000 and 9000 metric tonnes and have been removed according to the Single Piece Jacket removal methodology. Each of the nine platforms to be decommissioned has numerous topsides, varying between six and 16 per platform, with the topsides weighing between 100 and 200 metric tonnes. As with all

HMC’s projects, safety is paramount throughout the operation and all work is being carried out to the highest Norwegian standards. Alongside the Ekofisk project HMC has also carried out decommissioning work at NW Hutton, Mars, Froy and Brent Spar in the North Sea. Whichever area of the industry HMC works in, its dedication to quality, safety and the highest skills and techniques available place it among the leaders in its field. Looking ahead, the business retains this position by staying aware of market developments or growing market sectors – decommissioning being a good example of this.

Alongside decommissioning, deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations are also planned to grow in line with the industry and at the end of 2012 HMC signed a worldwide alliance agreement with Technip in order to combine capabilities and develop in this market. Being recognised as a skilled and experienced partner in each of the markets it operates in stands HMC in good stead to continue developing as a successful business in the future.

More recently, the decommissioning sector has been a fast growing industry through the global oil and gas sector, and it is one that HMC has been able to turn its experience and skill to easily

Heerema Marine Contractors heerema.com

Services Marine contractor

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

located in the Greater Ekofisk area between 2008 and 2014, with all work scheduled to be carried out by the SSCV Hermod, SSCV Thialf and DCV Balder vessels. Representing a challenging undertaking, the project is divided into four phases: 66 Phase one – platform surveys by helicopter 66 Phase two – platform made safe (and hook down preparations) 66 Phase three – topsides removal and disposal 66 Phase four – jacket removal and disposal

Heerema Marine Contractors

European oil & gas

PROFILE

23

service First class

ASCO is the leading provider of integrated

offshore support and logistics services to the oil and gas industry. The company, which has operations in the UK, Norway, Holland, the US, Canada, Australia, India, the Caspian, Oman, Singapore and Trinidad, prides itself on tirelessly working to provide the best possible customer service levels. This aim, combined with the highest standards of quality, safety and efficiency, underpins all of ASCO’s extensive services.

“As a sales and services company, customer service has to be at the forefront of everything we do,” confirms Andrew MacDonald, CEO of ASCO Europe. “Not only do we constantly examine the way in which we can improve our services but we continuously look to ways in which we can make it safer, more reliable, more efficient and effective in order to reduce the risk that customers import into their operations by doing business with us.

“We play a role that is often ‘mission critical’,

it may be low profile, but we provide services that are essential to our clients, so from the start this approach has been key to our success and the way that we have evolved as a business. So, we’ve built upon a reasonably simple business model of adding value to our customer services by providing clients with the benefits of our fully integrated offering. We can leverage those services by focusing on extremely high levels of client service and the management of safety in the workplace.”

This attitude has been crucial to ASCO’s success and instrumental in building the company’s excellent reputation in the industry, which is respected by clients worldwide. “We have worked hard to build lasting relationships,” Andrew says. “In fact, in some respects it is easier to name who we don’t work with than who we do, but our customer base covers all of the key operators in the market, as well as a large majority of the tier one contractors. As a service company, however, we feel that it is important to always look to ways of improving our services, and this is something that we have really worked on recently.

“Over the last 12 months for example, we have really ramped up our whole attitude to customer service even further. For a long time we have built our business on the solid principle of delivery of value for our customers - if it doesn’t deliver value to our clients then we don’t want to think about it. So, this year we have enhanced our customer service

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

ASCO

European oil & gas

PROFILE

25

26 European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

PROFILE

ASCO’s experience, skill and knowledge extends across its service portfolio, enabling the business to provide a fully integrated range of logistics services both on-and offshore ARR Craib Transport Ltd

placed to grow with the sector it is also a member of industry body Decom North Sea. “Decommissioning is an interesting market,” says Andrew. “It is certainly going to grow and when it does, as a service company it is our job to ensure that the infrastructure is available on a commercially sensitive basis by making certain that we have the people, the technology and the preparedness to assist and support in a costeffective, efficient and sound and safe fashion.”

Decommissioning is set to be just one area of growth for ASCO moving forward, as the business continues to flourish in each of its four regional sectors; Europe, the Americas, Australasia and the Middle East/North Africa.

“In Europe, in terms of the future we will continue to focus on service development and new ways of improving our customer service as well as our internal processes and employee communications and development. We are the market leader and we have to continue to work very hard to maintain that position for the longterm. The bottom line is that we are a service company, and so we must always be improving that service to remain competitive. We have a fantastic pool of knowledge and experience in the business and so if we can continue to understand what our customers want, and how we can deliver that, then I have no doubt that we will grow as a business,” Andrew concludes.

ARR Craib was established in 1983. Today it has a turnover of £45 million+, 370 employees and operates the largest general transport fleet in Scotland. It has bases in Aberdeen, Cumbernauld and NE England. ARR Craib enjoys an exemplary record on safety and legal compliance.

The company understands the unique demands placed on the transport provider by oil and gas, and believes that with its experience it is uniquely placed to meet those while ensuring its clients’ objectives are met.

ARR Craib is proud to have provided ASCO with transport services for over ten years.

ASCO ascoworld.com

Services Integrated logistics solutions

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

the risk for all involved. We really took a step back to look how we could make this safer and after significant investment the system has been introduced to the market with much success.

The key aim was finding the balance in reducing the risk to the personnel involved, while at the same time improving the standards of service that the customer gets in order to maximise their asset utilisation.”

Related to waste management and recycling is the growing North Sea decommissioning market, an area that ASCO has been closely involved with. Not only is the business well

European oil & gas

team quite considerably by investing in and recruiting managers that have specific skills in certain areas of customer service development.

We’ve implemented ‘client advisory boards’ where we listen to our customers in terms of gathering feedback, and we have also launched our Knowledge Zone, which establishes and identifies best practices, processes and procedures all built into a commercially attractive model. All of this enables our clients to get the advantages of ASCO’s experience and shared learning over the years.”

ASCO’s experience, skill and knowledge extends across its service portfolio, enabling the business to provide a fully integrated range of logistics services both on-and offshore. “In terms of our European capabilities we have a fairly comprehensive network of bases that we provide our services from,” Andrew comments. “We operate from a number of locations stretching from the Shetlands, down past Peterhead and Aberdeen in Scotland and Great Yarmouth, and these are our key onshore supply bases. In the UK we also have a presence in Edinburgh where we are developing our capabilities in the onshore drilling services and support market, as well as an advanced waste treatment transfer station that supports our environmental management business in Shetland.

“On the continent, we have a base in Ijmuiden in the Netherlands, from which we principally support drill units with their waste activities in the Dutch sector, and we also have a strong presence in the Norwegian market supporting oil and gas operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). This stretches from the South right up to the North of the country, where we are well positioned to capitalise on the future developments in the Arctic regions. Our services really cover the full chain, so offshore logistics services, onshore quayside support - supported by extensive warehousing and management systems, personnel management and placement services, ships agency solutions, training and support operations, and then ancillary services such as cranage, road transport, software services and inventory management.”

The business is also involved in waste management, which it provides through Enviroco, its specialist environmental services business. “Most recently Enviroco has brought an award winning tank cleaning system to the market,” highlights Andrew. “Tank cleaning is an extremely hazardous operation onboard vessels and this new system is all about reducing

ASCO

27

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

28

waste line Watching the

Simon Storage Simon’s UK Terminals have the capacity to manage wastes from all kinds of industrial processes including the storage, receipt and dispatch of wastes arising from North Sea offshore oil and gas production. Enviroco, in partnership with Simon Storage, has developed a comprehensive solution for the management of large volumes of produced water resulting from oil and gas exploration, production and decommissioning operations in the North Sea, ensuring the safe onshore transfer and temporary storage of produced water.

Providing innovative waste

management solutions, Enviroco is one of the leading waste management companies in the UK, with increasing worldwide capabilities. Its main aim is to deliver value, with unrivalled focus on safety and environmental performance.

The services available from Enviroco fall into three areas - waste and resource management, industrial services and oil and gas. In the latter sector, the company is the leading provider of waste management and industrial cleaning services to the oil and gas industry in the UK. Indeed, since its formation in 1998, it has continually developed the business in response to the dynamic and challenging needs of the oil and gas industry – and as a result, it has become the recognised expert within this specialised field. Its operations, facilities, processes and systems have all been specifically designed and constructed to meet the rigorous standards within the oil and gas sector, and the ‘Enviroco package’ encompasses all of the waste management, industrial cleaning and specialised services and support that the oil and gas industry demands.

The company has extensive oil and gas sector support assets, including its purpose-built waste management centres, direct discharge quayside locations and unique oil and gas technologies.

Furthermore, its specialised treatment technologies for drilling muds, slops and effluents, as well as its new Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) de-scaling facility, ensure that its facilities are not only conveniently

located, but also comprehensively equipped.

As part of its oil and gas provision, Enviroco is very active in the decommissioning of oil and gas facilities. This process is necessary when the structures or fields have reached the end of their useful life. Various options are assessed before a decommissioning plan is created, which then must be approved by government before implementation. When undertaking decommissioning projects for the removal and disposal of installations, careful planning, organisation and communication is critical to ensure successful and incident-free completion of the works.

The business has developed a comprehensive offering to support the decommissioning of redundant offshore oil and gas structures at the end of their life span. Its specialised waste management package for decommissioning can be delivered through its quayside facilities located in Aberdeen, Peterhead and Great Yarmouth.

This can also be organised through Enviroco’s wider partner network at any port reception facility, including locations such as the Shetland Isles, or the North East of England. Finally it is also able to work closely with its parent company, ASCO Group, to provide a total supply chain solution to decommissioning projects.

With increasing experience in this developing field, Enviroco is able to offer a safe and environmentally-focused solution that will provide clients with technical support and guidance in this challenging and complex process.

Enviroco is also keen to share its experience and highlight its expertise in decommissioning in waste management, and at an event in May 2013 the company’s bid and marketing manager, Graham Heaton, spoke about the topic at the East of England Energy Group’s (EEEGR) Special Interest Group (SIG).

The event took place at the Orbis Energy Centre in Lowestoft, and also featured talks with representatives from AKD Engineering and Claxton. This was the third meeting of the SIG, which was formed to raise awareness of the business opportunities of Southern North Sea (SNS) decommissioning for organisations within the East of England.

Graham Heaton talked about Enviroco’s experience of managing waste from decommissioning projects, and the company’s redevelopment of its Great Yarmouth waste site.

Established in 2001, this waste transfer and treatment centre services the needs of the oil and gas sector, as well as other markets such as

PROFILE

Alongside decommissioning, Enviroco also offers several other services to oil and gas customers, such as produced water management, drill cuttings, drilling mud treatment plant and mercury management

Enviroco enviroco.co.uk

Services Waste management

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Simon Storage facilities. These facilities, located on the east coast of England, allow for deliveries of large quantities by vessel, direct to a single offload point.

This specialised service offering, in partnership with Simon Storage, further demonstrates Enviroco’s commitment to supporting the oil and gas market with innovative, safe and compliant solutions for the management of waste materials from exploration, production and decommissioning activities.

It is clear that Enviroco has worked incredibly hard since it was founded in order to create invaluable waste management solutions. But perhaps most importantly, the company recognises that its people are the key to the business’ success. As a result, it employs a highly skilled workforce, including some of the industry’s highest achievers. The company is rightly proud of its people, and their aspirations to succeed – and it actively supports and develops all staff, from shop floor to boardroom.

European oil & gas

energy, retail, manufacturing and education and local authorities. The site was upgraded in order to meet increasing demand.

Alongside decommissioning, Enviroco also offers several other services to oil and gas customers, such as produced water management, drill cuttings, drilling mud treatment plant and mercury management.

The produced water management solution has been developed in partnership with Simon Storage. The two companies have created a comprehensive solution for the management of large volumes of the resulting produced water from North Sea oil and gas exploration, production and decommissioning activities.

Some produced water may not meet the stringent offshore standards to be discharged to sea and so will be required to be transferred onshore for treatment and disposal. In some cases, produced water may also contain NORM. Enviroco’s produced water management service ensures the safe onshore transfer and temporary storage of produced water, using

ENVIROCO

29

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

30

future Investing in the

Headquartered in Aberdeen

, privately owned group of companies Ferguson Group was established in 1976 to service the container and accommodation demands of companies in the North Sea oil and gas industry.

Today the group employs over 180 people at its offices and facilities around the world. “Our main bases are in the UK, Norway, Singapore, Australia and the Middle East,” states Hayley Yule, group-marketing manager at Ferguson Group. “We also have partners in Kenya, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Trinidad, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, East Timor and New Zealand.”

The group has enjoyed incredible success over the last ten years, with turnover exceeding £50 million in 2011. As demand has increased for its high quality, innovative and versatile products, the group has invested in new yards, offices and facilities across the globe, as Hayley elaborates: “We needed larger facilities to continue our work; in July 2011 we moved into a new purpose built head office and yard in Kintore, Aberdeenshire, which was followed by a new purpose-built yard and offices in Perth, Australia in January 2012, a new office complex was opened in Tananger, Norway in March 2012 and new offices were opened in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in September 2012, and we have just moved to a bigger yard in Singapore earlier this year, things are very positive for the Ferguson Group.”

Dedicated to offering a flexible and personal service, Ferguson Group’s success has been achieved by listening to the market and also the unique demands of its customers, which has resulted in high quality, innovative products that improve the safety, comfort and efficiency of those working in the oil and gas sector.

The group recently announced a new product at the 14th Asian Oil, Gas & Petrochemical Engineering (OGA) exhibition and conference, which took place in Malaysia from June 5 – 7 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

A major product for the group, which boasts a wide range of innovative features, is its offshore container division’s closed mud skips. Designed to improve health and safety standards and the efficient containment of drilling waste for its transportation to treatment or disposal sites, the DNV 2.7-1/EN 12079 fully certified 3.6 cubic metre closed mud skips are also designed to meet NORSOK S-002N requirements to improve health and safety. The product has been designed to reduce the risk of injury to personnel using this product; it has a lightweight aluminium lid to prevent injuries when it is opened and has been developed to ensure there is no need for personnel to climb on it, which eliminates the risk of falls, and is designed so that its forklift pockets prevent any foreign bodies from the ground falling on personnel when being transported.

On top of the health and safety benefits, the group has looked at issues in the oil and gas industry and found solutions, such as a lid sealing system that seals the unit and prevents water entering the mud skip during transportation and a drainage plug to remove any excess fluid, thus preventing the mud skip going over its payload weight.

Following an impressive 35 years of growth in the business, the group’s strategic plan is to continue its international expansion and also develop a foothold wherever there is demand.

These recent investments and developments in new facilities and offices, as well as its innovative product range, will enable Ferguson Group to continue meeting the increasing demands of its customers well into the future.

A major product for the group, which boasts a wide range of innovative features, is its offshore container division’s closed mud skips. Designed to improve health and safety standards and the efficient containment of drilling waste for its transportation to treatment or disposal sites

Ferguson Group ferguson-group.com

Services Specialist in the rental of containers, refrigeration/ chiller, accommodation and engineering modules

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

The exhibition gave Ferguson Group Singapore the opportunity to showcase its fleet and introduce the new six metre accommodation module that is specifically designed for customers working in southern hemisphere conditions. “All of our accommodation modules are certified to DNV 2.7-1 / EN 12079 and are designed and manufactured in-house to IS0 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 standards, so we control the design and quality of the modules ourselves. We are very flexible and listen to our customers, working alongside them and taking on-board their comments to meet their requirements.” The new sixmetre accommodation module offers a safe and comfortable living space for two to four personnel through the development of a new internal fit out, an attractive and relaxing interior and dual or individual air-conditioning systems with individual thermostatic control.

With an increase in upgrade and maintenance work being carried out in the North Sea and on an international scale, Ferguson Group has been offering its services to major oil and gas companies around the world; accommodation projects have included a 48-person accommodation complex complete with an office and medic module, as well as a galley and food store module for the Angel platform in the North West shelf of Australia. All modules were fitted with en-suite facilities, including under floor heating in wet units, desk and seating areas, two sets of bunks, high quality fittings and fixtures and contemporary colour schemes. All cabins were fitted with advanced integrated split HVAC systems and a PLC (Programme Logic Control) fire and gas detection system.

Focused on the continued innovation and evolution of its product range, a recent product to be launched is the group’s new six-metre dual zone refrigerated/chiller container from IceBlue Refrigeration Offshore, a specialist in providing refrigeration and freezer solutions and a member of Ferguson Group. Following extensive market research, the new product was developed to offer a flexible solution for transporting a range of perishable foodstuff with specific storage condition requirements in one container.

“This dual zone container offers customers two compartments, so they could have one refrigerator area and another for frozen products.

The container operates this from memory, with temperatures ranging from minus 30 to plus 20 degrees,” highlights James Scullion, Business Development – IceBlue Refrigeration Offshore.

Ferguson Group

European oil & gas

PROFILE

31

areas

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Access all

32

Megarme

, which was founded in 1993 in the UAE, is a specialist rope access solutions provider that offers turnkey inspection, repair and maintenance services to clients throughout the Middle East.

The company currently operates from offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, covering the wider GCC through agency agreements, and it has plans in place to open a fourth facility in Saudi Arabia in 2014. Megarme serves clients through two distinct divisions - the access division and the inspection and engineering division.

This year marks Megarme’s 20th anniversary, and as managing director Billy Harkin explains, it has built a strong reputation based on a number of key factors: “Reliability, quality and safety,” he says. “We have consistently been delivering project after project on time and to budget for two decades now and our clients know that they can always rely on us to get the job done. We have always been a strong brand synonymous with these qualities, but it was a management buyout in 2006 and the subsequent setup of the divisional structure in the business that has allowed the group to achieve the considerable growth that we’ve had, and to position ourselves as a leader and innovator within our chosen industries.”

Throughout this more recent period, Megarme has aligned its objectives and consolidated its business in order to achieve continued growth.

Importantly, as Billy explains, the business has built longstanding relationships with clients, a factor that he earmarks as important to the company’s success. “We have seen a lot of competitors come and go during this time,

but I believe that clients want to deal with an organisation that they can build long-term relations with for many years to come.

“We have ensured excellent client retention within all sectors, which historically are shipyards, rig operators, asset owners and construction companies who have to work within tight timelines and budgets,” he continues. “We represent a one-stop-shop for all of their work at height requirements, which not only means single source contracting for ease of business, but results in other benefits, such as huge cost savings, a lower headcount on site, one time mobilisation/demobilisation and less bed and deck space required offshore. We always work closely with our clients to meet their objectives and understand their needs in terms of their main drivers, so time, money and quality.”

Operationally, each of the company’s two divisions provides distinct advantages to clients.

“The evolution of our access division has meant that we now look at complete access solutions from a 360 degree perspective,” says Billy. “Our philosophy is simple, we try to cater to the complete access requirements of our clients.

So, that means consulting with them to ensure they are always getting the best solution. For example, we can facilitate a turnkey solution to even the most complex access challenge, whether it is conventional rope access, tension net and deck systems, training solutions, or even a hybrid of all of the above. In conjunction with this we can also provide all of the trades and disciplines required to execute any job scope, and can also allow third party services to gain entry and egress the area if necessary.”

Megarme has invested considerably in its

PROFILE

Megarme is highly reputed for its safe, reliable and high quality approach, a reputation that the company maintains through stringent training at its own state-of-the-art facility

Megarme megarme.com

Services Specialist rope access solutions

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

office in Saudi Arabia in 2014. Its a huge market and a notoriously difficult one to penetrate, but the regional knowledge that we have within the GCC gives us a huge advantage to overcome the many challenges that are inherent with operating a specialist services company in this part of the world.

“We are also being presented with increasing opportunities in North and West Africa, which are being explored, and we have had a JV in India for the last two years as well. Also, we work in the Caspian region through our partners there, mobilising projects in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, which are other growth areas for us. Ultimately we want to continue to innovate and grow at the trajectory we have been and prove our replicable business model works in a number of other countries in the MENA region. I think that the next decade will be very interesting, and we are poised to accelerate our growth and potential from the strong foundations that we have established over the last two decades,” he concludes.

European oil & gas

inspection and engineering division in order to construct and approve an RT bunker facility that would position it as a first tier inspection and engineering contractor. “This is a mandatory requirement to store and transport the isotopes necessary to carry out radiographic testing, which is one of the NDT disciplines required under the long-term inspection contracts in our region,” highlights Billy. “The process took some time and investment for the construction, as well as the stringent new regulations that were being implemented by the newly formed Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), but since then we have secured a couple of long-term inspection contracts with Occidental in Qatar and Total ABK in Abu Dhabi as well as other work with international and local EPC contractors.”

Megarme is highly reputed for its safe, reliable and high quality approach, a reputation that the company maintains through stringent training at its own state-of-the-art facility. “The Megarme Training Center (MTC) is located in Dubai Investment Park and is the best of its kind in the

Megarme

33

region,” Billy adds. “It is an 18 metre high facility that caters to the highest IRATA standards and can be used for basic or bespoke WAH training packages.”

Although Megarme has only been operational for two decades, Billy admits that further growth is high on the agenda. “As we approach the halfway mark in 2013 our main focus is that we stay on track to achieve our ambitious growth targets, whilst staying within our budgets for the year. As mentioned, we are opening our new

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

34

A diverse Privately owned

engineering and manufacturing firm Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering Co Ltd (SOE) has established solid foundations and a strong reputation since its inception in 2007. With a product portfolio that spans four major sectors of the oil and gas industry, gas transportation and storage, offshore drilling, offshore cranes and offshore production, and focuses on high technology productions, positive partnerships with

established players and state-of-the-art facilities, SOE anticipates a rise into the ranks as a key Chinese player in this market.

“SOE is a young company, which was established in 2006, since then we have invested

in completely new facilities at the Qidong yard, which took under two years to complete before we launched in 2008. Today our core focus is the oil and gas industry, where we provide LEG carriers, LPG carriers and LNG middle-scale carriers. We are also focused on the big offshore equipment side such as large-scale cranes for offloading and load outs in the offshore industry; these range from 800 tonnes capacity to 5000 tonnes capacity. On the other hand, we also work on topsides for vessels such as FPSOs and FSOs and our shipyard is focused specifically on topside process modules,” explains Kevin Zhu, commercial director of SOE. With a long-term agenda from the start to join forces with strong, reputable clients, the company has already established more than two years experience and developed its business with major companies in the market.

A major development for the company is its recently signed high-profile contract with Evergas for the design and construction of a series of DRAGON 2750cbm medium-sized LNG carriers. The state-of-the-art vessels are constructed from an entirely new design and were developed in-house by SOE’s design department alongside Evergas. SOE’s Qidong construction base will also design, engineer and fabricate the LNG cargo tanks in full co-operation with Wartsila and Wartsila Oil & Gas Systems for the supply and installation of the dual-fuel engines, gas plant system and LNG fuel system on the vessels. “Evergas has been our client since 2010, so we have learned to work together for this LNG project,” states Kevin.

“This is also a one-off project with Wartsila, where we are working together to deliver a high-quality dual-fuel powered vessel that will be a landmark in the industry.” In addition to LNG, the ships will have the capabilities to carry and reliquefy Ethane and LPG with the cargohandling package that Wartsila is supplying.

Anticipated to be groundbreaking and due for delivery in 2015, the bespoke DRAGON 27500 LNG carriers are designed with features

specifically tailored for safe, efficient and environmentally friendly operations. These include LNG dual-fuel propulsion and an optimised ECO hull design that will lower emissions significantly, while the ballast water treatment system has been designed to protect the marine environment. To certify the green vessel profile, the ships will receive Clean Ship Notation, EEDI compliance, Green Passport, NOx and Tier III compliance. “This is going to be the first middle-sized LNG vessel in the world, so it is a major current focus for us,” highlights Kevin. “This is a tunkey project to provide the design, construction and delivery of the vessel.

The design of the vessels is completely new and was developed in-house, we will also design, engineer and fabricate the LNG cargo tanks, which are unique in the market. Using our own engineering team, we have focused on training our personnel in specialist skills to ensure we are fully prepared for this kind of special project.”

With steel cutting due to begin at the end of 2013, the company is currently working on the

engineering and procurement in preparation for the vessel’s delivery into the market in the first quarter of 2015.

Benefitting from its diversity, SOE has been focusing on offshore equipment contracts while the market witnessed a lull in activity. “The market has been very good for us, albeit a bit quiet for the industry as a whole in the last two or three years.

During this time we have focused not only on gas carriers, but also on some offshore equipment projects. In the next few months we are expecting to begin a number of projects in the international market,” enthuses Kevin.

Keen to continue developing its staff and service offering on an international scale, the company’s shipyard was recently qualified by Total for its quality control and quality systems, thus allowing SOE to enter into a new phase of development. “Over the next three to five years we are looking to improve our processing and engineering capability so we can be a qualified supply chain partner for all major oil companies and oil suppliers,” concludes Kevin.

Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering sinopacificoffshore.com

Products Gas carriers, offshore cranes, offshore drilling and FPSO modules

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering

European oil & gas

PROFILE

35

SOG_almaco_living_quarters_200x280mm.indd 1

6.5.2013 14.05

PROFILE

Port of Fujairah Authority

facility accommodate tankers of up to 110,000 tonnes, whilst Oil Terminal 2 has four berths and a draft of 18-metres allowing larger vessels to call.

Container operations at the port began in 1982, since which time it has built up a long expertise in road relay, consolidation and deconsolidation, sea/air cargo, and transhipment services. The Port’s alliance with DP World as the concessionaries for container cargo has also strengthened its position amongst the global network of container ports.

In terms of more general cargo, the Port also handles a significant proportion of the steel billets, steel bars, copper concentrate, chrome ore, iron ore, coal, bagged aluminium hydroxide, and industrial salt which moves to and from the UAE, GCC countries and beyond. A major proportion of project cargo associated with the UAE Federal Qidfa Desalination plant was handled successfully through the Port.

As well as a paved storage area of 500,000 square metres which can accommodate general and project cargo, cars, and containers, the Port has additional compacted land of approximately 150,000 square metres available for temporary pre-shipment or post-shipment storage.

Also present at the port is Fujairah Anchorage, which offers an efficient and varied one-stopshop service for up to 100 vessels at any time.

Calling vessels can secure bunkering, ship supply, ship repair, spare parts, and inspection services, as well as crew changes to and from anchorage.

In order to keep accommodating the growing, and diverse, volumes that look to take advantage of its attractive location, the Port of Fujairah has long subscribed to a strategy of investment. It is not only the Authority itself though that sees the benefit of this approach, private external

European oil & gas

The Port of Fujairah

is the only multi-purpose port on the eastern seaboard of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Located approximately 70 nautical miles from the Straits of Hormuz, the Port is positioned at the crossroads of shipping lines between east and west making it one of the Emirate’s most vital facilities, as well as an important hub for the market activities of the Indian sub-continent and East Africa.

Construction of the port initially began in 1978 as part of the economic development of the UAE, with full operations beginning in 1983, giving it a long heritage in port and terminal operations. Since then the Port has embarked on a continuous process of enhancement to both its facilities, and comprehensive range of services.

These include handling of general cargo, bulk cargo, wet bulk cargo, container activity, and facilities for small supply craft users and agents.

The Port benefits from a draft of 15-metres and 1.4 kilometre long main quay. It has a number of different berths for container, general, and bulk cargo, and two oil terminals commissioned in 2006 and 2010 respectively. Oil Terminal 1 is home to three berths with the ability to

www.europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Vital

37

38 European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

to cater for trading and bunkering activity, and new terminal facilities. This is a particular point of focus for the Port which aims to raise capacity from around six million cubic metres to ten million by 2014. This is in response to booming demand from the Middle East and Asia, which could see the Port of Fujairah rival the world’s top bunkering hubs.

With additional berths also scheduled for delivery, and projects like the ADCOP coming to fruition, oil is clearly a target market for the port when it comes to making the best use of its position. Also in the pipeline is the new Fujairah Refinery, which is expected to become operational around the end of 2016.

It is designed initially to produce 200,000 b/d per day, primarily using feedstock from the ADCOP, but can also import different grades of crude through the port. Planning has not only focused on the facility itself, but also the services required around it, particularly if products are to be exported.

Even those sub-trends such as LNG, which the Port may not be able to cater for directly through its berth and storage structure, are still being fulfilled in the area as a result of private investment. At present a separate LNG facility to the north of the port is being developed by Mubadalla and IPIC, and as for all commercial activity in Fujairah waters the Port will supply the necessary marine services.

Whilst the Port of Fujairah clearly has a lot to offer its customer base, its success is not only down to its favourable location. From the very beginning the port has grown alongside its market, enhancing and adding new capabilities to mirror the requirements it sees. By having a structure that allows for this evolution, and the determination to succeed, the port has become a strong marine logistics hub. Although the acceleration of investment has seen it become an increasingly internationally important oil centre, the Port is not focusing on growth in one area through the sacrifice of others. As such, it continues to build on both its oil-based and non-oil activities to ensure an enduring high level of service.

With additional berths also scheduled for delivery, and projects like the ADCOP coming to fruition, oil is clearly a target market for the port when it comes to making the best use of its position

www.europeanoilandgas.co.uk

companies also fund developments within the port and surrounding area.

One notable project has been the completion of the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP), which will carry between one and 1.5 million b/d per day via a 360-kilometre pipeline. This feeds into 12 million bbl of storage capacity, and then onto export through three subsea pipelines and three single point mooring buoys for deep water loading.

Another recent development is the UAE Federal Grain Reserve, which in its first phase contains 250,000 tonnes of grain silo storage, conveyors, and load and discharge arms. Plans are already in place for a second phase of development that will see this capacity increased to 750,000 tonnes.

Earlier this year a new observation tower was inaugurated at the port in the midst of Fujairah Bunkering Week 2013. Fifty-three metres in height, the tower is shaped like the letter F of the Port of Fujairah logo and equipped with radars, navigation systems, and a state-of-the-art system for calling vessels. It was constructed as part of an ongoing programme to enhance the port and increase its capacity to accommodate more inbound and outbound operations.

The tower will also help the Port of Fujairah to offer customer service that is on par with international standards.

Furthermore the port has installed eight Tideland SB-285P lateral mark buoys north of the port to mark a new passage where the Port Authority provides services for the ADCOP. The buoys are equipped with SolaNOVA-65 selfcontained LED lanterns, the first to be supplied in the Middle East, and AIS AtoN systems to communicate with vessels in the vicinity. This equipment transmits a range of information such as its position to vessels approaching the port, and sends a remote monitoring signal back to base. These are picked up and routed through to the AIS display system situated in the newlybuilt observation tower.

Elsewhere, private companies are continuing with the construction of additional tank storage

Port of Fujairah Authority

European oil & gas

PROFILE

39

Port of Fujairah Authority fujairahport.ae

Services Multi-purpose port

40 European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

PROFILE

Apply Leirvik

expertise

Below Lars Solberg, managing director of Apply Leirvik

departure for the business after 28 years of shipbuilding, in 1974 Apply Leirvik shifted its focus over to the development of living quarter modules for offshore platforms. Almost 40 years on this has proved to be a shrewd move, particularly in light of the recent struggles of the shipping sector compared with the more buoyant oil and gas industry.

The company quickly established a reputation for its uncompromising quality, and know-how through the delivery of several living quarter and utility modules throughout the 1980s and 1990s. This includes the landmark Snorre living quarters project, which at the time was the largest aluminium structure ever built for the offshore industry. It also formed the basis for Apply Leirvik’s research and development programme surrounding the use of aluminium in offshore modules.

Today Apply Leirvik is the leading EPC contractor for offshore living quarters encompassing everything from engineering and fabrication to assembly and installation.

Having historically concentrated on the North Sea, when it comes to oil and gas applications the company has arguably delivered more living quarter modules into this region than all its competitors put together. In fact the first ever accommodation module delivered by Apply Leirvik over 35 years ago is still in use today on Statoil’s Statfjord A asset.

Of course, in the years that have followed the

requirements for offshore living quarters have moved on significantly as managing director Lars Solberg attests: “The standard of living has continuously improved in terms of things like noise reduction, safety, evacuation systems, and Opex requirements. Living quarters today are more sophisticated than they were even ten years ago, and as Apply Leirvik we are known for our quality high-end solutions. This is the reason why our clients continue to come back to us for their offshore living quarter needs.

“Whilst there are many companies that make living quarters this is often as one of many other activities. At Apply Leirvik we have one focus only, which is living quarter modules, covering all aspects from initial studies and FEED to engineering and fabrication. This means that we have developed a unique competence that none of our competitors have,” he continues.

Furthermore in 2011 Apply Leirvik acquired a 50 per cent stake in Singapore-based Aluminium Offshore, which is the world’s leading provider of aluminium helicopter decks. This has given the business another means of differentiating itself in the market by offering integrated solutions in living quarter modules and helicopter decks.

“Whilst we sell both steel and aluminium quarters, we believe that the latter have some particularly outstanding features compared to steel,” notes Lars. “As with our aluminium helicopter decks, they offer both weight savings and low maintenance, and are better for usage in cold climates so we believe there will be a

European oil & gas

In what appeared to be a complete

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Applying

41

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

PROFILE

42

Apply Leirvik

growing market for aluminium living quarters.

Last year we sold 40 helicopter decks, and we expect to surpass that figure for this year.”

Switching his focus to what has been happening more recently in the business Lars describes how Apply Leirvik has increased its global penetration: “We have established ourselves in both Canada and Houston, partially as a result of our award of the contract to supply living quarters to ExxonMobil’s Hebron field in offshore New Foundland. Whilst this is a standard modularised living quarter concept, because of New Foundland regulations regarding local content we have had to change our method of working. Typically we fabricate modules at one of our factories and then ship them for assembly at the client’s location, but for this project we have established a joint venture with a local partner NECL to carry out the work.

“We believe that joint venture working will be an ongoing trend as there are several other key markets such as Brazil and parts of Asia where the requirement for local content increases.

Therefore we will probably look to form other partnerships and joint ventures so that we can meet that content requirement,” he adds.

Back in its long established market of the North Sea, Apply Leirvik has also been successful in securing a number of project awards on the UK and Norwegian Continental Shelves. “In total we have around 2.6 billion NOK of orders lined up, which is an all time high,” highlights Lars. “Our most recent delivery was the living quarters for the Gudrun platform for Statoil. We had very good feedback regarding this project due to its on time delivery and high quality, and were even nominated for Statoil’s HSE prize because of our excellent results on that front.

“The analyses that we’ve seen from specialists working on global oil and gas trends suggests that there is going to be ongoing growth of between three and five per cent in the market until at least 2019. When we look at the individual projects coming up this seems to confirm that predication so we see a stable and growing market in the next five years.

“At present we’re focusing on bidding for five major upcoming projects including the Johan Sverdrup and Johan Castberg developments in Norway, as well as others in the UK and the Caspian Sea. Some of these will be awarded in 2014 but this process has already begun so we are hoping to see some success in these as well.

We are seeing a mixture of works in both mature areas where discoveries are still being made, and emerging markets within more challenging locations which increases the requirements towards living quarters,” he concludes.

Having historically concentrated on the North Sea, when it comes to oil and gas applications the company has arguably delivered more living quarter modules into this region than all its competitors put together. In fact the first ever accommodation module delivered by Apply Leirvik over 35 years ago is still in use today on Statoil’s Statfjord A asset

Apply Leirvik applyleirvik.no

Products Offshore living quarters

PROFILE

Michell Instruments

success experience Michell Instruments is nothing short of a global leader in the field of moisture and humidity measurement solutions. This is apparent in its wide range of transmitters, instruments and system solutions designed and manufactured in-house. Capable of measuring dew-point, humidity, and oxygen these products are utilised in a vast array of applications and industries including compressed air, power generation, petrochemical, and oil and gas.

These activities are housed within two main divisions: Industrial Hygrometry and Process Instrumentation. Both have continued to grow quickly over the last five years, however the success of the process division has recently outpaced Michell Instruments’ traditionally strong position in instrumentation for general industry.

“Our growth and success in Process Instrumentation is a result of individual actions, one of which is our high responsiveness to sometimes invisible market swings and changes,” notes CEO Mike Bannister. “One such indicator is the rapidly growing demand for IECEx certified products, to which we responded much faster than other competitors.”

He continues: “Another example of our innovative potential in response to customer demand is our Field Hydrocarbon Dew-point Analyser, the Condumax II Transportable.

What was previously always considered as a purely online analyser is now highly mobile.

This innovative product saves money and offers

our customers in natural gas transmission the opportunity to maintain and validate their pipelines wherever and whenever they want.

Knowing how much is sometimes at stake when the quality of the transmitted gas is in question the Condumax II Transportable is just a must have for anyone who wants peace of mind.”

Having built its success on leading the market with technologies for the measurement of humidity and oxygen, Michell Instruments is therefore always able to respond to its customers with the right technology to fit the specific needs of the application. “We are always searching for newer and better options, and our co-operation with universities and various research institutions in the UK and France provides us with many opportunities.

Our market research people are scanning the industries and applications and evaluating the synergies and benefits, and as of now we can say that there are indeed areas at which we are taking a closer look,” describes Mike.

“Our business model is around creating own markets and demand. For the past five years our strategy has been to outpace the general market development by anticipation of the potential changes. One of the areas that caught our attention is the growth of renewable energies. Biomass is an extremely interesting market for our products as it involves humidity and oxygen measurement.

We believe that this development will continue and offer us more opportunities in Europe and especially in some of the BRIC countries,” he adds.

European oil & gas

With nearly 40 years of

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Instruments of

43

StainleSS Steel preSSure regulatorS DeSigneD anD manufactureD in the uk aNalyser / iNstrumeNt regulators • Gas cylinder regulators • Heated regulators to ATEX & IECEx • Auto-changeover regulators • Point of use regulators

HigH Pressure regulators • Piston sensed self-venting or non-venting • Gas or hydraulic applications • Spring or ratio loaded options

NeW HigH FloW regulators • Diaphragm and piston sensed • ½” to 2” port sizes – threaded or flanged connections • Spring or dome loaded options • Unique design service for bulk industrial gas lines

www.pressure-tech.com

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

• 50bar to 1380bar control ranges

44

the lf-690 hyDraulic preSSure regulator

• Inlet pressures to 1380 bar (20,000 psi)

Ceramic seat fits perfectly, increasing control

• Ceramic seat as standard, a material which lasts 5 times longer than tungsten carbide • Superior performance compared to plastic and metal seated regulators currently in the market

Ceramic Shuttle Ball tip wears evenly, reducing downtime Design eliminates unstable frequency resonance

Designed and built in the UK PRESSURE TECH LTD, Unit 24, Hadfield, Glossop, Derbyshire SK13 1QH Tel: +44 (0)1457 899307 Fax: +44 (0)1457 899308 e-mail: info@pressure-tech.com

www.pressure-tech.com

Being the pioneer in humidity measurement equipment means that we have developed an impressive range of calibration instruments that we use in our own manufacturing and laboratories to ensure the highest quality in the products we make This is apparent from Michell Instruments’ recent formation of a subsidiary in Brazil.

Already a global organisation with subsidiaries and offices in ten countries, this new entity enables the company to fill a gap by directly supporting and servicing products in the entire region with its own moisture and gas instrumentation experts. This also serves as a strategic move for the business in anticipation of the further development of the process industry in South America.

Alongside measurement instrumentation, calibration equipment is also of great importance in the process instrumentation sector and beyond. “Being the pioneer in humidity measurement equipment means that we have developed an impressive range of calibration instruments that we use in our own manufacturing and laboratories to ensure the highest quality in the products we make. In the past years this aspect of our business was not enjoying the attention that it deserves though,” notes Mike.

“It is a fact that when it comes to calibration equipment for humidity we are the market leader and the hidden champion. No one else in the industry offers a similar variety of products, ranging from a portable validation dew-point meter to high precision VDS calibration system for laboratories. It is not a great secret that some of our competitors use our equipment in their own manufacturing processes – which is something we are naturally quite proud of.

One of our future moves will be to promote our capabilities and the necessity of regular recalibration to our customers. Our recent product, the chilled mirror hygrometer S8000

RS, is an ideal starting point. However there is more to come, and we will very soon be offering a calibration system for oxygen as well.”

The last year has been something of a consolidation period for Michell Instruments with the company using this time to readjust its organisation and procedures to suit the increased size of the organisation. This includes the addition of several new highly qualified staff in critical positions. “Although these are early days we already can see the positive impact of this and are convinced that this will continue in the months to follow,” highlights Mike.

“Michell Instruments will continue to strengthen its position in all current markets while looking for opportunities in related markets and industries. We certainly will not just rely on market developments but will carry on in creating our own business opportunities.

This could be new products, co-operation with partners, or acquisitions. However, the focus will stay on organic growth through innovation and excellent service.

“We owe it to our customers and are absolutely certain that this approach will take us forward with double-digit growth rates.

“We have world-class, highly motivated staff and our new organisation structures enable us to make decisions more quickly – so we are not only able to spot opportunities more quickly, we are also able to take action faster than many others.

“A key target for the years to come will certainly be to further develop the skills of our people. As a growing organisation we know perfectly how much effort it takes to attract top talent and develop it to become the type of expert our customers trust and rely on,” he concludes.

Pressure Tech Pressure Tech has developed a range of subsea pressure regulators to operate at depths up to 3000m/10,000ft using the external seawater pressure as a reference pressure with the ability to vary the set-point relative to the ambient pressure conditions.

Alternatively we can offer a completely sealed spring chamber to ensure the set pressure is not affected by the external conditions. Our most recent subsea application is a hydraulic system operating at 1300m for several weeks at a time. Due to the growing demand Pressure Tech has invested in a 19.5 litre hyperbaric chamber to simulate external seawater pressure up to 300 bar whilst pressures up to 1034 bar/15,000psi are applied to the internals of the regulator.

This will enable Pressure Tech to maintain complete control of not only design and manufacturing, but also in-house testing prior to shipping.

Michell Instruments michell.com

Products Moisture and oxygen analysers

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Michell Instruments

European oil & gas

PROFILE

45

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

46

Strength and Jian Feng Sling is a leading manufacturer and supplier of a wide range of lifting and rigging products such as wire rope, wire rope slings, chain slings, sling fittings, lifting equipment, synthetic slings, tie downs and accessories.

“Jian Feng is a manufacturer and supplier of an integrated range of lifting and rigging products,” says Clarence Cui, director of overseas sales at Jian Feng Sling. “We are also a solutions provider for many difficult tasks in lifting operations. Our 30 years in the industry has given us enormous experience and knowledge in supplying different fields with the right products and technical services.

Our objective is to continuously improve in providing the industry with better services and higher levels of safety.

“Our products are not only used in the offshore oil and gas industry, but also in a range

of other sectors such as shipbuilding, ports, transportation, construction and mining,” he adds. “Jian Feng is a well renowned brand in China that has a reputation for the high quality that we inject into the industry here. Alongside that presence in our home market we are also stretching ourselves to a growing extent internationally by looking to gain recognition for our reliable and quality products.”

As Clarence explains, the company has considerable experience in the industry, which means that it is able to meet the most demanding quality requirements of its customers. “Culturally, the commitment to product quality management from everyone here in Jian Feng has been the key to our competitiveness throughout the years,” he comments.

“When it comes to that quality, our slogan is ‘Our Service, Your Safety’. In the industries that we are dealing with, safety is always the first priority. You have to fully recognise this fact and the needs of your customer, and build your image through strong and consistent product quality and reliability. Trust is something that has to be built through time, and this is what we do on a day-to-day basis.”

In order to maintain such high standards in its products Jian Feng employs skilled technical experts and engineers, many of whom are situated at its state-of-the-art testing facility.

“Technically we have the most advanced in-house testing centre in China, facilitated with both hardware and software to perform a series of quality tests including tensile strength, break load, elongation, fatigue and hardness etc.,” says Clarence. “This ensures that all products supplied by Jian Feng are not only manufactured according to the relevant standards but have also gone through the necessary tests to prove their safety level. Third party certification testing from DNV, ABS, Lloyds can also be easily performed here as well.”

Jian Feng carries out a great deal of work in the offshore sectors, providing a range of handling and rigging solutions to clients such as CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation), COSL (China Oilfield Services Limited), Saipem Singapore, CIMC (China International Marine Container), and CIMC Raffles.

“We have undertaken a range of projects with these clients,” Clarence explains. “For example, in November 2012, Jian Feng designed and provided a testing solution for CACT operators group on eight pieces of FPSO mooring wire rope slings. CACT is a joint venture company

by CNOOC, ENI, Chevron and Texaco, and we

PROFILE

Jian Feng Sling Gunnebo Industries

provider in China.

“Building a brand is a long process, but I believe Jian Feng and its products will start to receive more international recognition in the near future. We have very good partnerships with distributors worldwide and I believe that over the next three to five years, the international industry will really see more of what we can bring to the global market,” he concludes.

Jian Feng Sling jfsling.com

Services Lifting and rigging equipment

European oil & gas

performed a series of tests including making the test samples, bending, fatigue and breaking. We were the only organisation able to perform these tests with our in-house 1000t tensile test bed and 1000t fatigue test bed. The good feedback from CACT led to two more similar testing projects with CNOOC, which we are currently working on.

“Elsewhere, we are the qualified contract supplier for COSL and its deepwater semisubmersible platform 981, for which we supply a full and complete range of lifting slings and components. We have also worked closely with COOEC since 2004, and in 2013 we supplied them with a lifting solution that consisted of four pieces of O156mm endless wire rope grommets equipped with four pieces of WLL 500T wide body shackles for the BoHai LD10-1 oilfield platform installation projects.”

Alongside these more local companies the business also exports around 40 per cent of its products and solutions to overseas markets, including Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. “The Middle East and Australasia are two regions with stronger growth at present,” highlights Clarence. “We would also like to see more business activities in Africa in the near future, and we are looking to expand our product range further into the Americas in the coming years.”

Growth and expansion is very much at the core of Jian Feng’s vision for the future, as Clarence says. “The offshore oil and gas industry is definitely what Jian Feng is focusing on this year. We have launched two particular products, which are leading our overseas expansion - JF brand Wide Body Shackles ranging from working load limit 200T–1500T that are CE certified by DNV, and offshore container lifting sets, for which Jian Feng is the first and only DNV2.7-1 Type Approved

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Gunnebo Industries is one of the world’s leading companies in the lifting industry, developing and manufacturing products and solutions of the highest quality, safety and functionality. To meet the stringent demands of the offshore industry it has a full range of offshore shackles, master links and hooks tested to the requirements of the offshore container standard, DNV 2.7-1. This verifies that the products have a high, consistent level of production stability in the entire process.

47

48 European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Sandvik Process Systems

process In the

For over 150 years

Sandvik has been engineering high-technology, advanced products for a wealth of specialist niche markets. These operations are based on unique expertise in materials technology and extensive insight into customer processes. As a Group, Sandvik concentrates on five main business areas, one of which contains Sandvik Process Systems. This world-leading manufacturer produces steel belts, and steel belt-based processing systems, which contribute to customer productivity, reliability, cost efficiency, and reduction of environmental impact.

One key application for this expertise is sulphur solidification and handling systems. This has in recent years seen Sandvik Process Systems become a partner to several internationally renowned engineering companies serving the

petrochemical industry. In total the company has delivered sulphur solidification solutions to over 200 customers, totaling 600 plants worldwide, the latest of which is Hellenic Petroleum’s Elefsis refinery in Athens, Greece.

This is part of a large-scale modernisation programme taking place at the refinery, which will see it able to produce ultra low sulphur fuels in accordance with the new European and international specifications, as well as improving its ability to handle different kinds of crude.

Other goals include a significant reduction in emissions, efficiency enhancements and improved safety conditions.

By reducing the amount of sulphur in its products though the refinery faced a challenge in terms of storing and transporting this waste material. As such in January 2009, Sandvik

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

PROFILE

49

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

50

was selected to supply a turnkey end-to-end sulphur solidification and handling system at Elefsis in order to counter this. This builds on a long-standing relationship between Sandvik and Hellenic Petroleum, which dates back to 1986. “In this case the project consisted of three main parts – the solidification system where we turn the liquid sulphur into solid pastilles, a storage capability for this product, and a means of discharging it onto a ship,” begins Ulrich Nanz, sales and marketing

director of Sandvik Process Systems.

“As such we delivered this in partnership with our sister company Sandvik Mining in Finland, which delivered the downstream storage and handling activity, whilst Sandvik Process Systems supplied the core solidification system. This underlines our competence as a Group in handling larger packages of work for EPC contractors,” he continues.

Commissioned in August 2012, the solidification system is based upon Sandvik Process Systems’ patented Rotoform technology, the basic principle of which is that droplets of liquid sulphur are deposited onto a continuously running stainless steel belt that is then cooled from the underside by sprayed water to form solid pastilles. As the Rotoform produces these materials mechanically, subsequent grinding or crushing is not required therefore eliminating associated costs, noise, and dust, which can be an environmental concern.

“Our process is the only indirect sulphur solidification method available on the market as the steel belt means that there is no crosscontamination between the water and sulphur.

All competing systems are direct processes, which either cool the sulphur using air or water, which leaves the client with sour water or dust

content to size distribution, so our clients can be assured of the quality of their product,” he adds.

Another major driving force in choosing such equipment is lifecycle costs. “Customers now look at the initial cost of investment combined with the first five years of operations,” elaborates Ulrich. “Our technology not only has very low consumption of energy, but it also has an on-stream factor of 96 per cent, which means it is incredibly reliable with very minimal maintenance to also lower running costs. In Hellenic Petroleum’s case they have 1200 metric tonnes of liquid sulphur coming out of Elefsis every day and if our machines are down they cannot switch off the refinery, nor do they have significant capacity to store liquid sulphur, so reliability is a number one concern.”

The completion of the work at Elefsis marks the fifth such project where Sandvik Process Systems and its sister companies have delivered a complete end-to-end solution. The ability of the Group to deliver these highly reliable technical solutions, which have minimal environmental impact, suggests that this approach will continue into the future.

Evonik For many years Evonik has been supplying TEGO® Sulpho 1 to the sulphur forming industry.

Our product works directly on the steel belts, supporting the formation of uniquely shaped, hemispherical pastilles and providing an excellent release effect to easily remove the pastilles off the belt after cooling. Our latest development, TEGO® Sulpho 2, ensures an even more economic and efficient process. It has been especially designed for the new spraying technology of our partner Sandvik.

Sandvik Process Systems sandvik.com

Products Processing systems based on steel belts

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

emissions. This makes the Rotoform process incredibly clean in comparison,” notes Ulrich.

This latest incarnation of the Rotoform technology has previously been installed in two other facilities for Bapco in Bahrain and Reliance in India. Its use at Elefsis provides Sandvik Process Systems with a reference project within Europe, which will benefit the business in promoting its capabilities in this market – a region where Ulrich predicts demand will continue to grow: “The main driver behind the modernisation of Elefsis was to enable Hellenic Petroleum to sell their products in Europe under current regulations, and this is the case for many other operators as well. At present specification in Europe under Euro 5 is some of the toughest in the industry, and we will see Euro 6 introduced in 2014, so in order to comply with this producers have to remove the sulphur from their products.

“Our pastille product is one of the very few that meet the Sulphur Development Institute of Canada (SUDIC) recommendations for premium sulphur. This is an international standard that defines everything from moisture and dust

Sandvik Process Systems

European oil & gas

PROFILE

51

fab

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Absolutely

European oil & gas

The PressureFab Group, founded

52

Below Hermann Twickler, company founder and managing director at PressureFab Group

only four and a half years ago, has already grown and developed into a leading designer and manufacturer of specialist offshore containers and subsea equipment. Operating from its 11,000m2 facility in Dundee, Scotland, the privately owned company is recognised by the oil and gas industry for its exceptional quality and superior customer service.

As Hermann Twickler, company founder and managing director explained, its customers are both local and global: “We do a lot of work for smaller companies, but we also work with world leaders, including, National Oilwell Varco, Honeywell International and Halliburton, among many others,” he said. “As a team, we have a very impressive portfolio, and we are one of the largest manufacturers of containers and containerised equipment in Scotland. Basically our customers are looking for quality solutions and products that arrive on time and on budget and that is what we provide.”

Hermann explained that the company’s philosophy was borne out of thinking from the customer’s perspective: “When I established this company, I based it on what I believed a supplier should offer to blue-chip clients and to me those areas of top quality, reliable delivery and adhering to budget were paramount.”

He started the company following a career working for large shipbuilding corporations.

“I always wanted my own business,” he said,

“so when the company I was working for went through a large buyout, I decided it was time for me to look for other opportunities, and I chose to go into bespoke steel fabrication. I established PressureFab in 2009 from scratch, with the intention of growing it from a small business into a sizeable concern. So we started with three employees and now have over 100, and have developed a very strong team.”

Hermann may sound modest when describing how he founded the company but it mustn’t be forgotten that just months into its inception a major recession hit Europe and much of the world. However, he steered PressureFab through the challenges and in acknowledgement of his achievements he was crowned Scottish Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012. “As this award is for personal entrepreneurship I felt really proud and honoured to receive it,” he said. “It recognised the risks and the hard work involved with forming a business from scratch in a recession, and to me winning it was very special.”

When Hermann founded PressureFab it was without a single customer, but now he is pleased to draw attention to the two largest contracts it is currently working on, which together are valued at well over £2 million and highlight how far the company has come. “One of these is the HESS Project through National Oilwell Varco, where we are supplying a complete solids and fluid management control system. This consists of the oil tanks, mud tanks, fluid and mud lines, all the

It is clear that PressureFab is maintaining its growth trajectory, but Hermann is determined not to chase expansion at the risk of losing quality or job security for his team. He summed up the plans he has for the future: “Going forward I think we will diversify a little more, as the expertise we have in oil and gas can be applied to the renewable sector as well, and that is an area I am looking forward to getting more involved with. We have already provided equipment to the Orkney Islands and Shetlands for the EMAC project and so I am keen to look into what renewable customers might want to fit into a containerised unit, rather than wait for them to tell us. I prefer to offer a solution rather than waiting to be asked.”

He concluded: “I believe we are in a good position - customers are looking for a supplier that has capacity and resources available and they can see we are innovative, we hit our deadlines, and meet our budgets. We also have ideas, and that overall package is what our clients really appreciate.”

M.I.S. Products Limited M.I.S. Products Limited has many years experience of developing, manufacturing and supplying components to the offshore container building industry in the UK, mainland Europe and globally. We welcome the opportunity to develop trading relationships with old and new customers alike and wish Pressurefab Group every success with their business developments

PressureFab Group pressurefab.com

Service Specialist offshore containers and subsea equipment

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

suction equipment and pumps.

“What made this project unique was that usually pumps and tanks are connected using flexible pipes or hoses, but in this case, because it is to be run for two years in the North Sea, HESS insisted on having it all hard piped. As a result we constructed the entire unit, we got everything into position, and then connected all the skids and tanks with each other using steel pipe and set it up exactly how it is going to be on the oil rig, and then we have operated it here for a week as trial run to make sure everything is functioning as it should. It is due to be delivered in July to Denmark, has been through its final full function test, and just needs a few modifications, painting and wrapping before shipment.”

He added: “We are also finishing a mud cutting processing plant, for which we have built all the tanks, the pipes and the mud cutting skips, for National Oilwell Varco’s Environmental Division, and when it is complete it will be represent about £1.5 million worth of equipment.”

PressureFab Group

European oil & gas

PROFILE

53

word

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Grease is the

European oil & gas

Axel Christiernsson

54

Below Johan Stureson, CEO/managing director of AXEL

(AXEL) is a leading lubricating grease manufacturer, with its headquarters in Sweden. It focuses on the development and manufacture of lubricating greases, sold under what it terms ‘customised label’, which means that every product leaving its plants is customised to the needs of customers and labelled in their name. This consistent approach is distinctive and it means that customers can partner with AXEL in confidence, knowing that it does not compete at the end-user market.

The company has hundreds of active formulations in total, many of which are customer unique. Its products are created at three production sites in Europe - in Sweden, the Netherlands and France, plus at two plants in the US. In fact, the US operation was added as recently as 2011, as Johan Stureson, CEO of AXEL explained: “The asset acquisition of Jesco Resources in early 2011 was a carefully planned step to expand our presence outside Europe, and to follow many of our largest customer groups into another market. It also gave us access to new technologies and broadened our customer base, which gives opportunities for cross selling,” he said.

Alongside the US facilities, AXEL is continuously investing in its European sites in order to meet the increase in continental European orders and customer outsourcing contracts. “We address areas such as safety, efficiency and capacity increases,” Johan added. “We have adopted this approach for many years, because in order to grow we have to make sure our production capacity

can handle customer demands and opportunities when they present themselves.”

The CEO also had some exciting news to share about AXEL’s French facility: “We are now preparing to relocate our plant in France,” he announced. “We are only planning to move three kilometres but the new location is a bigger, more suitable industrial site where we can grow and expand our operations.”

The investment and development across AXEL’s business is all targeted to meet the needs of its customers, which comprise many of the world’s major oil, regional oil, specialised lubricant and wholesales companies. One of the main factors that attract these demanding clients to use AXEL’s services is its utter dedication to customer service. Johan explained that the company regards this area as paramount and it measures customers’ perceptions of all aspects of service through annual anonymous interviews.

“The most recent survey showed excellent results, with a mark of 4.27 on a scale where five is the most satisfied. This is an all-time high and we are very proud of it, but it is still

essential to continue to focus on improvement opportunities,” he said.

Nonetheless, Johan cites customer service as one of the key strengths of AXEL, alongside product quality and research and development (R&D). “Product quality is extremely important and such is our dedication to diligent quality control in every single batch that we very rarely have any quality issues,” he stated.

“R&D is necessary because we are always trying to identify what products will be demanded in the future, as well as helping to solve clients’ problems. We have substantial in-house resources to commit to different kinds of R&D projects or developments and we can do that in collaboration with clients or on our own initiative.”

The innovative products referred to by Johan

formulations and they are used in almost any industry, so our whole ethos is that we sell products to any single field of industry that has lubrication requirements,” said Johan.

“Our products are extremely versatile in that respect, however it also illustrates a bit of the complexity that we have to manage, because we have so many different formulations and pack combinations, and we are dealing with such a wide variety of customers.”

Over the 125 years since Axel Christiernsson founded the company, AXEL has established itself at the forefront of lubricant technology.

Johan noted that going forward more growth is on the agenda, both organic and through acquisition. “As well as maintaining a quality service to our existing customers, we are looking at certain markets through a structured process, but also staying ready for opportunities that may arise elsewhere,” he said. “AXEL is a market leader with a strong reputation in our industry and we welcome other companies that wish to discuss a possible acquisition.”

Axel Christiernsson axelch.com

Services Lubricant and grease manufacturer

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

include several technologies that the company has developed to substantially improve the properties of its lubricating grease for special applications. He gave some examples: “Our EPOCH technology is a polymer based nonionic lubricant, which means it is not soap thickened grease. It provides excellent long life, improved additive effect and greater flexibility in choice of additives, and better resistance to water and aggressive chemicals in the application.

“We have also created what we call functional soap, where we have enabled the additive to become part of the soap structure. That means that the soap carries the additive molecules to the metal surface of the bearing and improves the performance of the product. One of its major benefits is extremely low friction.”

He added: “A third example we have developed is a thread compound designed to be used in the oil industries in the North Sea, which meets the highest environmental standards.”

This is just a tiny representation of AXEL’s range.“We have several hundreds of different

AXEL Christiernsson

European oil & gas

PROFILE

55

56 European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

times Exciting

At a time

when supplies of ‘easy’ oil are perhaps falling away, Xcite Energy Limited is marking itself out as an appraisal and development company focusing on offshore heavy oil. The company believes that this area presents a niche for significant growth and value addition. Through its subsidiary, Xcite

Energy Resources Limited (XER), these activities have so far been focused on the development of discovered resources in the UK North Sea, namely the Bentley field.

“We acquired this field through the Promote Licence Round in 2003,” explains Charles LucasClements, director of strategy and business development. “We’ve pursued a methodical and progressive appraisal programme over the years, enabling us to bring oil to surface in 2007, through to delivering 250 million barrels of 2P reserves in 2013 after a highly successful pre-production extended well test (“EWT”) which was completed in September 2012. We also have peripheral assets and were awarded three adjacent blocks in the 27th Licensing Round last year.”

Looking at this activity in more detail, XER has actually successfully conducted three drilling programmes with five penetrations of the field, including sidetracks and laterals, since the licence award. The total investment to date has been around $350 million, approximately $250 million of which went into the EWT. “Throughout the EWT we gathered a vast amount of information, which together with new 3D seismic, has enabled us to increase our in-place volumes, revise our development plan and materially increase our reserves. It has required a long year of hard work to deliver, but the EWT has met and exceeded our expectations not only in its results, but also the quality and extent of data that was collected,” enthuses Charles.

In preparation for the EWT, XER expanded its corporate office to bring in necessary skills

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Xcite Energy Resources

European oil & gas

PROFILE

57

Xcite Energy Resources

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

PROFILE

58

including the appointment of a new operations director, operations manager, and engineering manager. “I think that key to our success has been finding highly experienced people that can really contribute to the team,” notes Charles.

“As well as operations, we have been building up our engineering and well completion skills sets, based on the importance of drilling and operations going forward.”

The results of the EWT have been critical to planning the ongoing development programme, which is split into two phases – Phase 1 and Phase 2, covering the northern and southern areas of the field respectively. The development programme extends over approximately two years with current anticipation of first oil in late 2015, with the phases now being of a similar size, with Phase 2 beginning some five years after the start of Phase 1 and then both running concurrently from that point onwards for the 35 years of field facilities design life. The EWT has also proven up many of the engineering solutions and techniques to be utilised in the development plan, such as the use of an FSO to dehydrate the fluid.

Alongside this work, XER has been running a programme to identify enhanced oil recovery techniques (EOR). After lab work based on samples taken from the reservoir and aquifer, the company has shortlisted polymer injection as the most suitable EOR technique. It is also building a pilot programme into the first stage of development in order to prove the concept, and lead the way for a full EOR implementation in Phase 2.

The year ahead again looks busy for the business as it works to capitalise on the last decade of work in this challenging niche. In a further step forward, XER recently started the farm-out process, which it sees as a key part of the future financing strategy for the development of the field. “We also hope to expand the RBL facility based on the increased scope of the first phase development. These will trigger the full development programme,” notes Charles.

Certainly the industry seems to be pricking up its ears with regards to the progress the company has made in transforming heavy oil resources into viable development propositions, and it comes at a time when heavy oil projects are being advanced in the North Sea. Picking up the thread Charles adds: “In the process of executing the programmes so far we have developed an extensive knowledge, not only of the Bentley field and the engineering solutions needed to successfully commercialise a reservoir of this type, but also how to manage a significant offshore, heavy oil project. One of the key things in this industry is the sharing of knowledge when moving into new areas, and we are keen to do this with others just as they are keen to speak with us.”

Indeed it seems the Bentley field is just the starting point. XER has also been collecting licences in neighbouring blocks, most recently in the aforementioned 27th Licensing Round.

‘It is our belief that these prospects may contain a lighter oil which could be used as a diluent in the future, so the aim is to appraise these with a view to a tie back into Bentley as we go forward,” comments Charles.

“This forms part of our strategic plan for the next few years which is centred on selecting a suitable development partner, completing financing, and getting the Bentley field producing. We also want to prove the EOR techniques through the pilot programme, and implement the second phase of development, whilst continuing to look for other suitable opportunities,” he concludes.

Certainly the industry seems to be pricking up its ears with regards to the progress the company has made in transforming heavy oil resources into viable development propositions

Xcite Energy Resources Limited xcite-energy.com

Services Appraisal and development

successful Uniquely

Since its inception in 2007

, Houston based niche drilling firm BassDrill has enjoyed substantial growth, which has increased massively over the last 18 months. Formed to design, fabricate, market and operate safe and efficient drilling equipment in a heavily dominated market, the company has quickly become a strong competitor with its offering of state-of-the-art vessels, as Kerry Kunz highlights: “BassDrill entered this market because we saw an opportunity to provide new and innovative designs to customers requiring safe, efficient and comtemporary drilling units. We started with registering the company in 2007 and in 2008 we ordered our first barge tender assist vessel, the Alpha, which was built on speculation and delivered in 2010 before being mobilised in West Africa where it has worked continuously since.”

In late 2009 the company began interacting with Petrobras over the prospect of a large development project in the Campos basin, Brazil. In 2010 a long-term contract was signed and soon thereafter BassDrill began with the construction of its second unit, the semi-tender Beta, for mobilisation to Brazil; the vessel of which is being built in China for delivery in H2 2013, while the modular drilling equipment was constructed in the US. “The Beta will be the first

semi-tender assist unit in Brazil and we believe further opportunities will appear in Brazil for this type of unit in the future,” says Kerry. “In the fall of 2012 we ordered a third unit, which again will involve the vessel being built in China and the modular package being produced in the US. The ‘Gamma’ unit is being built on speculation and is scheduled in the third quarter of 2014; similar to the Alpha, it is a barge tender with a 30 per cent increase in capacity. It is being built under a $124 million turnkey construction contract with Dalian Shipbuilding Industry and Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore, China.

All three tender assist designs are ABS class approved, with the two barge designs intended for benign environments in shallow waters of 15 metres to 200 metres; the semi-tender design, meanwhile, is configured for use in deepwater environments in conjunction with Spars or TLPs, as Kerry highlights: “The semitenders are able to operate in more challenging environments, not the North Sea, but they are able to go into deeper water and beyond the traditional tender assist areas, which expands the market. For example, the unit in Brazil is going into an area that is 31 degrees south latitude in the Atlantic, so we have taken this tender market well beyond its traditional

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

BassDrill

European oil & gas

PROFILE

59

PROFILE

Seatrax, Inc. As the worldwide leader in the manufacture of kingpost marine cranes, Seatrax provides Bassdrill with cranes, service and engineering support for many of its endeavors, including the Alpha medium tender barge, the Beta semi-submersible and the Gamma heavy tender barge. With its unique design, Seatrax provides the flexibility to configure its product based upon customer requirements regardless of application. Each Seatrax crane is based on proven design concepts with patented Seatrax design features that include the hemispherical kingpost, selfaligning lower kingpost bearings, mechanical anti-two-block system as well as in-house manufactured fail-safe draw-works type hoists.

located on the seabeds as it removes the need for expensive and sophisticated equipment that goes with sea floor development,” highlights Kerry.

Surface wells heads are often required where flow assurance is an issue and re-entering of the wells is required on a frequent basis. Surface wells permit the operators to use inexpensive means to perform remedial work on the wells without the use of an expensive deepwater rig.

“The trend is to look at more marginal fields or fields with flow assurance issues with the application of surface developments that could prove to be cost effective, which will translate into huge opportunities for Bassdrill. We are on track with our plans for growth and are very positive about the future.”

BassDrill bassdrill.com

Services Manufacture and operate drilling equipment

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

exclusive area within equatorial waters.”

Focused completely on development drilling, the company tends to benefit from longer term contracts and the ability to build against contracts, something that Kerry is keen to continue doing: “If you first secure a contract and build against it, this is heavily applauded by shareholders because it a much more secure option than building on speculation and financing is readily available. We have been uniquely successful in building vessels against contracts and this is how we would prefer to move forward whenever possible. It offers more security to grow and a much safer route for the shareholders of BassDrill.” The company holds long contracts due to the number of wells that the developments require, which offers increased stability in terms of revenue, financing, budgeting purposes and manning.

In early 2013 the company secured a contract for a fourth unit with Total Congo for a high profile deepwater development; the semi-tender vessel, Delta, is an enhanced version of the Beta design and will be utilised on the Moho Nord development commencing in 2015. Looking to continue its spate of aggressive growth, the company is currently interacting with operators on additional potential opportunities. “We came into a market that was traditionally dominated by large players, which made it challenging to obtain our first contract because we hadn’t proven ourselves in this business.

Our first contract showed the industry that we could bring new and innovative designs with the latest technological features to offer operators the safest and most contemporary

The semi-tenders are able to operate in more challenging environments, not the North Sea, but they are able to go into deeper water and beyond the traditional tender assist areas, which expands the market

European oil & gas

vessels on the market,” says Kerry.

Having enjoyed huge success over the last few years, the company plans to continue bringing new vessels into the market while also focusing on the offshore industry, with substantial demand seen in areas such as Brazil, West Africa and quite possibly in the future, the GOM. Utilising its semi-tenders, Beta and Delta, BassDrill offers oil companies considerable cost savings on total development costs, where dry trees/surface are utilised. Tender and semi-tender drilling rigs also have significantly less weight requirements than platform rigs, thus allowing oil companies to build lighter and less expensive TLPs, Spars or fixed platforms.

“The deepwater developments we are involved in have surface trees and surface wellheads, which offers significant benefits over wellheads

BassDrill

61

Solutions for a safe and secure workplace A trusted partner for manufacturing and industrial businesses for over 50 years!

Please reference 'GasOil' when you contact us Freephone

0800 585501

8:30am - 5.30pm Mon-Fri, GMT Outside UK: +44 1295 227227

Website

Email

www.seton.co.uk

sales@seton.co.uk

Secure 24 hour online purchasing

Place an order, get quotes, ask questions

PROFILE

fleet

V SHIPS

owned V Ships has expanded significantly in recent years through organic and inorganic growth to become the world’s largest supplier of independent ship management and marine services for the shipping industry worldwide; with a fleet of over 1000 vessels and a crew roster of 24,000 staff, its core ship management and manpower services are managed by three operating divisions – V Ships Ship Management, V Ships Leisure and Manpower Services. These units work in close association with the V Ships Marine Services and V Ships Capital divisions, which provide a broad range of related technical, operational, financial and commercial services.

V Ships Ship Management encompasses a network of 18 ship management offices from which its fleet, in excess of 1000 vessels, can be managed with support from the divisional team in Glasgow. Offering technical, risk management, procurement and financial expertise and experience, its 600 dedicated employees deliver ship management services to a diverse fleet of cargo-carrying vessels, such as crude, products, LPG/LNG and chemical tankers, bulk carriers ranging from self-dischargers to VLOCs, containerships from feeders to 9000TEU units and various specialised vessel types related to the offshore sector. These include FPSOs, seismic vessels, diving support/subsea units and cable layers that service the expanding offshore market.

As a complete service provider for valueadded solutions, V Ships increased its

business offering in April 2013 with the launch of its new unit, V Ships Offshore, headed by group director Lawrie Campbell.

The company aims to harness and share the collective knowledge and experience of its business units into one team, giving V Ships Offshore the benefits of a global network and extensive operational expertise. Providing at-cost management services to the offshore industry, V Ships Offshore also offers technical management, crew management, project management, consultancies/pre-purchase inspection, procurement/warehousing, marine insurance services, marine health, safety and environment prevention (HSE)/quality services, underwater repairs, surveys and cleaning; it also offers engineering and naval architecture and new building supervision via SEATEC, and engineering consultancy services via RC Consultant. Unique in the offshore market for its one-stop-shop service offering, the division has specialised offices in strategically located areas that have seen impressive growth in the oil and gas industry, such as Scotland, Norway, the Middle East, the Far East, Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico.

As the world’s largest provider of ship management services, the company further enhanced its service offering by establishing its V Ships LNG division through a contract with Awilco LNG to become its technical manager in January 2003 when procedures, operating manuals and policies related to LNG were

European oil & gas

Established in 1984, privately

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

A strong

63

64 European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

PROFILE

V SHIPS

developed. Today Awilco LNG is the owner of three 125,000 cbm second-generation LNG carriers, WilGas, WilPower and WilEnergy, and is further adding to its fleet with two 155,900 cbm LNG newbuildings, estimated to cost $200 million per vessel, due for delivery in August and November 2013. Furthermore, the division benefits from having a highly experienced director at the helm; Bert McAughtrie compiled LNG standards in 2005 when chairman of the SIGGTO engineers working group, while another manager participated in the development of standards for steam engineers.

Bert also represents V Ships at SIGGTO’s general purpose Committee (GPC), the society’s technical directorate, which is comprised of 30 senior operational executives who offer LNG, LPG gas tanker and terminal experience.

The LNG division began with a pool of officers trained for third party clients such as Sonatrach and Chemikalien See Transport.

Supervisors were also later supplied for the supervision of newbuilding LNG vessels as well as asset protection services for existing ships.

Following this, V Ships saw potential to expand into training services and was the first to attain approval from UKMCA, LISCR, The Nautical Institute, Bahamas Registry, Marshal Islands

Registry and RINA for the LNG training courses as recommended by SIGGTO. Since then the company has conducted training courses for its own officers and third party client officers at its own in-house training centres and on board its vessels. Courses for steam training for engineers were also developed and approved by ExxonMobil and Marshal Islands.

Today recognised for assistance in the manuals on LNG Shipping Knowledge, an industry standard publication from Seamanship International, V Ships LNG has also been vetted and approved by BG, Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) and Gazprom. This dedication to gaining knowledge and experience in a relatively new and increasingly demanding sector is certain to bring opportunities and benefits to V Ships LNG throughout 2013 and the coming years.

Having developed a strong reputation as a leading outsourcing group of companies, the future looks positive for V Ships as it continues to integrate its services to offer the best turnkey solutions to its customers.

Furthermore, the company aims to develop a stronger foothold in the booming oil and gas industry, while also reaping the benefits of its expertise in the LNG industry, which is continuing to see increased demand.

Seton is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of health and safety and facilities management solutions. With businesses in 18 countries, Seton ships millions of orders worldwide to over 500,000 customers every year.

With established relationships with customers such as V-Ships, Halliburton, Shell, Esso and several more within the oil and gas sector, Seton has the experience and the products to ensure you can provide a safe workplace.

Health and safety laws grow increasingly complicated. Seton makes it easy for you to comply with legislation by providing products that meet necessary standards.

Seton also has the capability to manufacture bespoke products such as signage and labels, ensuring that its customers get a personalised service.

V Ships vships.com

Services Global one-stop-shop for value added solutions

European oil & gas

Seton

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

V Ships Ship Management encompasses a network of 18 ship management offices from which its fleet, in excess of 1000 vessels, can be managed with support from the divisional team in Glasgow

65

66 European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Analyse Leading manufacturer of American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) approved online physical property analysers for the world’s major refining firms in the oil and gas markets, Analytical Technology & Control Ltd (ATAC) also designs and manufactures a wide range of bespoke analyser systems, such as analyser cabinets, field houses, sample conditioning systems and sample recovery units. Established in 1993, the Wiltshire based company enhanced its service offering and system integration capabilities with the acquisition of Sysco Analytics in 2002; Advanced Holdings, a Singapore based leading global supplier of equipment and products to customers in the energy industries, acquired

ATAC eight years later in 2010. “Through acquiring the assets of Sysco we gained two established brands, Hallikainen and Hone, which have both been synonymous with physical property analysers since the 1960s,” says Daniel Merriman, sales and marketing director at ATAC. “Meanwhile, the synergistic acquisition of ATAC

by Advanced Holdings has led to us working with two other divisions, California based Guided Wave, which manufactures NIR & UV/ VIS analysers for the petroleum and chemical industries, and Advanced CAE, a larger scale system integration firm that is able to execute turnkey packages to the oil and gas industry.”

The acquisition of ATAC has resulted in the company gaining a unique position in the market as it now has the facilities to offer turnkey analyser packages to its customers on top of its core business; these packages include equipment such as sample systems and analyser houses. “This extended capability results in a greater added value to our customers,” enthuses Daniel. “Being part of the Advanced Group also gives us the opportunity to develop new product lines and also update various other systems in our product range for release. The recent acquisition of ATOM Instruments is an example of this, by gaining access to the company’s advanced technology, we can create new and exciting products for the petrochemical and refining industries.”

A recent new product, the ATAC 1077 viscometer+, was added to the company’s portfolio of online physical property analysers in January 2013. Setting the standard for viscometers, the product incorporates a unique responsive touch screen that has a Zone 1 IIC rating without the need for purge air. Its modular control assemblies are all plug and play, communicating through an internal CANbus that offers immediate and comprehensive diagnostic capability. Furthermore, the optional addition of a second oil bath to the viscometer+ enables measurement of viscosity at two different reference temperatures, providing a very precise Viscosity Index in accordance with the ASTM strandard. “Through the development of our new viscometer, particularly with its unique touch screen capabilities, we have effectively developed a new common platform for our other products. Over the next two years we will be launching new versions of our analysers, which will boast innovative electronics, touch screen and software,” says Daniel.

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Analytical Technology & Control (atac)

European oil & gas

PROFILE

67

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

PROFILE

68

Analytical Technology & Control (atac)

With increased demand expected, the company is busy expanding its R&D facilities, as managing director Paul Warburton highlights: “We currently have a very active R&D programme, which has led to an increase in personnel to be a part of these exciting developments. We are also in the process of expanding our R&D facilities here, with two more rooms being constructed. Advanced Holdings is also supporting us financially during this process as it views ATAC as a centre of excellence for research and development.”

Following the recently launched viscometer+, the company is also due to release a new and enhanced version of its cloud point analyser.

As well as having a more rugged measurement cell, the new analyser utilises digital rather than the earlier analogue control to significantly improve the precision of cloud point detection.

The new version cloud point analyser is also capable of switching between very different petroleum products without the need for operator intervention. ATAC has also introduced hardware improvements that have reduced the product’s maintenance requirements. “The introduction of our newly upgraded physical property analysers is a major focus for us right now; a new vapour pressure analyser is also due to be released soon,” says Daniel.

On top of manufacturing, the company offers maintenance, training, commissioning and consulting services to its customers, so it is imperative staff are fully trained and prepared for

working in hazardous areas, as Paul elaborates: “We invest a lot in the training of personnel, particularly when you consider everything we do is related to hazardous operations, we need to ensure our staff not only design and build analysers, but can also offer high quality services such as maintenance to the required standards of the industry.” By rigorously training its staff to be fully qualified with up-to-date credentials, the company can retain a competitive edge over other firms. “When we present these credentials to our customers, we prove that we are competent, trained and certified to any current regulations that are in place at any refineries around the world,” adds Paul.

Following the acquisition of ATOM in 2013, the company is focusing on the aggressive schedules it has in place to develop new products throughout the rest of the year. It is also executing a major new project to supply multiple analyser systems for the BP Claire Ridge offshore platforms. Looking further ahead, ATAC has a strategic aim to double the size of its business over the next three to five years through increased product developments and acquisitions. “We are also looking to develop a presence in areas that we may not have had much focus on in the past, such as the Americas, and being part of the Advanced Group gives us immediate access to China and the wider Asia Pacific territories, there is a great deal of economic growth and potential,” concludes Paul.

Lee-Dickens Lee-Dickens is pleased to support ATAC, which has been a loyal customer for more than 17 years. We have supplied ATAC over those years with a range of instrumentation, of which the majority were Isolating Signal Converters.

We are a UK manufacturer of process control instrumentation including a range of VA flowmeter alarm units, trip amplifiers and signal converters. These have, in most cases, been assessed and awarded SIL2 rating.

The SIL rated products are all non-processor based, which is especially important to industries such as oil and gas, nuclear power generation and steel, where safety is critical.

Analytical Technology & Control Ltd (ATAC) atacgroup.com

Services Manufactures online physical property analysers

european

from exploration to end user Schofield Publishing Ltd 10 Cringleford Business Centre Intwood Road Cringleford Norwich NR4 6AU T: +44 (0) 1603 274130 F: +44 (0) 1603 274131 Editor Matt High mhigh@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Sales Manager Rob Wagner rwagner@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

europeanoilandgas.co.uk