European Oil and Gas Issue 8 2013

issue EIGHT 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

Growing responsibly Energy companies should invest in education to meet global challenges

Maximising safety Improving shale gas safety with well integrity management Controlling cost Mitigating risk through project cost control solutions

this ISSUE: Operations integrity

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.

Corporate

social responsibility is a phrase that is used all too often across any number of industries. But when it comes to the oil and gas sector, which has an impact on societies across the globe through its exploration and production activities, it is a concept that must remain high on a company’s priorities.

In this issue’s lead feature we speak with Madeleine White of Whizz Education, who discusses how oil and gas companies can invest in education and regional infrastructure in order to meet global social and economic challenges. “Education is driven by motivation, motivation by collaboration,” she explains. “By providing tools that are transparent, measurable and scalable, education technology frameworks provide a way for educationalists from all disciplines, governments and oil and gas companies to prepare for tomorrow today – together.” Turn to page four to find out how your company can make a difference.

Considering the social challenges of our industry, shale gas is a development that has come under much scrutiny recently. Continuing the theme of our lead feature, on page 12 we examine how well integrity management solutions can improve safety in shale gas. An important topic if we are to see the energy source be developed in the UK over the coming years.

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

Education is driven by motivation, motivation by collaboration"

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

2

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Contents

Regulars Lead Feature

Energy companies should invest in education to meet global challenges

8

News

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

10

Technology

Mitigating risk for oil and gas companies through project cost controls

12

Lead Feature

Profiles

35

Improving shale gas safety through well integrity management solutions

35 Secunda Canada

16

Special feature Refinery management

Methods for improving performance management in European refineries

18

IT

39 Ocean Installer 42 Axon Norway 44 Heli-Union

Big data – how the oil and gas industry is bringing together the old and the new

46 Technip Umbilical Systems

22

Special feature Operations integrity

50 Seaonics

52 Seaward Safety

How companies can successfully navigate the operations integrity landscape

24 SIGTTO focus

54 MHF Group

26 EVERGAS

56 Salalah Methanol Company 59 Applus RTD

28 Decommissioning focus

Decom North Sea

31 BILFINGER SALAMIS UK

54

56 4

12

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

4

European oil & gas

3

Growing responsibly European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Madeleine White discusses oil and gas companies investing in education to meet global challenges through corporate social responsibility

4

I

n light of the global credit crunch and the many challenges faced by the developing world, it is nigh on impossible for most countries to meet today’s social and economic issues, let alone future demands.

However, just as the problems were created by us, they can also be solved by us, with the ideas of our sustainabilityconscious 21st Century Global Society being supported by technology that is able to help deliver these new concepts.

My Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)-supported Below visit to Kurdistan towards the end of last year, allowed me to Madeleine White, catch a glimpse of what could be possible if skills, expertise, head of strategic spending power and a real desire to look at a new type of partnerships, Whizz Education solution are communicated and acted upon. The palpable national belief in the infinite possibility of the region, linked to immediate need around making things happen, means that what is being created in Kurdistan could serve as a model of best practise for many other regions also.

The legislative power of government and the expertise of

the not-for-profit sector have long been seen as important contributors in terms of a nation building through education.

However, the advent of powerful technology means that for the first time the corporate sector is able to participate in the entire educational lifecycle, contributing not just through spending power, but outcome-driven expertise. However, to serve this new paradigm, a language of motivation and collaboration is required (i.e. Get Energy Event referenced later), frame-working strategic participation, whilst recognising the role of the government as strategic lead.

Through this approach, oil and gas companies’ need for a skilled local workforce can, for example, be translated into a valuable contribution to a national human capacity programme that harnesses the potential of individuals as well as local and regional communities.

Genel’s Bnar Salah comments on the subject of investing in education: “Genel’s motivation is to make a positive difference to society. A couple of our most successful projects have been a Kindergarten in Koya and also a youth

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Lead one

5

centre with computer facilities. We are also investing in relationships and connections that make these projects successful. I firmly believe that corporate social responsibility isn’t just about donating money, it’s about giving something back that will directly impact on individuals – in terms of their communities and even their homes.”

This sentiment is very close to Kurdistan’s President Barzani’s heart. When I met him he spoke of his desire to ensure that extraction of the region’s natural resources was matched by a commitment to supporting its human resource. He reiterated that, in order to serve Kurdistan’s hunger for progress, one of the main challenges his country faced was to build the local skill to serve the capital projects that are contributing to the re-emergence of Kurdistan as an economic force. In short, investing in his people meant investing in progress.

On further research it became clear that the following two-pronged approach is driving this innovative national leap of faith:

1. Implementation of the UN Global Compact provides an overall framework; recycling natural resource to build human resources and ensuring that expertise and funding derived from a percentage of private sector profits are redeployed into the rebuilding of regional infrastructure and education. Kurdistan is leveraging drilling rights of its oil and gas reserves by insisting that companies working in the region adhere to the UGC’s principles – with a particular focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR) spend being linked to rebuilding the region’s infrastructure, with education at its very heart. *

2. The Kurdish Human Capacity Development Program (HCDP) is a long-term strategy Kurdistan has implemented in order to extract its human resource.

Annual KRG budget (US $100 million) over four years is allocated to the scheme that will allow thousands of young men and women to study in some of the world’s top universities.

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Education is driven by motivation, motivation by collaboration. By providing tools that are transparent, measurable and scalable educational technology frameworks provide a way for educationalists from all disciplines, governments and oil and gas companies to prepare for tomorrow today – together

6

Educational technology is vital in terms of ensuring that this two-pronged approach is effective. The transparency and ease of measure that the new generation of technology is able to offer, means that even without a coherent in-country set of measures national achievement can be set within a frame-work that is cohesive, internationally relevant and easily understood. This framework is relevant and accessible at parent, district, and corporate and country levels.

Importantly, this shared information, when acted upon, can drive economic development and progress in the school sector as well as at universities.

By harmonising the two-pronged approach via this vital data, a strategic forum is created that links the needs of different sectors of education as well as those of the private sector through a powerful educational pipeline. This pipeline

putting sewing machines in the centre, in order to support microbusinesses for the mothers or families. The extra money will make a child’s school life more secure - it all links in. I think it would be great if we as oil companies could chat about how we could all strategically contribute with the government.”

Very soon we will see the announcement of successful responses to the Expression of Interest published by The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG) for provision of 2000 school buildings in Erbil, Sulaimaniya, Dohuk and Garmian over ten years. The HCDP is being run successfully, the ten-year educational strategy is about to be published – this is therefore a time of great excitement and opportunity.

Wouldn’t it be great if this period of transformation could encompass oil and gas company sponsored schools and community centres within the ‘Blocks’ serving as pilot project ‘learning villages’, supporting the MOE’s overall strategy and planning? Indeed going even further, if the support and desire for relevant learning and education was firmly set within these learning villages and supported by hub universities linked to ‘blocks’, this would be another innovative yet tangible way of supporting the overall Human Capacity building strategy.

Education is driven by motivation, motivation by collaboration. By providing tools that are transparent, measurable and scalable educational technology frameworks provide a way for educationalists from all disciplines, governments and oil and gas companies to prepare for tomorrow today – together.

European oil & gas

is able to link Higher Education into industry, whilst at the same time developing the cognitive soft skillsets at preschool and school age.

A parent who had recently brought her family back ‘home’ from the US shared this with me when we were chatting about the various private and state school offerings that were available to her family: “I have two daughters, different schools, different curricula. It is very difficult to measure what is needed at school. I honestly don’t know what the next step will be when they want to study.”

As she rightly pointed out, without a nationally reflective measure at school age it is very difficult to meet wider needs in terms of preparation for vocational and Higher Education sectors. Therefore, a temporary and complementary set of measures that reflects actual standards and ability and are easily understood by all stakeholders are a crucial part of the plans holding the pipeline together. Educational technology can provide this.

For example, Whizz Education is a company that educates five-13 year olds online via Maths-Whizz. It raises standards in maths at pre to primary, up to junior and secondary school levels in many countries and does so irrespective of nationality, culture, socio-economic circumstances and gender.

This maths tutoring system that offers an interactive environment that links children teachers and parents, as well as schools, government and strategic private partners through real-time reporting is driven by continuous assessment and so contributes to the Millenium Development Goal and UNGC development objective of Education for All. It is a tool that offers transparency, measurability and universal access all the while allowing central purchasers to measure the success of their spend though the availability of real time progress reports at individual, class, school district and country level.

When considering the sums of money involved in educational spend, the ROI becomes an important consideration. For example, from August 2006 to February 2012, an estimated $426 million in capital private investment was made in the education sector in Kurdistan. Even though exact CSR budgets by individual companies are not confirmed, it is clear that the pot of available funding runs into millions. Linking private and public money around education is important because it demonstrates real investment in the next generation.

Beyond this though, oil and gas companies want their spend to have a measurable impact, as Afren’s Reza Khaleghi explains: “We want to support the government by offering real strategic input, of course working within our block or region, but supporting the wider picture.

For example, we are currently completely refurbishing Konabak School in Bardarash as well as a community centre. The school because the facilities are virtually unusable, the community centre because we don’t believe education happens just at school. For example, we are

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Lead one

7 * The Compact is an initiative for companies that are committed to integrating ten corporate responsibility principles in their business operations and strategies. These include issues around human rights and sustainability, but indeed also include contributing to broad development objectives (including the Millennium Development Goals) through partnerships.

Whizz Education Madeleine White is an educationalist, writer and head of strategic partnerships, Whizz Education. This article's topic will be discussed at length at the Get Energy Annual conference. A workshop hosted by the KRG, Whizz Education and Get Energy will discuss many of these topics raised.

For further information please visit: whizz.com To find out more or even to contribute please get in touch: madeleine.white@whizzeducation.co.uk The Get Energy event is taking place between the 4th and 6th June. To find out more or to register please visit: getenergyevent.com/events/upcoming/getenergy-2013/programme/

Above:Tom Bower, Viking SeaTech president Gulf of Mexico

New arrival europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Global offshore support specialist Viking SeaTech has officially announced the arrival of Gulf of Mexico managing director Tom Bower at Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston.

Group chief executive Bill Bayliss said: “Tom is a spirited and inspiring

European oil & gas

leader to steer future American operations. Formerly of Topaz

8

drive Viking SeaTech’s achievable

Energy and Marine, Tom brings almost 30 years of experience to our leadership team. We are recruiting a talented group of highly skilled individuals to support Tom and ambitions. Tom’s rich industry knowledge and clout will attract new business and I look forward to the exciting future ahead. I am confident we can maintain the company’s success and continue to exceed our customers’ expectations stateside.

“Tom will define our strategy to move into the US to strengthen Viking SeaTech’s international reputation as a premier supplier of services and solutions. The US market will also be a crucial stepping stone into neighbouring territories as part of group-wide development.”

With offices in all of the world’s main oil and gas hubs including Aberdeen, Stavanger, Perth, Singapore and Jakarta, Viking SeaTech has an eye for locating emerging business locations and developing its services within the specific marketplace.

Maintaining standards Bilfinger Salamis UK has been awarded a major contract by Chevron Upstream Europe (CUE) to provide a full range of fabric maintenance services on the company’s North Sea platforms.

The flagship contract, with a potential value of approximately £50 million, runs for three years and has two additional renewal options. The contract builds on the company’s existing partnership with CUE, which Bilfinger Salamis UK has worked with in the North Sea for the last 12 years.

Services provided on Chevron’s assets - Alba North, Alba FSU, Captain WPP, Captain FPSO and Erskine Platform - will include the supply of deck crews, rigging, coatings and insulation work, scaffolding, rope access, specialist cleaning and architectural services. This work secures continuity of employment for over 80 Salamis employees offshore on Chevron’s assets, and within its project support team onshore.

Doug Sheal, delivery manager at Bilfinger Salamis UK commented: “We see this long-term contract award as an opportunity to invest further in our people and the equipment assigned to Chevron and further cement our positive working relationship. The contract award to Bilfinger Salamis UK builds on our existing track record, relationships and knowledge of the assets in a seamless manner without disruption to crews work plans or safety culture.”

Growing with integrity Flexlife is expanding into new premises in Houston and targeting US work with a value of nearly £2 million in the next financial year.

The company, which currently has three members of staff at its US office, is looking to double its workforce when it expands to new premises later this month, with options for future growth over the coming 12 to 18 months.

Since its opening 18 months ago, the Houston office has seen an annual turnover of around £195,000 ($300,000) and expects that to rise to nearly £1.9m ($3million) for the coming financial year.

This increase in expected turnover is due to rising demand for the wide range of flexible pipe integrity and Above: Flexlife engineers with Armadillo technology in Flexlife’s Aberdeen HQ engineering services, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico and research and development facilities North Atlantic regions.

Flexlife chief executive Ciaran O’Donnell said: “The Houston base has gone from strength to strength in recent months and we have no doubt that the office will continue to grow in its capabilities and contract wins. Flexlife has established itself as a major player in North Sea operations, and these skills transfer well to the Gulf of Mexico. With our growth in Houston, Flexlife has continued to add to its reputation of offering complete subsea integrity solutions internationally.”

News

Above: Rienk de Vries, technical director at Applus RTD

In flight service

Applus RTD has unveiled its most

Shell International Exploration and Production B.V. has selected CHC Helicopter, the world’s leading offshore helicopter services provider, for a five-year, multi-million dollar contract to support it‘s deepwater exploration activities off the coast of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The agreement, which comes with five, one-year options, will dedicate two Eurocopter Super Puma L2 aircraft to helicopter transportation services and emergency medical evacuation capabilities in support of Shell’s Noble Globetrotter II Deepwater drillship’s multi-country operations. Delivery of those services begins from July 2013.

CHC has provided services in 19 different African countries for a diverse mix of customers, including oil and gas operators and the United Nations. The company operates both AgustaWestland 139 and Sikorsky 76 aircraft for ongoing rig support across multiple drilling programmes.

Chris Krajewski, CHC’s regional director for Africa and Euro-Asia, said his company has unmatched knowledge and operational experience in supporting such complex multi-country projects.

“We support customers in challenging oil and gas territories around the world, including in recent projects for EHL, Petrobras and British Gas throughout East and West Africa,” said Chris. “This contract reflects CHC’s ability and our commitment to customers, as we help them safely go further and do more in Africa and around the world.”

technology range.

Important milestone Petrofac Training Services has celebrated another milestone after its industry-leading freefall lifeboat made its 500th drop. The freefall lifeboat system, which is present upon many ships and oil and gas platforms worldwide, uses gravity to propel the lifeboat into the sea and clear of any danger. The freefall facility installed at the Marine Training Centre is based on a Verhoef lifeboat and is the only one approved for training oil and gas personnel in the UK. Thousands of trainees from the oil and gas and shipping industries have achieved the necessary marine safety qualifications at the company’s Aberdeen Marine Training Centre since it was upgraded in 2011. The facility includes the country’s largest fleet of training vessels, including fast rescue craft and twinfall and singlefall lifeboats, in addition to the freefall lifeboat, at the Aberdeen Harbour site.

George Masson, Survival and Marine Team Leader at Petrofac Training Services, has a Royal Navy background and 23 years service with the company. He said: “The strong demand for our services - which has resulted in this milestone being reached in such a short period of time - is a vote of confidence from the industry not only in our facilities, but also in our ability to provide high quality competency-led training for those working in some of the world’s harshest environments.

sophisticated ultrasonic 3D inspection technology to date – the latest addition to its revolutionary NDT3D The RTD IWEX (Inverse Wave Field Extrapolation) is an emerging Non Destructive Testing (NDT)

accurately detailing the size, position

European oil & gas

technique that allows detailed

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Test results

and characterisation of faults. It

9

inspection and mapping of defects within critical pieces of pipework.

The system increases the probability of detection of defects within welds, as well as more

has the potential to save operators millions of dollars by reducing the number of welds being rejected in new construction pipelines both onshore and offshore.

Rienk de Vries, technical director at Applus RTD, said: “RTD IWEX provides users with a reconstructed image of the inspected object, giving a clearer insight into the scale and nature of any existing defects than is currently possible. By utilising this technology, more accurate results in relation to the size and position of the defect can be gained throughout the inspection process.”

The product has been designed to tackle a number of known client issues during processes such as pipeline construction and strain-based pipeline designs and can be utilised during operations for the oil and gas and renewables sectors.

cost Controlling

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Javier Sloninsky discusses mitigating risk for oil and gas companies through project cost controls

F

European oil & gas

ifteen years ago, only ten per cent of large oil and gas projects ran more than 50 per cent over budget. Last year, that figure nearly tripled to 28 per cent. According to a Schlumberger Business Consulting report, this budget busting trend is expected to worsen by 2015.

The cost of building and operating oil and gas facilities has been steadily on the rise, driven by strong demand for oilfield goods and services, and rising fuel and labour costs. At the same time, oil and gas construction projects have become larger and more complex. Better performance tracking and delivery optimisation has never been more critical.

An effective solution for navigating these complexities is the use of automated tools and processes for project cost controls. Project cost management software systems aid companies in aligning their capital investment strategies with strict project execution requirements to ensure ROI is realised. Effective cost controls solutions not only improve profitability, but they are also the key to building detailed budgets, maintaining data accuracy, measuring project expenditures against plan, and delivering timely reporting.

Cost and schedule overruns can be anticipated in advance, when there is still time to take corrective actions.

10

Above Javier Sloninsky, CEO and managing director of EcoSys

Accounting for risk The development of risk contingency plans, which detail potential risks and the mitigation strategies should an event occur, have long been standard practice when accounting for project risks. Financially, the establishment of a ‘contingency’ fund to be used when risks are realised is also very important, although the methodology is often outdated. Traditionally, the value of the contingency budget is determined based on a fixed percentage of the project budget, using historical data to

dictate the percentage. This process, however, is static and can unnecessarily hold significant amounts of funds hostage over the life of the project.

With a modern project cost management solution, the contingency can be seamlessly integrated with a change control process. When risks move from a potential occurrence to one that will have an actualised budget impact, the system will enforce the necessary approvals, draw down from contingency, and apply the appropriate changes to budgets and forecasts. Conversely, when a risk is averted, the processes in place can return contingency funds to the organisation, which can now make better use of the funds.

Mitigating risk through visibility Managers of complex oil and gas projects can be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data to track. Through all the moving parts and multiple stakeholders, from the finance and project controls departments all the way through to the C-Suite and outside contractors, the problem is often the same: siloed data and a lack of transparency.

Historically, the project cost management discipline has relied on highly manual processes for data collection and reporting, which impact the speed and accuracy of the information delivered. Analysis and reports may be delivered too late to allow for corrective measures to be enacted. The goal should be a single, integrated source of data that can be accessed in real-time for reporting on project performance, through role-based dashboards, on-demand cost reports, all in an intuitive web-based view.

Project cost management solutions lend visibility to project progress and help to uncover issues before they lead to overruns that cut into margins. How is this achieved?

With real-time access to integrated data, project controls

Choice of projects: a risky business While projects inherently have risks which must be accounted for and monitored, a full lifecycle project controls system can also help mitigate risk at a very early stage – during project selection. As an organisation chooses among the potential projects that can be executed, various factors come into play. What are the inherent risks of an individual project? What does the investment return in net present value (NPV)? Is the project aligned with strategic objectives?

These types of variables can be weighed and quantified in a project controls system to help determine when or if a project should be undertaken.

Additionally, looking at a portfolio of projects, a project controls solution can work to balance an organisation’s supply of resources against the resource demands of existing and potential projects. This analysis can identify delaycausing labour shortfalls and margin-eating surpluses at the earliest of planning stages.

As the oil and gas industry continues to evolve and projects become more global, more expensive, and more complex, the industry must embrace new technologies to drive project and financial success. All spending is under scrutiny today and even the most profitable oil and gas organisations are paying attention to more effective cost controls practices. It is clear that the industry can benefit from solutions that provide means to better manage the risk associated with large capital projects. Through standardisation of processes and automation of reporting, project controls software helps to deliver projects more efficiently, on time and closer to budget.

EcoSys Javier Sloninsky is CEO and managing director of EcoSys, a provider of powerful, easy to use, web-based project cost and portfolio management software for industries including engineering and construction, energy, utilities, government and IT. Javier has over 16 years of leadership and hands-on experience in the commercial software industry, and has advised organisations including the US Department of Defense, Shell Oil, United Utilities, and SunTrust Banks in financial and project management best practices.

For further information please visit: ecosys.net

European oil & gas

analysts can create what-if scenarios directly within the cost management system, account for worst-case scenarios and have contingencies defined based on realistic scenarios.

With access to cost and schedule data in a single system, Earned Value Management (EVM) techniques can also be applied in scenario analysis. EVM is a project controls discipline that measures project progress against the agreed plan. Fundamental earned value metrics, such as Cost and Schedule Performance Indices, can be used to automatically calculate Independent Estimates at Complete, objective forecasts of the total cost of the project based on actual performance trends.

The ability to effectively control projects and predict potential outcomes ahead of time can be the difference between finishing a project on time and budget and having massive overruns that are only apparent in the week and months after all expenditures are accounted for. By having historical data as a guide and current data available in realtime, organisations have the tools to make better, more informed decisions during the course of the project.

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Technology

11

safety

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Maximising

European oil & gas

Dr Liane Smith on the importance of improving shale gas safety with well integrity management

12

S

Below Dr Liane Smith (FREng) director and founder of Intetech

hale Gas must not only be safe, but be seen to be safe. Proven technologies such as well integrity management systems could distinctly and positively impact the way the industry is perceived. The approval of shale gas extraction by ministers in the UK means that operations are now planned to start in 2015. Shale gas has the potential to make a significant contribution to ensuring energy security and reduce the UK’s reliance on imports. In the US for example, vast deposits of shale gas should enable it to consume a predominantly domestic supply of gas for many years and produce more than it consumes.

But while business leaders are enthusiastic about shale gas, and its potential to boost industry and keep energy costs down, environmentalists are more cautious. The extraction process entails hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which has proved controversial. Incidents in the US have seen fracking associated with pollution of water through the chemicals involved in the process, while the UK Government imposed a moratorium on the practice after the UK’s first fracking site was found to have caused two minor earthquakes in the Blackpool area. However, this has been recently lifted to enable exploration to begin.

Well integrity the highest priority The UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir John Beddington FRS, asked the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering to review the scientific and engineering evidence and consider whether the risks associated with fracking as a means of extracting shale gas could be managed effectively in the UK. Published in June 2012, the review concluded that the health, safety, and environmental risks can be managed effectively, and that the risk of fractures propagating to reach overlying aquifers is very low, provided that shale gas extraction takes place at depths of many hundreds of metres or several kilometres. It also concluded that more likely causes of possible contamination include faulty wells. Well integrity was therefore identified as being the highest priority, with robust monitoring also considered vital before, during and after shale gas operations.

Managing well integrity is therefore much more than simply ensuring safety during a current activity or specific scenarios, rather it concerns the sustainability of the equipment to operate safely for the full design life of the well. Well integrity management systems exist both at a documentation and software level, and combine key

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Lead two

13 well operating and production data within a framework for decision-making, management processes and organisational structure.

The shale gas opportunity The shale gas industry is almost exclusively the domain of small start-ups and independent operators and gas producers. In general, larger integrated oil and gas operators have the scale and expertise to focus on assets where the rewards, risks and costs are higher. In addition, shale gas wells are fairly small and simple to construct using current technology, meaning independent players can enter the market relatively easily.

Because the shale gas sector is still young, it can learn much from the conventional oil and gas business in terms of best practice, but firms also have the opportunity to steal a march because conventional players are only just beginning to implement more systemised approaches to well integrity management. Well Integrity Management System (WIMS) documentation sets the standard in terms of helping to set out and establish an approach for all aspects of well life – from design and construction, to operation and abandonment – and for all well types.

However, much of the information relating to well production, barrier equipment and design is held in different departments in various formats and under different timelines.

Not only do these ‘silos’ make it difficult for senior executives and management teams to collate, compare and report on well integrity data, but the length of time this can take impacts on their ability to identify problem wells, make informed decisions and take remedial action.

Well integrity management is therefore more than just running the wells properly and in the optimal way; it’s about controlling all of the different factors that could be affecting the safety of the well in real time continuously over the 30+ year design life with a robust overarching system that ensures high integrity of the wells is established and maintained.

A systemised approach When a shale gas well is drilled, the well bore is protected by a steel casing, with the space between the steel casing and the rock wall in the well bore filled with cement. Known as a ‘cement sheath’, the protection of this sheath is essential in order to prevent contamination. The normal deterioration mechanisms are to be expected – namely temperature and pressure fluctuations due to changes in production rates.

dana petroleum plc Dana Petroleum plc is a $4 billion oil and gas business with operations in the UK, Egypt, Norway, the Netherlands and Africa, producing 60,000 barrels of oil a day.

Acquired by the Korea National Oil Corporation in 2010, Dana’s ambition is to grow to become a leading international oil and gas company operating in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Dana is investing up to $5 billion over the next five years to more than double the size of the company and create value for its shareholder.

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

UK Dana's portfolio in the UK consists of various exploration, production and development activities throughout the Northern, Central and Southern North Sea, West of Shetland, and in the Moray Firth.

Average annual production in 2012 was around 33,000 boepd.

In October 2012, Dana took over the operatorship of the Triton floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) from Hess and the company acquired Hess’ 28.28 per cent stake in the Bittern field, increasing Dana’s share in the field to 33 per cent.

The flagship project for the UK is the $1.6 billion Western Isles Development project, which was approved by the Department of Energy and Climate Change in December 2012 .

Western Isles will develop two discovered oil fields called Harris and Barra in the Northern North Sea, 160km east of the Shetlands and 12km west of the Tern field.

The nine-well Western Isles development is expected to add more than 30,000 barrels (net) to Dana’s daily production when it comes onstream in 2015.

14

The Netherlands Dana operates eight offshore production and exploration licenses including the De Ruyter, Hanze, Van Ghent and Van Nes fields. In addition, the company has interests in 17 non-operated production and exploration licenses, both offshore and onshore. Average annual production in 2012 was 11,700 boepd.

Egypt Dana's business in Egypt consists of a balanced portfolio of operated and non-operated developments in the Gulf of Suez, the Nile Delta and the Western Desert. The company's portfolio of 17 development leases is currently producing approximately 12,000 boepd.

Norway The Norway business is an exploration focused activity with a portfolio of some 20 licenses of which three are operated. Dana’s ambition longer term is to build a balanced portfolio of exploration, development and production assets.

Practical steps for shale gas The performance of shale gas wells should be monitored as per conventional wells in order to detect signs of leaks at an early stage. This ensures that action can be taken to control them in a timely way, rather than waiting until the water is contaminated or other problems develop.

Operators also need to monitor fluid compositions at the wells and in surrounding aquifer monitoring wells to reassure the public of diligence and quality control of their potable water. There are three crucial steps to this process: 66 Sample – there is a range of parameters, but the most critical are pressures measured at the surface, in the tubing, and the annuli; as well as fluids being produced (both liquids and gasses). This also calls for regular maintenance testing of installed equipment, although different frequencies will apply. For example, pressure monitoring might be daily, fluids quarterly, while testing of the equipment might be performed every six months to a year.

66 Measure – this means not just conducting regular sampling and storing data in discrete silos and folders, but building a valuable database format such that trends can be identified in the data being acquired and anomalies picked up and acted on in a timely fashion.

66 Control – for all of this data there should be parameters providing criteria, above which an operator would receive a warning notification to indicate that conditions might have gone beyond the safe operating envelope of a well, therefore requiring attention, or possibly intervention. A common situation is where pressure rises outside of defined ranges, or fluid sampling and chemical analysis identifies spikes or significant changes in particular parameters.

To date, there has been too much focus on the fracking process, and not enough on managing the integrity of the wells themselves. With all departments and risk areas integrated into a single, highly-functional well integrity management system, operators can have access to a single version of the truth that translates into usable information for proactive decision-making. This is proven to significantly reduce the number of integrity-related shut-ins and workovers while providing a level of production assurance that delivers a new level of operational efficiency.

More importantly, by taking the lead on well integrity, shale gas operators will not only ensure integrity is established and maintained effectively, but can be seen to be doing so by both regulators and the general public.

Intetech Dr Liane Smith (FREng) is director and founder of Intetech, the leading asset integrity company that has helped oil and gas businesses, as well as clients from other sectors, to ensure the safe and profitable operation of their assets for more than 20 years.

For further information please visit: intetech.com

European oil & gas

These can cause potential degradation of the cement bond between the casing and the cement, or the well bore and the cement.

In addition, the fracking process itself is unique in that a large volume of high-pressure fluid is being pumped into the well bore for prolonged periods, stressing all the cement bonds, or any kind of mechanical or integral seal within the well. Given the potential for a loss of integrity over time, the cement sheath and surface conditions must be monitored continuously. The operator must also ensure vigorous fluid quality monitoring. Shale gas requires large amounts of water, if the water needs to be reused during the process then the quality of the water must be assured.

An advanced well integrity management system provides the ability to analyse, compare and validate all operating well data, alert and report on exceptions and make information available throughout the enterprise to the right people at the right time: 66 Production information – to confirm that all fluids in the well are within their safe operating limits for flow rates, pressures and temperatures 66 Barrier tests – to check that safety-critical equipment is leak-free 66 Well design data –to support informed well workover plans 66 Well history – to track all actions on the well and handover events

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Lead two

15

Optimising

performance European oil & gas

www.europeanoilandg as.co.uk

Gerard Shore of KPMG on the need for getting tough on performance in European refineries

16

H

istorically, profitability challenges faced by European refiners could be regarded as a natural consequence of the industry’s cyclical nature. However, this time around the situation in the industry could be permanent as the current trends of falling demand, over-supply, growing competition from emerging markets, increasing environmental legislation and eroding margins continue.

In a recent KPMG Global Energy Institute survey on the future of European refining, over three-quarters (78 per cent) of the respondents believe that the current challenges of falling demand and depressed margins will continue for the next five years with over a quarter (27 per cent) saying they would last indefinitely.

In the face of such tough market conditions refiners must understand and acknowledge what the future holds for their site. For instance, sites without competitive advantage are becoming increasingly poor reinvestment candidates and should be placed on a path to harvesting cash and either divestment or closure; whereas a refinery that retains an inherent advantage from its location and existing plant is a clear survivor site candidate.

Over half (59 per cent) of the industry leaders say that the key characteristic of survivor sites is effective cost management and optimised operational performance.

However, the experience of KPMG member firms is that the success of refiners varies widely in this area with significant opportunity potential often left undelivered.

The focus of the ‘pace setters’ Poor reliability and plant availability can significantly impact a refinery’s profit and cash flows. The ‘pace setters’ operate their plants safely, maintain them properly, and often have the lowest operating costs in the business with a significant difference in performance and approach versus average performers. Once the capital investment plans are in place, a relentless focus on continuous improvement must be

adopted otherwise the performance of the refinery will inevitably drop back. Operators must drive improvement and allocate available resources in a balanced and co-ordinated manner in order to extract incremental value from all opportunity areas in the refinery.

Area 1 Production optimisation and crude acquisition All refiners understand the importance of making the products and buying the crude oil that maximises their margin on the day. However, understanding market demand, optimising refinery production, and buying and running the right crude at the right time at the right price remains a crucial activity, and is sometimes almost a dark art, understood and available only to a few technical experts.

Commercial optimisation draws heavily on the need to bring together commercial, trading, technical and operating skills. It is heavily dependent on the knowledge and skill of the people involved, and can make an enormous difference to the actual margin captured at any time.

Given the value at stake, we recommend frequently revisiting this area and investing significant time and cash as follows: 66 Examining, improving and periodically rebuilding the economic planning, plant optimisation and feedstock procurement processes – with specific attention focused on understanding how the interfaces between different groups impacts process performance 66 Ensuring optimisation models are fit-for-purpose and are utilised properly – including reviewing: the accuracy of commercial inputs and operational constraints; how effectively model outputs are used for decision making; and the attention placed on reconciling actual plant performance with model outputs 66 Reviewing the affect of monitoring and control processes on process unit performance, including the roles of operations and technical personnel and cross-functional governance processes.

Even in modern sites opportunities can exist to reduce energy and utility costs, particularly around equipment such as furnaces and turbines. The pursuit of these opportunities is helped by the application of online energy monitoring and energy management systems, which provide real-time data for review.

An efficient way to start reducing these costs is through a plant wide energy and utility assessment. This involves mapping production unit energy consumption against product stream throughputs, with comparisons made against the original design performance of the equipment, or other suitable benchmarks. The resulting improvement opportunities identified are usually best delivered using multi-skilled project teams comprising both technical and operations personnel.

Area 3 – Fixed cash costs Managing, and where possible reducing, fixed cash costs is one of the most difficult areas. Five to eight percent of the total cost base relates to employees, contractors and procured goods and services. However, KPMG experience is that these costs are often not fully optimised. Reasons can include: 66 Management lacking the right tools and approaches, with cost reduction programmes often focussed on short terms actions (e.g. freezing discretionary spend) 66 Lack of visibility of the true cost base and headcount of the organisation at sufficient levels of detail to enable transparency between improvement projects and bottom line impacts 66 Adopting cost optimisation activities in the absence of hard economic facts and comparator insights that dispel myths and challenge the status quo 66 Lack of external challenge to maximise potential value without compromising operational integrity; and

66 Employment legislation and poor quality industrial relations.

With over 60 per cent of functional fixed cash costs usually people related, these costs can often be reduced by optimising work processes within functional areas and at points where teams interface with others. Examples of potential areas include: 66 Maintenance – inefficient permit to work execution from misaligned schedules between operations and maintenance 66 Laboratory – excessive testing conducted beyond required service levels 66 Operations – suboptimal shift structures with excessive cover and overtime.

The key is having a long-term focus, underpinned with clear plans, that keep the plant well maintained and operated, as well as a steely determination to control and challenge all fixed cash costs.

If current trends and profitability challenges are here to stay, then European refiners will have to be leaner, more efficient and more able to adapt to changing market needs. A strong focus now on building and maintaining their relative competitive advantages is vital to help ensure their survival today and profitability in the future.

KPMG Gerard Shore is director in advisory for KPMG, a leading provider of professional services including audit, tax and advisory. KPMG has an intensive understanding of different sectors, and as well as oil and gas it works with clients in the aerospace and defence, automotive, mining, chemicals & performance, government & public and media markets, among others.

For further information please visit: kpmg.com

www.europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Area 2 Energy and utility costs optimisation

- Refinery management

European oil & gas

Special feature

17

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

18

problem Solving the 'big'

Big data - how the oil and gas industry is bringing together the old and the new, by Yves de Montcheuil

W

Below Yves de Montcheuil, VP marketing at Talend

ith harsh economic conditions continuing to prevail worldwide and resources increasingly scarce, operators across the oil and gas industry need to ensure that they do more with what they have. Most have huge volumes of data at their disposal. Typically, this data will have been assembled over a long period. Much may have been generated on old legacy systems, and even sometimes historic data from when processing plants or wells were under different ownership or had been brought back into commission after a period lying dormant. Yet, at the same time, oil and gas plants need to deal effectively with continuously growing volumes of new data. Large volumes are generated by modern approaches to oil and gas exploration, including new solutions for collecting processing and storing data. The development of new devices to track the performance of personnel and technology performance is adding to this volume.

The need to efficiently manage this combination of legacy and brand new data lies at the heart of the challenges operators across the oil and gas industry are facing today.

Bringing together the old and the new Much of the legacy data that oil and gas operators own will never have been fully evaluated and analysed before and nor will the value it contains have been fully exploited. At the time the data was collected, techniques for managing and analysing it were less sophisticated. Modern tools now allow more accurate analysis and so have the potential to yield more accurate and detailed intelligence than when the data was first collected Even where rudimentary analysis was carried out it was typically expensive and unwieldy to process. Obtaining meaningful results was often a matter of days rather than minutes. This was time-consuming and resource-intensive.

In addition, the level of accuracy available with existing tools

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

IT

19

was so poor, compared to today’s technologies, that the data showed little discernible value.

Thanks to the latest next generation big data management and analytics techniques, operators can take old data sets and combine these where appropriate with newly acquired data; analyse it quickly and efficiently and obtain better results from information that may previously have showed little or no business value. In other words, the latest big data techniques are effectively now creating new business opportunities for the industry, enabling them to go back over data they already have, in combination with reams of new data streaming into the organisation every day, and extrapolate new wealth from it.

So, by offering the potential for operators to integrate and interpret new and legacy data in combination, these kinds of approaches can help oil and gas operators to achieve faster and more accurate decisions. By giving them an enhanced understanding of the plant’s historical and current

performance and an insight into existing and past operational processes, this, in turn, will help them achieve key targets around finding new resources, increasing recovery rates and cutting environmental impacts.

Oil fields and wells often change their owner several times during their lifetime. But of late there has been an increasing trend for oil and gas companies to buy old disused wells cheaply as using the latest data management techniques they can identify previously unexploited areas of value, which when coupled with modern techniques, allows them to extract value from those resources.

There is a powerful case for the potential benefits from efficiently analysing what would now be termed big data – but there are a wide range of other areas in which oil and gas companies can, thanks to the very latest big data technologies, use historical and new data in combination to work more smartly and successfully drive efficiencies and ultimately enhance profits.

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

20

They can, for example, use it to deliver enhanced exploration and production by integrating seismic and geologic data from multiple sources, both legacy and in real-time, and use advanced data modelling to increase successful recovery in the field. Advanced analytics, optimisation and visualisation can be used to render this increasingly complex blend of data in intuitive ways for more effective field production. Operators can today also use open source big data solutions to tackle the challenging need to optimise their daily operations. Sensor-based technologies can be used capture real-time field plant, pipeline and logistics information to help improve planning and decision support.

At the same time, companies can use the latest tools to share operational information, both historic and new, across professional, geographic, national and chronological boundaries. Overcoming the industry’s traditionally conservative approach to sharing data, we are now even seeing oil and gas companies starting to share with their competitors in order to address common industry challenges including everything from the need to mitigate the risks of drilling to the need to balance a focus on sustainability with the business driver to expand into new territories.

Thanks to the latest next generation big data management and analytics techniques, operators can take old data sets and combine these where appropriate with newly acquired data; analyse it quickly and efficiently and obtain better results from information they may previously have showed little or no business value

Overcoming the challenges with open source technology In the past, fully integrated solutions to meet this complex combination of challenges would typically have been expensive as well as slow. One of the legacies of this within the oil and gas industry is that many plants have implemented technology on an ad hoc basis to meet specific point challenges and therefore completely integrated operations are typically hard to find. There is also still a heavy reliance on human rather than analytical interpretation, especially when the outcome of reading and measurements are isolated instead of shared and analysed for patterns will typically further slow the rate of progress.

Today, however, this situation is changing thanks to the availability of the latest big data processing solutions based on open source technology. Increasingly, these solutions enable oil and gas companies to quickly and efficiently tap into added functionality around enhanced data management, integration and data analytics, enabling them to squeeze as much efficiency as possible from every part of the process, making it more cost-effective to do high-quality analysis of the data and find value where it hadn’t been practical or possible to do so before.

As Mark Smith CEO and chief research officer of analyst house, Ventana Research, put it in a recent blog, “...organisations need efficient processes and effective technology that makes information drawn from big data available to all people who need it.”

Businesses today are looking for integration solutions that are versatile enough to manage all types of big data regardless of source and age. As a result, big data tools need to be able

to work with a broad range of different architectures and data technologies, from in-memory computing to the Hadoop platform for big data, and to seamlessly move data between different data structures.

In doing so, it is key to maintain the consistency of the data. Data management solutions should offer a platform that centralises all data management operations to ensure data consistency.

With vast volumes of data invariably collected during the exploration and production process and most of it typically unstructured, traditional relational databases are not well suited to the task of data processing. Big data technologies such as Apache Hadoop enable large data sets of often unstructured data to be mapped across multiple machines for cost effective storage and rapid processing. From the oil and gas operator’s perspective, the shorter the processing time of data, the higher the return on investment of that data.

There is therefore a compelling argument for real-time data processing, something Hadoop is ideally placed to do.

When the Hadoop platform for big data is combined with big data integration and management solutions from vendors like Talend, it can streamline whole processes. A data integration platform plays a key role in everything from

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

IT

21 extracting and loading legacy data to a big data platform, to profiling big data in situ in preparation for analysis to processing it in order to merge and consolidate disparate data sets, to extracting the results and delivering to other warehouse or analysis platforms. And, of course, because Hadoop and Talend are open source solutions, they do not constrain users within the oil and gas industry to expensive proprietary systems but let them use commodity hardware and provide an infinitely scalable amount of processing, at a very attractive cost.

For many years, exploration and production companies across the oil and gas sector rarely quantified and gauged the value that efficient data integration, management and processing could bring. A recent survey of senior executives responsible for exploration and production activities in the UK and Norway, which was commissioned by Common Data Access Ltd and performed by Schlumberger, found that data contributes between a quarter and a third of the total value generated each year by the activities of a typical E&P company. So, in an asset team that is generating $100m of value a year, for example by arresting the production decline of a field, a value of $25m - $33m a year is derived from the petrochemical data it holds.

It is a compelling reminder of the value of data to oil and gas operators. This ability to extract the last ounce of opportunity from a well or oil seam is particularly critical in an industry with scarce, dwindling resources. It indirectly highlights too the importance of being able to leverage all types of data, from legacy data to the most recently captured information. It also underlines just how important the ability to integrate and efficiently manage data derived from disparate sources and then process it quickly, could be in maximising the potential value E&P companies derive from this disparate data mix.

Talend Yves de Montcheuil is VP marketing at Talend, a leading provider of integration solutions for any type of integration challenge, any volume of data, and any scope of project. The company provides a powerful and versatile open source big data product that makes the job of working with big data technologies easy, thus driving and improving business performance.

For further information please visit: talend.com

action European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Integral

22

Successfully navigating the operations integrity landscape: Insights and foresights,

by Hemant Kumar

I

n recent years, the oil and gas sector has been impacted by transformative economic and environmental forces and faces increasing complexity and challenges.

These sweeping changes have affirmed the need for industries to adopt new approaches to not only stay competitive, but also compliant with industry expectations and regulations. The norm of operational excellence is now a necessity and operations integrity (OI) is increasingly being recognised as a strategic imperative.

OI is a broad term, encompassing a multitude of standards, expectations and key performance areas across people, processes, and environmental integrity, safety and security. When implemented at the highest level it helps mitigate operational failure or incidents, which ultimately results in improved performance. Inefficient OI strategies lead not only to loss in production, unnecessary expenditure and incidents that could violate health and safety, but can also profoundly affect brand reputation, which can impact on an organisation’s license-to-operate.

Exploration & production (E&P) companies globally have established, or are evolving, their own OI frameworks that consist of corporate guidelines, strategies, management systems, and operational standards and procedures to anticipate, assess and address risks related to asset operations throughout asset lifecycle. These frameworks typically include five common elements: 1. Management vision, leadership and commitment.

2. O rganisation culture and attitude towards operations integrity.

3. People competencies and behaviours.

4. W ork processes around engineering and design, operations, inspection and maintenance to provide governance and frameworks for asset monitoring, exception handling and execution of critical changes that modify asset integrity parameters.

5. T ools and systems for performing engineering analysis, record keeping, information sharing and collaboration.

Various interplays with functions processes The key focus of OI is to ensure safe operations by systematically measuring operational safety while analysing risks across business lines and functions. In broad terms, OI serves to establish an overarching and robust framework within the boundaries and procedures that various organisation functions – such as drilling or production – need to operate and perform.

This gives scope for constant interplays between the OI processes and function processes. These interplays require further scrutiny given their recursive nature and that they are often triggered by decision points within function processes.

Consider well integrity management, which involves setting up effective mechanisms to monitor well parameters. If certain well parameters are discovered operating beyond the pre-set boundaries, decisions need to be taken as to whether the well should be shut-in, produced with appropriate deviation approval from technical authority or integrity envelopes revised to allow production from the well.

Another area to look at is production optimisation. Certain optimisation activities require well or facility interventions

Special feature

E&P companies are increasingly striving to execute their functions value loop more efficiently and effectively.

Availability of real-time data, sophisticated analysis tools and advanced collaboration centres have made this a reality.

Various value loops exist within functions that are executed at different time scales (hours, days, weeks or months).

Improvement in value loop leads to early and better identification and execution of optimisation opportunities, thus accelerating business gains.

The various interplays described can be bottlenecks in value loops if they are not managed well. This can potentially lead to lost opportunities or wasted resources or HSE incidents. There are two significant factors that create interplay inefficiencies: one is the inherent design flaw of OI processes in organisations, which limits support to flexibility or speed of execution of critical function processes. For instance, the highly manual and paper-based MOC process in many organisations creates delayed clearance and followups, which in turn can impede the execution of production optimisation activities.

Another issue is the lack of integration with OI processes at key decision points in function processes that trigger the interplays. Lack of integration means such interplays are not recognised or well understood by business users. Even if they are, there is often lack of standardisation, ownership and controls to achieve their timely execution. Due to this, people spend a lot of time in misdirected efforts and chasing various people to resolve conflicts or issues present in interplays. For example, if there is a change required in equipment integrity parameters, the staff needed to carry it out are not aware of all the steps or people involved for implementing revised integrity parameters.

As function value loops move to a faster time scale, OI processes involved in interplays need to be devised and deployed such that they better align with the targeted pace of value loops. An absence in doing so will impede initiatives to improve excellence within the functional silos.

In view of above there is a need for redesigning operations integrity processes so that: 1. They align with various function value loops.

2. They tightly integrate with function processes at decision points that trigger interplays.

A good starting point is to identify OI processes that interplay with processes in function value loops. To discover all interplays possible, one can look at various decision points that exist in value loops. This makes it easy to develop a super-set of all interplays. Once all interplays are identified, they should be prioritised based on the criticality and timescale of the function value loop they correspond to. In other words, interplays that are present in highly critical and short time-scale value loops should be ranked the highest.

A multi-disciplinary team, including function representatives, should critically evaluate top ranked interplays and determine various improvement opportunities to make them more efficient and effective. These improvement opportunities should address all dimensions involving people competencies, procedures, tools and information/knowledge sharing.

An opportunity register is created to catalogue the opportunities with clear ownership and expected gains.

Once all opportunities are identified and an end-state is envisioned, the team should assess it against ideal end-state of OI processes. If significant gaps still exist, there should be an adjustment in function value loops to align with OI processes. This first iteration would form a baseline target that would guide execution of improvement initiatives.

Opportunity register should be periodically reviewed in governance meetings with participation from functions.

There should be subsequent iteration cycles once work is underway to execute improvement opportunities identified earlier. This is important to ensure continuous alignment between objectives and expectations of both OI and functions. To provide sustenance of improvement initiatives, a multi-disciplinary governance team should be formed to carry out periodic reviews, supported by end users, of alignment and if required make necessary adjustments to both.

This approach provides functions transparency into operations integrity processes and vice-versa by improving understanding of interplays, the different participants involved and time-scales. Moreover, it helps function staff perform their engineering workflows in more informed manner without facing surprises. Finally, it fosters better collaboration and communication between staff and a culture of respect and continuous improvement.

Wipro Hemant Kumar is an ‘upstream oil & gas’ practice head with Wipro’s Energy, Natural Resources & Utilities business unit.

His focus is building industry aligned domain differentiated solutions and competencies in the areas of digital oil fields, petrotechnical services and upstream data management.

For further information please visit: wipro.com/industries/energy/resources/

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Interplay inefficiencies - value loop perspective

Adopting a transparent and inclusive approach to designing operations integrity processes

European oil & gas

involving changes in design, or operational or integrity parameters. Execution of such activities requires MOC (Management of Change) procedures.

These instances exemplify how the interplays may influence cycle time of functional processes. Their key characteristic is that they require participation and collaboration between staff from various engineering/ operations departments. Moreover, they require a series of engineering analysis and activities to be performed, with some requiring close co-ordination.

- Operations integrity

23

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Representing the

As LNG’s importance in the energy market increases, so too does the role of SIGTTO

European oil & gas

In 1978 a number of prominent companies

24

Below Andy Clifton, general manager and chief operating officer at SIGTTO

in the field of transporting and handling liquefied gas set out to establish a framework of standards and best practice for the then emerging liquefied natural gas (LNG) arena. Realising no established industry body fully encompassed the scope of their shared interests they resolved to create one specifically for that purpose. It was also realised early on that there was much common ground with the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) industry. Hence, the Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators (SIGTTO) was formed as an international organisation embracing LNG and LPG through which all industry participants might share experiences, address common problems and derive agreed criteria for best practices and acceptable standards, but which wasn’t involved on the commercial side of the business.

SIGTTO was incorporated as a non-profit making company, registered in Bermuda in October 1979. Formed originally with 13 members, the Society has continued to grow and now has more than 170 members. Collectively, SIGTTO’s membership represents nearly all the world’s LNG businesses and more than half of the global liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) businesses.

SIGTTO also has observer status at the IMO as a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

Today Andrew Clifton is general manager and chief operating officer at SIGTTO, and he

gave further details about the organisation’s membership: “We have three classes of membership. There are full members, who are the gas tanker and terminal operators; to be a full member of SIGTTO you have to own or operate assets, such as ships or terminals. Full members have voting rights and we have about 130 of those at the moment.

“We then have associate members, who are other stakeholders that contribute to the safe running of the industry. When SIGTTO was originally set up, organisations that were developing new projects would join as an associate and then, when their assets came into operation, they transferred to full membership, and that still holds true today as well. Over the years, the scope has extended and now includes for example, classification societies, tug operators and port authorities, i.e. organisations directly involved in the industry but who don’t own or operate ships or terminals.

“Finally we have a small group of ‘noncontributory’ members, who are other organisations like us, such as OCIMF, Intertanko or ICS, where being a member formalises the relationship but it is not appropriate for fees to be levied.”

Andrew goes on to give an example of how SIGTTO works: “One of the ways we help members is through the experience that is held within the staff at the Secretariat. We get

sigtto

we are having a lot of discussions on how we can address that,” he said. “The LNG industry is growing rapidly and this concerns my LPG members as what tends to happen is that new LNG ships look for staff in the LPG sector, and this causes tension.

“There’s no doubt we want to bring in new ideas, but there are one or two areas that are totally non-negotiable, such as safety. The LNG and LPG industries are very proud of their safety records, so as the industries expand they have to welcome the new blood but at the same time new staff must understand there are some areas of the industry that are sacrosanct.

Managing this is a challenge. We do have a very responsible membership who refuse to cut corners on safety. SIGTTO’s role is to guide the membership in areas such as training and competence standards.”

Looking forward Andrew feels that LNG is going to play a very important role in the energy market, as he concluded: “If society in the broadest sense wants a low carbon future, then gas is going to play a large part in that. This means that LNG has a key role. LNG is, to some extent, in competition with pipeline gas, but by definition LNG is much more flexible, and its importance in the commodity mix will continue to increase in the future.”

This means that the role SIGTTO plays in the industry can also only increase in importance as a crucial resource for members looking to access reliable and independent information and guidance and to ensure that the public have confidence in the safe transportation of liquefied gas at sea.

We do have a very responsible membership who refuse to cut corners on safety. SIGTTO’s role is to guide the membership in areas such as training and competence standards SIGTTO Andrew Clifton is the general manager and chief operating officer of SIGTTO (The Society of International Gas Tanker & Terminal Operators Ltd). He has over 30 years experience in the liquefied gas shipping industry. This includes 19 years at sea, three years as master, mainly on liquefied gas carriers, a first class honours degree in shipping operations and shore managerial experience over the last 12 years.

For further information visit: sigtto.org

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

the right people. “Whilst this is normally seen only in terms of seafarers on ships, our members are increasingly concerned about the level of experience and expertise in the shore management offices of shipping and so

European oil & gas

technical queries from members on a range of topics and though we wouldn’t pretend to be able to answer them all in-house in the Secretariat, if we don’t know the answer we can seek help from other members with the right expertise. This is a very valuable resource for members to draw upon.”

SIGTTO is also continually developing best practice guide publications, which are available on its website. Andrew explains why these are so important: “Our guides produce consistent operational levels and standards across the industry, and that is becoming increasingly important particularly on the LNG side as the trading pattern evolves from one where vessels were generally on dedicated trade routes under long-term contractural arrangements to one where ‘general trading’ to multiple terminals is more common.

“We have occasionally to remind people that we are not a regulator, but an industry association – nevertheless, we do find quite often that we write a guide and thereafter a lot of it gets taken into an ISO standard. This is fine by us, as, when we write a guide we can be much broader in our descriptions, whereas an ISO is quite restrictive in its language. The two together work quite well and as it comes from our base document, we are confident the ISO will be a sensible and pragmatic standard.”

In the context of regulation, SIGTTO’s role at the IMO becomes more important. Andrew said: “We may be a small area of shipping, and we recognise government member states have the right to create regulations, so our role is to ensure that what is implemented is technically sound and doesn’t introduce inconsistencies. We want a level playing field for all our members.”

As a facilitator of information sharing in the industry, once or twice a year SIGTTO arranges a forum where its members get together – this is known as a ‘Panel Meeting’. “We organise a programme, and send out invitations,” highlighted Andrew. “Each year the location changes, so our latest one was in Doha in late March 2012.”

In addition to the Panel Meeting, SIGTTO also runs ‘regional forums’, as Andrew explained.

“These happen all over the world, with the recent ones occurring in Houston, Shanghai and Perth. They happen once or twice a year and are designed to tell members what the society is doing and hear from them so we are as up-todate as possible with their issues and concerns.”

Andrew highlighted that one of these hot topics is staff – employing, retaining and training

focus

25

Right Evergas’ CEO, Mr Martin Ackermann, and SinoPacific CMO, Mr Kevin Zhu, signing the contract for a series of 27,500m3 LNG vessels for the INEOS project

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Below Evergas’ first 12,000m3, ‘JS Greenstar’, heading for sea trials on 7th April 2013

Safe

carriage Below Evergas’ third in its series of six full press vessels, the ‘JS Alular’, in the Kiel Canal in Autumn 2012

Evergas – formerly Eitzen Gas – is amongst the world’s leading seaborne transporters of liquid gases. In 2010 the business was acquired by the 100 per cent Jaccar Holdings owned subsidiary, Greenship Holdings. The change in

26

Below Ralph Juhl, vice president of Evergas

owner sparked the move towards a new name and visual identity as Evergas.

Situated in Copenhagen, Denmark, Evergas owns and operates a diverse fleet that caters to the different sides of the gas transportation market.

Within this the company’s greatest segment is ethylene, where vessels are commercially managed by joint venture subsidiary Evergas Solvang Ethylene, focused on transportation of petrochemical gasses. In addition, the fully pressurised fleet, consisting of six state-of-the-art ships delivered in 2012 and 2013, is operated by GasChem Services in Hamburg.

“Traditionally we are one of the largest ethylene carriers in the market,” outlines Ralph Juhl, vice president of Evergas. “At the moment we are in the middle of a total renewal programme of our fleet where a lot of our older tonnage is to be replaced with a minimum of eight new 12,000 cubic metre Ethylene Carriers.

This will enable us to boost and maintain our existing ethylene business and the first of these LION vessels, the ‘JS Greenstar’ was delivered 2nd May 2013 with three sister vessels to follow over the course of the year and four more sisters during 2014.”

These new vessels will gradually replace Evergas’ current portfolio, which is down from its previous level as the oldest ones are divested off. Since placing the initial order for eight new vessels at Sinopacific Offshore and Engineering Shipyard, Evergas believes there is room in the market for an additional four carriers in order to bring the Ethylene fleet up to 12. In the coming months the company will evaluate whether an option of four additional vessels will be lifted and sized 12,000 or 17,000 cubic metres.

In its role as a gas transporter Evergas works with many of the world’s oil majors. Earlier this year the business secured a 15-year shipping agreement with INEOS Europe, a leading chemical company, for the transport of ethane into Europe from the US Mariner East project.

Under this agreement Evergas will build and operate new customised vessels dedicated to this transportation from Marcus Hook in

PROFILE

FutureShip

Evergas evergas.net

Services Transportation of petrochemical gases and natural gas liquids

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

FutureShip, a GL company, is specialised in maritime consultancy and advanced engineering services.

FutureShip and Evergas realised a challenging energy efficiency project for a series of 12,000 m3 LEG Carrier. Starting with ECOChances, an attractive fuel saving potential has been identified. Based on these results, FutureShip's ECOLines service for hull shape and propulsion optimisation achieved fuel savings exceeding seven per cent on average while keeping the full capacity of the vessels.

European oil & gas

Philadelphia, the US, to Rafnes in Norway.

“Once again Evergas has turned to Sinopacific for the construction of these transatlantic going LNG carriers, which will be state-ofthe-art 27,500 cubic metre capacity vessels built to unrivalled specifications regarding environmental and efficiency performance.

These ‘Dragon’ ships will be dual-fuelled, meaning that they will be able to use LNG as well as HFO as fuel on their main propulsion machinery, as well as on the auxiliary engines.

This will enable us to serve both current, and future, regulations regarding air emissions and environmental requirements. Furthermore we are designing the ships to cope with North Atlantic trade, which is a very challenging place to sail, with good speed and consumption levels so they are definitely a milestone in the company’s history,” describes Ralph.

Of course one of the biggest challenges in this development is that LNG bunkering is not yet easily obtainable throughout the world.

That said, Evergas believes that someone has to take the first step in order to get the market to follow, as Ralph alludes: “It is a calculated risk. Being an LNG carrier, we can call at any LNG terminal and we are confident that we can find co-operative parties that will allow us to bunker our LNG fuel at their terminal.

In addition our route goes right into Norway, which is perhaps the most developed country from an LNG bunkering perspective. Finally, it was out of Denmark that the first diesel engine ship sailed over 100 years ago at a time when they couldn’t bunker diesel. That however became a huge success and a game changer in shipping, so we are hoping we can be pioneers again in LNG.” It is in addressing such issues, which have a much wider industry impact, that Evergas benefits from being able to draw upon the expertise of the Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators (SIGTTO).

The organisation provides a forum for industry participants to discuss matters, address common problems, and share experience.

“In the future for instance there are a lot of new regulations coming up and SIGTTO is somewhere we can discuss how to interpret these, what they mean to our business, and

how to implement them. Likewise, in the case of dual fuel ships there is no specific legislation regarding their use for bunkering and in that sense SIGTTO is a source of advice and interchange of ideas,” highlights Ralph.

For Evergas the coming years seem to be largely dominated by taking in the new LION vessels in the form of delivery and finalisation of the design and building of the new Dragon ships. Despite the challenging nature of today’s market the company believes that these actions will provide long-term value to its customers.

“The vision of our company is to provide our customers with an optimum service. We want to develop a business that is reliable but also innovative, that can act quickly and professionally to deliver what the customer wants in this ever-changing world. We also want to ensure that we fulfill our current projects, some of which are very big, and that we deliver what we say we will. That said we will continue to look for new opportunities and to follow these should they arise,” concludes Ralph.

Evergas

27

Spearheading

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

The decommissioning industry

28

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

29

For further information please visit decomnorthsea.com

GE Measurement & Control

DXR250C-W Digital Detector

Portable The new 8” x 8” detector weighs just 3,5 kg (7lb) and has a thickness of only 25 mm (0.98”). Ideal for places which offer difficult access and where utmost portability is needed.

Wireless The detector uses wireless and battery-operating technology.

Simplifying handling and operation. And leading to overall productivity gain for its users.

Robust With its industrial packaging and ruggedized design, the DXR250C-W handles the toughest environments. www.ge-mcs.com

DXR250C-W_AD_213x300.indd 1

5/7/2013 1:54:37 PM

Bilfinger Salamis UK

support Offshore

Headquartered in Aberdeen

Below Gary Cruickshank, general manager, specialist services department at Bilfinger Salamis UK

, leading offshore services provider Bilfinger Salamis UK Ltd celebrated a record year of economic growth in 2012 with a rebrand from its previous name BIS Salamis. Delivering industrial services to the oil and gas markets throughout the lifecycle of offshore installations, the company has nearly tripled its turnover in the last ten years.

This impressive growth has been part of the company’s strategic plan since Bilfinger Industrial Services entered the UK in 2006 through the acquisition of Salamis Group; since then the company has increased its service offering to become a global engineering and industrial provider, as Murray Strachan,

strategic development director at Bilfinger Salamis UK elaborates: “Bilfinger Industrial Services and Bilfinger Salamis are new names but we have been finding solutions to the requirements of our clients in the UK oil and gas industry for nearly 40 years. In March 2013 all of the sub divisions of Bilfinger Industrial Services, which accounts for circa 3.7 billion euros of the circa 8.6 billion euro turnover of Bilfinger Group, were rebranded to bring client and industry focus to the wider capabilities we at Bilfinger can offer.�

Initially focused on painting and blasting services, Bilfinger Salamis UK today provides integrated cost effective multi-disciplined offshore support services and maintenance

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

PROFILE

31

32 European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

current service offering in the offshore industry, Bilfinger Salamis announced a technical alliance with Star Net Geomatics, a leading provider of surveying, inspection and design and modeling services, and PDL Solutions (Europe), a leading provider of advanced 3-dimensional computer aided design, in 2012. The agreement will allow the Inspection division of Bilfinger Salamis, the opportunity to offer a fully integrated factsbased approach through the utilisation of stateof-the-art 3D laser scanning and true-to-view photographic technology. The combination of this integrated engineering solution will provide clients with accurate dimensional information and a clear range of options throughout the entire decommissioning process.

The influx of decommissioning work has led to the company creating its own decommissioning team so the specialist service unit of the business will not be disrupted from everyday projects when a tender for a large scope of work comes up. While other companies may be struggling to find personnel, Bilfinger Salamis has vastly increased its offshore work force, as Murray highlights: “Between our bases in Aberdeen and Lowestoft we have circa 2000 people offshore and in excess of 200 people onshore. In terms of the wider Bilfinger UK we have up to 5000 employees, and our Norwegian sector has 2000, so we have a wide resource capability.”

Proud of its workforce, Bilfinger Salamis has its own skills centre, where courses are offered to both internal and external personnel at various career stages. Courses are offered in specialist areas such as working

GE Inspection Technologies Rightrax Online Corrosion/ Erosion Monitoring in industries where the integrity of piping, vessels, and other fixed assets can be compromised by corrosion or erosion, the consequences of failure can be both serious and costly. Historically, time-based, manual inspection methods have been employed to mitigate these risks; unfortunately, this is a very costly approach, frequently involving excavation, scaffolding, special permits, and other expenses.

GE´s Rightrax system uses noninvasive, ultrasonic sensing technology that attaches to the outside of the asset and measures wall thickness. Rightrax sensors can be polled periodically, allowing users to assess not only useful life remaining by comparing current values to minimum thickness limits, but to establish historical trends.

The benefits are two-fold. Firstly, users can understand the rate at which corrosion/erosion is progressing, allowing better maintenance planning. Secondly, users can correlate Rightrax data with process data, providing powerful insight into causeeffect relationships that can help operators understand and avoid the conditions that accelerate corrosion/erosion rates and corresponding asset degradation.

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

solutions, such as rope access, deck services, architectural services, specialist cleaning and inspection, to a range of clients. The company has evolved from fabric maintenance contracts and there is an ongoing strategic goal of developing a stronger foothold in the decommissioning sector, within which it has recently become a player. Viewing this step into decommissioning as a natural progression of the specialist services currently offered to clients, Gary Cruickshank, general manager, specialist services department, states: "We have been providing aspects of decommissioning for a number of years in services such as cleaning, asbestos removal, minor modifications and the identification and cleaning of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). These services are part of our day to day activity and are part of our growing decommissioning scope.”

To further strengthen its competitive edge in the decommissioning sector and expand its

Bilfinger Salamis UK

European oil & gas

PROFILE

33

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

PROFILE

34

Bilfinger Salamis UK

at height, blasting and painting, bespoke client specific services and confined space and vessel entry. Learning is a key part of the company’s culture and there is a firm belief that continuing to be better than competitors is the best way to ensure its status as a leader in the offshore industrial services market. It is for this reason that the company developed the employee development strategy and competency system that assesses and certifies each individual employee’s competence in both the technical and soft skills necessary to carry out his or her role.

Throughout 2013 the company will continue its focus on the offshore oil and gas market, which includes completing a major piece of research into decommissioning opportunities for both Bilfinger Group and Bilfinger Salamis in May 2013. Following a period of competitive tender, the company was appointed to provide services for an upgrade project by Shell in March 2013. The win extends Bilfinger Salamis’ portfolio of projects with North Sea operators and is expected to run until 2014, creating an anticipated ten onshore positions and a further

ATR We listen to our clients, determine their requirements and challenges and offer innovational packaged solutions using our extensive knowledge and experience from working with a multitude of clients from across various markets over many years.

Our key objective is to deliver cost effective solutions which will assist our clients reduce their OPEX whilst always ensuring that safety, technical integrity and quality are at the optimum levels, Right first time, on time, every time.

200 offshore jobs. “Over the next five years we want to increase business turnover by £100 million. We aim to do this through a combination of developing the inspection and testing division and significantly increasing the specialist services division. Ultimately, expanding our business will come down to a combination of organic and acquisitive growth,” Murray concludes.

Bilfinger Salamis UK Ltd salamis.bilfinger.com

Services Offshore support services and maintenance solutions

PROFILE

Secunda Canada

support founded in Nova Scotia, manages a harshweather fleet of offshore support vessels that are primarily used for servicing major oil and gas companies in the Canadian North Atlantic.

The company owns and operates a fleet of seven vessels, crewed by highly experienced individuals that pride themselves on delivering a best-value solution to the client with the highest levels of quality and safety.

“Secunda Canada is based in St. Johns, Newfoundland and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia,” explained Secunda’s director, business development, Chris Pitts. “Over the past 30 years we have operated in every mature oil and gas basin in the world, but our current focus area is in the oil and gas fields offshore Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Through our own fleet of offshore support vessels our primary operations revolve around cargo supply, rescue standby, subsea support, rig/anchor positioning and towing activities.”

As Chris explained, the company’s primary area of operation is Eastern Canada, where it offers its services to a number of clients. “Our customers in Eastern Canada are Suncor, ExxonMobil, Encana, Statoil, Husky Energy, Shell, and soon BP,” he said. “In terms of carrying out these operations, customer service is one of our key competitive advantages and is a core value that is shared by all of our employees.”

Considering competitive advantages, the experience of Secunda’s personnel ranks

highly in differentiating it in the market. The area of operation around Eastern Canada represents a challenging working environment with harsh and extreme weather conditions that can often hamper operations. Due to its history in the region Secunda’s employees have over two decades of experience working in this environment.

“Working offshore in the very harsh conditions offshore Newfoundland and Nova Scotia is challenging even on a good day,” confirmed Chris. “In this type of environment it is our experience, safety culture and customer service that are our key strengths. The environmental conditions offshore, combined with the demands of supporting an offshore oil and gas field 200km to 400km from land requires a very disciplined system of training, operating procedures and risk management.

“In that sense, HSEQ is a critical component of nearly every activity on our vessels. Given our place of work and vessel activities, we put a great amount of resources towards enhancing our safety culture and have in place a proven world class safety management system – from our CEO to our new-entry cadets, HSEQ is the top focus every day.”

Indeed, the company’s management is committed to providing a working environment where the health and safety of its employees, as well as the protection of the environment in which they work, takes precedence in every aspect of its operations. The company is

European oil & gas

Secunda Canada LP, which was

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Strong

35

36 European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

PROFILE

Secunda Canada

transportation of goods and personnel to and from offshore installations. As Chris explained, investing in new vessels is an important part of Secunda’s business, allowing it to be prepared for market growth and potential expansion. “We work closely with our customers and have a good understanding of our local market’s future needs. Accordingly, we believe that the Scotian Sea is a vessel that has many attributes that will be valuable in the Canadian sector over the many years to come.”

The addition of Scotian Sea to the Secunda fleet is representative of the company’s general strategy of continued growth and expansion.

“Our focus every year is to enhance and improve in our existing operations,” confirmed Chris. “In addition to that general approach, 2013 brings a significant increase in focus on acquiring and constructing new vessels for our fleet.

“Fortunately we have had no direct negative effects from the recent economic challenges, largely as we have multi-year contracts with blue chip companies. There are plenty of opportunities on the horizon as oil and gas companies move to the north, and also into deeper waters, to find the next petroleum reserves, particularly as Canada has been largely unexplored and is a stable place to do business.

In terms of the future, our fleet renewal and growth plans will see Secunda as a global leader in safe and reliable offshore vessel operation, with a leading market share in Canada in the years to come,” he concluded.

European oil & gas

dedicated to the ongoing training of its personnel in order to ensure that HSEQ standards remain high and to implement continuous improvement over its HSEQ management system. Alongside this Secunda uses a systematic and consistent approach to risk management to ensure that hazards are identified, mitigated, and that work is conducted safely.

The reputation that such attention to quality and delivering the highest levels of service has achieved naturally means that Secunda has full books in terms of its workload. It has recently been working on one of many Hebron Project opportunities, which is a heavy oil field estimated to contain between 660 million and 1055 million barrels of recoverable resources.

Located offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, the field’s co-venturers are ExxonMobil Canada Properties, Chevron Canada Limited, Suncor Energy Inc, Statoil Canada and Nalcor Energy.

Alongside its work in its home regions the business also has considerable operational experience in the North Sea, having worked with many of the leading names in the region such as Talisman, Apache and Shell.

Secunda’s fleet currently numbers seven vessels, consisting of three PSVs, three AHTS vessels and one SBV. Its PSV vessels are the Panuke Sea, Sable Sea and the Scotian Sea, the latter being the most recent addition to the Secunda fleet. Formerly known as the Havila Runde, she is a PSV ship especially designed to supply offshore oil platforms, providing

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

There are plenty of opportunities on the horizon as oil and gas companies move to the north, and also into deeper waters, to find the next petroleum reserves, particularly as Canada has been largely unexplored and is a stable place to do business

37

Secunda Canada secunda.ca

Services Offshore support vessel services

Planned

growth When European Oil and Gas Magazine last

Below Steinar Riise, CEO of Ocean Installer

featured Ocean Installer AS the company was a little more than a year old. Despite that, in the 15 months that it had been active the business had witnessed considerable growth in line with its key vision of being a leading service provider within the subsea, umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF) sector.

Since then Ocean Installer has continued to expand, as CEO, Steinar Riise, recently explained: “The company has undergone quite an overall development over the last 12 months,” he noted. “One year ago we had 90 employees, one vessel operational on long-term charter, a backlog of 140 MUSD and offices in Stavanger, Norway. Today we have more than 160 people, a backlog of about 230 MUSD, offices in three different countries and two vessels operational.

The most significant individual milestones have been the ordering of the newbuild construction vessel with Solstad, the opening of our Aberdeen and Houston offices, an exclusive alliance with McDermott and a contract with Statoil on the Gina Krog and Eirin fields that we have recently been awarded.”

As Steinar highlights, the last year has been a period of significant success for Ocean Installer.

In particular, the EPCI contract the company was awarded from Statoil ranks highly. “We were awarded the EPCI contract in March this year,” he says. “It is for subsea installations and tie-in operations at the Statoil-operated fields, Gina Krog (formerly Dagny) and Eirin, and

it represents a key win for us, particularly as Statoil is the biggest operator on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and therefore a very important client to have.

“Furthermore, this type of EPCI project is at the heart of our expertise and brings us significantly closer to our goal of becoming a key EPCI player in the North Sea subsea market. The onshore engineering and project management for this project is now in the startup phase and we are very much looking forward to developing a solid working relationship with Statoil.”

Building relationships is an important part of Ocean Installer’s business, as it looks to always work co-operatively with its clients and other companies. An example of this is the alliance that the company has formed with McDermott, as Steinar explains: “This exclusive alliance was established in response to increasing rigid pipelay needs in the North Sea subsea market and shows, in my opinion, how it is possible for two companies to join forces to meet clients’ needs in a more targeted manner.

“The agreement entails that Ocean Installer and McDermott will jointly bid on and execute rigid pipelay projects in the North Sea by combining the well-established and competent Ocean Installer North Sea organisation with the worldwide resources and experience of McDermott. Although we have yet to pursue concrete projects within the framework of this agreement we are in close dialogue with McDermott and believe this alliance to have

europeanoilandgas.co.uk © Ocean Installer/Rolf Estensen, all photography by permission

Ocean Installer

European oil & gas

PROFILE

39

highcomp

HighComp is an EPC supplier of composite constructions. It typically works with the most common polymer-based composite materials, such as fibreglass, carbon fibre, and Kevlar. These include at least two parts, the substrate and the resin. HighComp mainly uses multiaxial glass fibre reinforcements and vinylester or polyester resin.

There are multiple advantages of working with composites. They are lightweight and high strength, with a good weight to strength ratio. They offer corrosion resistance, high impact strength, design flexibility, part consolidation and dimensional stability. They are also nonconductive with low thermal conductivity. Finally, they offer durability.

One of the areas in which HighComp can offer experience is in the Offshore/Subsea sector. HighComp manufactures glass fibre reinforced polymer installations for a wide range of applications both onshore and offshore. Over the past decades, the company has specialised in large-scale installations designed to meet the stringent requirements posed by different customers and industries.

HighComp has earned a reputation as an experienced supplier in the market, and has been involved in a number of major projects - both in Norway and abroad. It offers the very highest quality engineering, procurement, construction, storage and transportation services.

HighComp AS has also been involved in major subsea EPC projects. For two decades now it has teamed up with its clients to develop innovative and satisfactory solutions based on best practice and the newest technology.

The company’s factory can offer, in addition to fabrication and project management, CAD, FEM, and testing. Its location and facilities compared to competitors have proven ideal for customers, as it is closest to most oil fields, and closest to every supply base in Norway, saving on transportation costs.

It also offers two deep-water quays, 3000 m2 of quayside production facilities, and 20,000 m2 of quayside storage. The company also knows that when projects are getting close to mobilisation, flexibility from the sub-supplier is crucial.

This is why HighComp’s location has had a positive impact on many projects when offshore operations are due. The availability of quayside storage also has reduced logistics leadtime in several projects.

Furthermore, at HighComp, safety, quality and environmental considerations are integrated into all its activities. The company’s focus on risk assessments and continual improvements has paid off in the form of: 66 A reduction in unwanted incidents 66 A better utilisation of the companies factors of input 66 More effective work processes The company has also benefitted from customer feedback, which it regards as an important tool in the pursuit of becoming a better supplier of GRP structures.

HighComp is ISO 9001 certified, and aims to achieve ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 by July 2013, using DNV as the certification agency.

PROFILE

Ocean Installer

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

teams with direct access to very senior staff.”

Naturally, with this attitude growth is continuous at Ocean Installer. Accordingly, the business has recently opened a new office in Houston, US, in order to act as the focal point for its Gulf of Mexico operations and has moved into a new, larger headquarters building in Stavanger. “Additionally, we placed a joint order for a new vessel, named Norman Vision, around a year ago,” adds Steinar. “It is quite a unique project in that Ocean Installer, Solstad and the shipbuilding company, VARD, have worked extremely closely throughout the process. It has been very important for Ocean Installer to play an active part in the specification, design and build process of the vessel in order to ensure that its capabilities fit closely with our growth strategy. The result of this co-operation is a vessel that supports our objective of serving the SURF EPCI market in the North Sea in a targeted manner, while also being very well suited for global operations.

“Over the coming year our main focus areas will be to further develop and consolidate our position in the North Sea market, and establish ourselves as a player out of Houston, which means we will be focusing on the development of assets and organisation, and on winning and delivering projects,” he says, looking to the future. “Our overall vision is to become a key service provider in the global SURF market and, over the next three to five years, expand geographically. It is, however, important for us to take a step-by-step approach to this expansion, developing the organisation as needed and making sure that we are set up for every move that we make.”

European oil & gas

a great potential to become a functional and operative co-operation structure, as well as to serve as a foundation for further collaboration.”

Steinar believes that being awarded contracts such as these is largely due to the reputation that Ocean Installer has achieved as a result of its core strengths. “The ability to deliver rests on three main factors: assets, people and project management capabilities,” he enthuses. “We are where we are today because we have managed to secure efficient, high quality assets and experienced, competent people with excellent project management skills, and because clients, employees and subcontractors trust that we will manage these vital resources well.

“However, where we set ourselves apart is that we can combine these mature characteristics with the advantages of a smaller organisation, such as more direct lines of communication and less bureaucracy, efficient cross-departmental co-operation, a high degree of senior staff, and an involved management team. To our clients this means cost-effective operations, efficient project management and experienced project

Our overall vision is to become a key service provider in the global SURF market and, over the next three to five years, expand geographically

41

Ocean Installer AS oceaninstaller.com

Services Subsea services

© Ocean Installer/Rolf Estensen, all photography by permission

© Ocean Installer/Rolf Estensen, all photography by permission

© VARD, by permission

Left The newbuild vessel 'Normand Vision'

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

42

expertise Providing

The story of AXON

Energy Products and Axon Norway AS starts with acquisitions. In 2006 Drilling Support System AS (established in 1998) merged with Hitec Products Drilling AS (established in 2004). The Norwegian entity was included in the AXON Energy Products group of companies in 2010/2011 and changed its name to Axon Norway AS. Today AXON Energy Products is headquartered in Houston and has operations in the US, Canada, Norway, UK, UAE and Iraq. The company aims to be ‘The Alternative’ to the large and less responsive suppliers of products and related services to the drilling and well industry.

Indeed the organisation is dedicated to the fundamental belief that ‘Alternative Thinking’ results in exceptional personal service, product reliability, responsiveness, and accountability.

Whether domestic or international, AXON is dedicated to scaling the personal touch, one client at a time. From quoting equipment to responding to service requests, AXON is entirely focused on clients’ immediate business needs wherever, whenever.

As a Group, AXON Energy Products is able to supply the customer the complete product chain from technical studies to engineering, installation, commissioning and to advanced simulator training and support. It aims to be a

one-stop resource for decades-deep experience and well-established product lines, and serves customers through its divisions: AXON Downhole Products AXON Tubular Products AXON Pressure Products AXON Rig Concept and Design AXON Well Intervention Products AXON Drilling Products In addition it is constantly adding to its offering – for example on the training side, in 2012, working together with the Well Control School, AXON Energy Products developed a deepwater well-control drilling course. This competency-based training course will facilitate an effective learning approach to critical thinking along with improving problem solving skills.

The course is International Association of Drilling Contractors WellCAP Plus accredited.

The learner will work within a team structure to analyse and address major decision points in several case studies. A facilitator-led training delivery method will enhance effective decision making skills regarding well control in deepwater drilling operations.

For the benefit of students, AXON Energy Products provided a state-of-the-art Intellectus hiDRILL integrated drilling simulator and

Axon Norway AS Certified according to ISO 9001 and qualified to the Achilles supplier database, Axon Norway AS supplies products and services to the drilling and well industry worldwide. As the market leading independent drilling/well system integrator, Axon Norway AS supplies both modification and complete rig solutions.

The company uses new and innovative concepts in design, manufacture and supply of drilling control systems and well service equipment. High quality products together with very high focus on customer training and follow up provide the customer with a high utilisation of their investment in Axon products and services.

Axon Norway also strongly believes in developing long-term partnerships with customers, in order to provide them with long lasting, strategic business benefits. It believes that its first-class customer reference list reflects its commitment to value delivery. Its bluechip client list includes StatoilHydro, Seadrill, Siemens, Odfjell Drilling, BP and Aker Solutions.

Axon Norway AS, which is located at Forus outside Stavanger, provides Life Cycle Management (LCM) on both drilling and well products. This typically includes: 66 Spare parts 66 Service and warranty 66 Training 66 Installation & Commissioning 66 Upgrades & refurbishment 66 24/7 support 66 Unit hotel This means as part of its service, Axon Norway can provide necessary spare parts for all the equipment it uses in its products, and by signing a maintenance agreement it can keep most critical components in stock. This will minimise down time. It also offers service worldwide with trained and skilled personnel and annual surveys on equipment onshore and offshore.

When it comes to training, it can provide customised training courses on all Hitec Products drilling products. It also provides training for operators, maintenance and experts, drilling and well simulators, classroom training and real time practice, professional course material, certification

of personnel and hands on experience.

Axon Norway AS can provide expertise during installation and commissioning phases of a customer project, and its employees have extensive experience and high technical skills to draw upon. This will ensure efficient and safe progress until equipment is in operation.

As mentioned above, the company also offers the concept of ‘Unit Hotel’. This is a way for companies that operate well service equipment to outsource maintenance. The concept includes turn around checks, preparations for shipment and operation, maintenance, maintenance logs and documentation, safe storage and preventive maintenance. The concept promises to reduce costs by reducing administration, logistics, purchase and maintenance personnel.

In 2012, Axon Norway AS entered a new phase of development when it announced that Knut Haga had been appointed as new managing director. The company believes his experience, integrity and quality will support its business well into the future.

Axon Norway hitecpd.com

Services Products and equipment for drilling and wells

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

drilling software technology, from its subsidiary Oiltec Solutions and affiliate eDrilling Solutions, which are utilised in this course at WCS’s Training Centre in Houston.

Axon Norway

European oil & gas

PROFILE

43

High

flyers European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Founded in 1961 following

44

the acquisition of one aircraft, Heli-Union had a vision to implement commercial air transportation services in France. Since then it has expanded its fleet to more than 30 aircraft, with the main purpose of transporting personnel in the oil and gas industry between offshore or onshore sites and the main base of its customers.

Fully owned by the French group Compagnie Nationale de Navigation (CNN), the company has three core businesses: operations, industrial services and helicopter pilot training.

As Heli-Union’s helicopter operations evolved it developed significant experience and knowledge in major overhaul operations, technical and logistical assistance to other helicopter operators and also the online maintenance of helicopters. This led to the firm expanding into a second fully independent business in helicopter maintenance in 1985; based in Paris its technical centre is PART 145 certified, with operations strictly regulated by the civil aviation authorities. A multitude of maintenance operations are carried out in the centre, including major overhaul operations on Heli-Union’s helicopters.

To further enhance its foothold in helicopter services in the oil and gas industry, Heli-Union invested in a FNPT II-type flight simulator to offer training in helicopter flight operations globally. Showing its innovation, it is the first civil company to have acquired a sophisticated and complex navigation system. The Heli-Union Training Centre (HUTC) opened in 2002 at the Angouleme airport in Western France, with a number of specialist courses available to meet the needs of both experienced pilots and students. With aims to progressively reach a 3000-hour yearly rate of training, Heli-Union collaborated with Eurocopter and Thales to develop and build a new simulator for the Dauphin AS365 N3/N3+ in 2012. Owned by Heli-Union Training Center, the new equipment

has a double qualification: full flight simulator (FFS) level B and level 3 flight training device. It will give operators the ability to train in ab-initio, instrument flight rules (IFR), offshore and rescue operations, flights over mountainous regions and night flight (night vision goggles).

Heli-Union boasts major contracts with firms such as ENI, ExxonMobil, Total and Petronas. Its economically viable transportation services are implemented to support exploration campaigns and development activities on offshore rigs or isolated onshore sites. As a commercial carrier with years of experience in carrying out operations in the Gulf of Guinea and the Angola basin (Western Africa), the Middle East, South America, and Asia, the company is fully aware of ensuring appropriate facilities are available and the relevant licences and regulations have been sought from the local civil aviation authorities and relevant ministry.

By delivering a turnkey service to its customers through lease of one or more helicopters, crew (captain, co-pilot) and its engineering team, on top of dealing with any administrative tasks and regulatory issues, the firm can offer a complete package; the customer will only be required to take its personnel from the Heli-Union base.

Proud of the quality of service it offers, Heli-Union is keen to continue providing high standards in its commercial, technical and operational, as well as administrative, plan. Its Quality – Health, Safety, Environment (Q-HSE) policy highlights safety as a key commitment; due to the company’s anticipating and preventing approach, Heli-Union aims for excellence in regards to the skills and training of expert employees who work on aircraft and equipment of advanced technology. This culture of excellence, safety and awareness is shared with its customers, with Heli-Union dedicated to the satisfaction of its clients and generating longterm relationships.

System) and external life rafts. Heli-Union has aquired four EC 175 and two additional EC 255, which should be delivered first half of next year.

Helicopters supplied by another manufacturer into a new fleet require the establishment of operational and technical processes in all of the company’s fields; Heli-Union was prepared for this implementation, thus enabling the integration of this new type of helicopters.

Looking to the future, Heli-Union is anticipating an increase in business in South America and Asia. It is also expecting a higher level of work with geophysical support and drilling specialists. The company is keen to continue developing its training facility and, following a careful evaluation, it recently selected the Cabri G2 to equip HUTC. The helicopter, produced by French manufacturer Helicopteres Guimbal, was chosen by Heli-Union for its flying qualities and ability to provide future commercial helicopter pilots with the best preparation. It could be operating at the training centre as early as April 2013.

Heli-Union heli-union.com

Services Commercial air transportation

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Management has committed ‘to take all dispositions and provide all necessary means’ for the implementation of the Safety Management System. Despite the highly competitive environment Heli-Union works in, priorities of the company, such as safety, customer satisfaction and respect of regulations, will not be affected.

In 2010 the company diversified its fleet with the integration of seven new Sikorsky S-76 C++ type helicopters, thus enhancing its fleet, which mainly consisted of Eurocopters before.

Fitted with the most contemporary navigation systems at the time, the S-76 C++ helicopters can transport up to 12 passengers and enhance the catalogue of helicopters Heli-Union supplies to clients. On board equipment offers superior comfort for passengers and pilots and the helicopters also offer increased safety; fitted with systems such as EGPWS, EFIS, PA 4 Axes, Skytrac and EVXP (Health and Usage Monitoring System), the helicopter is extended with safety systems like AFDS (Automatic Float Deployment

Heli-Union

European oil & gas

PROFILE

45

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

46

ahead

Always looking Above R&D centre and team

Technip Umbilical Systems

markets a comprehensive range of bespoke umbilical systems, subsea products and offshore services, which are backed by a 30-year record of excellence in project execution and strong engineering capabilities.

Sarah Cridland, Vice President, Projects and Engineering at the company, emphasised that Technip Umbilical Systems’ track record of successful projects is one of the company's main strengths, and something that clients are very reassured by. She said: “Of course we focus on quality, reliability, and innovation, but our clients do want to know that products have been proven in the field. We can illustrate major projects where products have been used in the past, but in addition we can unite this with brand new cutting edge technology as well.”

Another area that is linked to Technip Umbilical Systems’ stellar reputation is customer relationships, as when the right kind of trust is established it creates a valuable way of working for both parties: “Customer relations are very important to us,” confirmed Sarah. “We have a history of long-term relationships with bluechip clients such as Total, Chevron, Shell and BP. Through these relationships, clients become used to working with us and we can learn a

lot about what they need and how they work, which is then fed back into our own product research and development (R&D).”

R&D is hugely important to Technip Umbilical Systems and as Sarah noted, staying at the very top of the market in this area has been one of the driving forces behind a brand new R&D facility in Newcastle, in the UK. “It is important to always be looking ahead and be developing solutions for the clients of the future,” she said.

“This is partly why we developed the R&D facility in Newcastle, so that we could dedicate that expertise in one area. It allows us to let clients know we are looking at the latest materials and are working on solutions that will improve areas such as ease of installation and reliability.

“We are also looking at developing our own solutions to common problems, so for example we are bringing our own stab plate to market this year.” A multiple quick connect (MQC) stab plate is fitted to the ends of flying lead and jumper umbilicals, enabling hydraulic and electrical connection between subsea control equipment such as umbilical termination assemblies, distribution units and wellhead Xmas trees. The plate is designed in two mating

Technip Umbilical Systems

halves, an outboard plate on the flying lead, and an inboard plate on the subsea hardware.

“Traditionally these units deteriorate after they’ve been mounted and de-mounted a few times, but the new Technip Umbilical Systems /DUCO product is going to offer a lot more reliability and quality, so that the product can be used many more times by the operator,” added Sarah.

In addition to the R&D facility that is already up and running in Newcastle, Technip Umbilical Systems is also currently building a world-class steel tube umbilical plant at the site, which will be on stream later in 2013. “This is going to include a state-of-the-art vertical helix machine and large carousels, and will be the industry’s most modern umbilical manufacturing facility,” said Sarah.

“It is able to supply today’s products but is also being designed to be future proof with respect to its capacity, as we can see from the market that clients will be needing longer length, bigger tubes, for the deeper waters that are being explored. We have been awarded four large steel tube projects, which will go through that facility, so we already have a good backlog of work at that plant.”

Sarah explained that Newcastle was the ideal site for Technip Umbilical Systems to create this

world-leading addition to its facility, as it has 30 years experience of supplying umbilicals. She added: “Here at Newcastle, we employ 600 high calibre, experienced people, and already have a substantial track record in steel tube umbilicals.

Another reason for adding this capacity in Newcastle is that we are ideally located next to a deep water berth so it provides easy access to all of the European fields, the southern North Sea fields and all of the Norwegian fields, as well as offering very good shipping to the rest of the world.”

She added: “Another of the company’s strengths is that we have facilities located in four areas of the world – the UK, US, Angola and Malaysia. There is a lot of flexibility between the plants, so they can help one another meet clients’ needs anywhere in the world. This multi-site manufacturing means we always have the flexibility to suit the client’s delivery or completion date needs.”

It is clear that manufacturing innovative products is one of the foundations of Technip Umbilical Systems, but Sarah also emphasised that this is just one string to its bow – the company’s strong project management and engineering expertise means it can offer an end-to-end solution to its clients. “We have got the capability to supply total subsea

Of course we focus on quality, reliability, and innovation, but our clients do want to know that products have been proven in the field.

We can illustrate major projects where products have been used in the past, but in addition we can unite this with brand new cutting edge technology as well

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

PROFILE

47

Aquatic, an Acteon company, continues to build up a strong global reputation for its ability to lay and retrieve flexible and semirigid product on the seabed. With more than 35 years’ experience of onshore and offshore installations, its engineering solutions and capabilities are developed to meet customer needs for any project or specific challenge. Aquatic’s aim is to be the preferred partner in providing equipment and services for handling reeled products.

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Aquatic

48

We have got the capability to supply total subsea systems, which goes from topside pipe work right down to the stab plates on the well

systems, which goes from topside pipe work right down to the stab plates on the well. We also provide offshore support services and have very experienced technicians who follow the installation.”

She continued: “We are very much a global organisation and are working with all the major operators including Total, Chevron, Shell, Exxon and BP. But we also support smaller operators, and this is where our strong management and engineering expertise really helps.”

Technip Umbilical Systems also works with the other subsidiaries of Technip, which further strengthens its knowledge resource and the availability of expertise and advice for its clients.

It also means Technip Umbilical Systems benefits from Technip’s investment budgets, and over the past 18 months the company has been the recipient of some significant spending. Said Sarah: “As a Group, Technip invested around 519 million euros in 2012 on the company as a whole and on the umbilical side we have had good support. In our plant in Angola we have substantially upgraded machinery and installed two very large carousels, which allows the plant to supply long length umbilicals. It also means we have the ability to support from in-country all of the Angolan market’s needs - the subsea oil and gas market in Angola and West Africa is experiencing strong growth.

“In Houston we have also invested in

substantial equipment and site improvements and upgrades as well. The US focuses primarily on the Gulf of Mexico and also the Asia Pacific market has been supported from that plant.

Our Malaysian facility has also seen some investment as well.”

Given the state-of-the-art facilities that Technip Umbilical Systems is operating, it is not a surprise to hear the company is involved in many of the most significant oil and gas projects currently underway. “We are working on the Hibernia project for Exxon, which is being delivered to Canada. We have used our innovative Kevlar armour package and the new technology allows clients to install this workover umbilical from a small construction vessel over the side, where traditionally it had to be done from a drill rig.”

This project is a perfect example of how Technip Umbilical Systems can work between it’s sites, as the workover umbilical is being manufactured in Newcastle, and it is also producing a large steel tube umbilical in Houston for the same project.

“In Angola we are working on the Clov project,” Sarah added. “This is for 76 kilometers of umbilicals, supplied in 29 lengths, for a water depth of 1400 metres. And in Newcastle, we are working on the Wheatstone project for Chevron, where the actual field is located in northwest Australia. These umbilicals will be manufactured

record for the longest, deepest, and heaviest umbilicals and as these boundaries push further, we aim to keep our position at the front of the market, and uphold the recognition we have earned for providing revolutionary technology.”

She concluded: “What is important to us is that we are recognised as a total solutions provider that can supply the whole end-toend system to the client, and offer them total support. We are so much more than just a manufacturer and can really provide solutions that help our clients be more successful.”

Technip Umbilical Systems technip.com/ en/entities/tus

Products Umbilical systems, subsea products and offshore services

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

at Newcastle in the new facility.”

It is clearly an exciting time for Technip Umbilical Systems, with so many significant contracts underway and more in the pipeline.

“We see a lot of very good opportunities going forward,” confirmed Sarah. “We are ideally placed with all of our assets around the globe to support clients as they go into deeper waters and more challenging environments, and that is a big focus for us. There is definitely a very positive outlook in the umbilical business and the investments we have made have all been calculated to ensure that we are very much a part of that market.

“Our vision is to maintain our growth and continue to deliver the high-end thermoplastic umbilicals that we are renowned for, as well as successfully delivering the very large steel tube projects that we are working on at the new facility in Newcastle, in Angola and Houston.

“Technology is one of our strategy pillars and is a key differentiator, as is the quality of our products. We have already established a track

Technip Umbilical Systems

European oil & gas

PROFILE

49

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Simple yet

50

Seaonics is a Norwegian company that specialises in the field of innovative handling equipment and associated solutions for customers in the marine and offshore industry.

The business, which is a joint venture between ICD Industries and VARD, has considerable industry and field experience and places innovation at the core of its business, operating according to its motto of ‘Improving by simplifying’.

“Our slogan of ‘Improving

by Simplifying’ represents our way of working and is behind everything that we do. Our core focus lies in developing and improving handling systems and the products that we offer in a simple and effective way, because many of the existing solutions on the market are extremely complex operationally,” says Jan Kjaerstad, sales manager at Seaonics.

“Our people, who have considerable competence and large amounts of experience in these fields, are one of our biggest strengths in this sense and are a key factor in our overall success,” he continues. “We are able to look at handling systems and operations through a fresh pair of eyes, deciding how we can not only improve the product or solution but also make the operation simpler or more efficient for the client.

“We have the knowledge to develop the right product and our clients have the knowledge to use it operationally, and by working together we can develop the right solution. In our development process this close interaction is really important to us, as only our clients can give us the feedback of what they want and it is our challenge to meet those requirements. It is a two way process, we can’t do it alone.”

The idea of developing superior products through simplifying the design runs through all of Seaonics’ work, which can loosely be divided into a number of categories. The company currently offers solutions for clients involved in reservoir exploration, subsea construction, offshore supply and ocean trawling and this includes products such as launch and recovery systems (LARS), offshore cranes, module handling towers, and trawler winch packages. “It is typical of our design approach, and there are examples in all of our solutions,” says Jan. “Take our winches, for example, where we have introduced permanent magnetic motors on the LARS system, which takes away much of the complicated gearbox mechanism by reducing the gear ratio, using less rotating parts and in turn reducing the risk of failure. The LARS, which is used for subsea construction as well as other applications, has been a real success for us coming into the market.”

Seaonics’ LARS systems are offered as either moonpool or overside systems and feature an A-Frame with extensive range both inwards and outwards, high performance and electric or hydraulic drive. As Jan explains, they also feature other Seaonics innovations: “We developed the A-Frame so that it has great reach, both outwards and inwards, and we have also designed a sectioned hangar port that offers significant improvements operationally for the crew and the working environment.”

Other examples of Seaonics’ approach to design include a new boomerang crane design (patent pending), the main advantage of which is that the wire goes directly from the winch to the tip of the crane, eradicating the need for guide

provides solutions for trawler vessels. However, as Jan highlights, this application in fact provides a number of benefits. “The reason we stay involved in this area is that modern trawler winches operate 24/7, 365 days per year in extremely rough weather and harsh conditions.

It acts like a proving ground for our products because if our winches can survive this kind of treatment then they are more than capable of operating in the oil and gas industry, so it is a mark of our overall quality.”

Quality and simplicity remain the cornerstones of Seaonics’ success, and with the market offering opportunities for further growth Jan rightly remains positive. “More and more oil exploration is going subsea, and that means that there will be an increase in demand for vessels that operate the machinery we provide, like LARS, big AHC cranes and the module handling well intervention towers.

Therefore, we see real potential for growth in this area and are dedicated to becoming a major player within the industry in the coming years,” he concludes.

Lönne Lönne is a highly recognised supplier within drives, controls and power transmissions for rotating machinery and solutions, especially within lifting appliances.

Lönne is a flexible, one stop one shop supplier, with an engineering department, testing facilities, workshops and more department stores around the Nordic area. Highly skilled crews at Lönne workshops tailor-make components at great speed to provide quick supply. Lönne has a worldwide network of service engineers performing commissioning, condition monitoring, revisions and more.

Seaonics AS seaonics.com

Services Handling equipment for marine and offshore

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

sheaves over the boom or knuckle and thus reducing wear and maintenance requirements.

“We have also developed a hybrid drive solution for this crane that has both electric and hydraulic drive on the same winch/gearbox,” Jan highlights. “This means that there are two independent systems driving the winch, which in addition to reduced power consumption, gives a much higher level of redundancy operationally. The crane is currently being tested and performing very well, with the first delivery due to take place very soon.”

Moving forwards the business is concentrating on the module handling and well intervention market. In this field it operates together with Castor Drilling and ICD to develop a module handling system/tower with high capacity, which is one complete plug and play type unit, is flexible in terms of module size and has an entrance for cranes through its top. This is an area that will become of increasing priority as the company moves forward in the market.

Alongside oil and gas applications, Seaonics is different from many of its competitors in that it

Seaonics AS

European oil & gas

PROFILE

51

way

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Showing the

52

Established in 1994

Seaward Safety Ltd offers an unmatched range of resources to the marine and offshore industries in the specialised field of signage packages and escape route systems

, Seaward Safety Ltd offers an unmatched range of resources to the marine and offshore industries in the specialised field of signage packages and escape route systems. This includes the surveying of signage requirement, and design, manufacture, and installation of safety, ID, generic, and corporate signage, often on a turnkey basis.

Over the years Seaward has completed numerous contracts for the petrochemical and oil and gas industries, from new builds to the

upgrade of existing systems. This experience has led the company to develop a complete range of safety signage, using tried and tested, and innovative materials suitable for use in the harshest of environments where the oil and gas industry is present.

Furthermore, throughout the late 1990s the company was instrumental, alongside a major drilling company, in the creation of a new innovative Safety Awareness System (SAS).

This pictorial-based system was designed to provide a standard in communication and safety that crosses national language and cultural boundaries. In particular, it is intended to enhance personal awareness of hazardous areas and operations, mandatory requirements and prohibited actions. Since its introduction, SAS has been embraced by the oil and gas industry with wide recognition of the benefits it brings to enhancing health and safety of employees.

Whilst at one time Seaward did quite a lot of marine work, today around 90 per cent of its activity is in the oil and gas industry. Describing the company’s latest progress within the sector John Williams, managing director says: “In mid2012 we signed a two-year agreement with a major player in the oil and gas exploration sector to become their preferred vendor globally, in addition to similar arrangements with others that have been in place for a number of years now. “For example, we have just won the contract for the first of two drill ships that are being built

has given the business the confidence to move forward in the task of setting up a local entity, in much the same way as it did in Brazil. Given Korea’s importance as a manufacturer of assets at present, as evidenced by its role in major projects, even closer connections to this market are likely to point Seaward in the right direction for the future.

Seaward has added another string to its bow by investing in new digital printing technology that will work alongside the more traditional Screen printing methods, which have proved so successful in the past.

The new HP Scitex equipment, along with laminator and cutting tables, have been installed in their own purpose built temperature controlled room, and have already been put through their paces on a number of challenging commissions from clients The use of UV curing inks means the whole process of printing full coverage signage can be speeded up significantly, particularly when it comes to the manufacture of pipe markings.

Panel Graphic Limited Panel Graphic Limited is a provider of specialist plastic materials used in outdoor situations. Its coatings provide superior abrasion and chemical resistance to plastics and can enable any illuminated display to be read in bright light conditions, and also withstand long-term salt water exposure. The company has developed a unique range of ‘Optiguard Coatings’ that are able to withstand marking even with steel wool. Panel Graphic supplies Seaward Safety with materials for its very demanding external applications.

Seaward Safety Ltd seawardsafety.com

Products Corporate safety signage and escape route systems

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

in Korea, which will see us provide all the pipe markers, signage, special boards, and escape route systems,” he continues.

As with many of its projects, Seaward is executing this programme as a turnkey contract, following design procedures developed and proven since the company’s formation. These include five main stages – design, site survey, manufacture and supply, installation, and aftersales support.

Seaward has its head office in the UK, supported by other sales sites and manufacturing units around the globe. Just over two years ago the company took the decision to invest in Brazil due to the volume of activity it foresaw in the country over the next ten years. Coupled with Brazil’s restrictions surrounding local content it proved to be a shrewd move with Seaward now well established with its own production factory and office in Rio de Janeiro. The company is perfectly placed to serve Brazil’s oil and gas industry and is already winning contracts across the market.

John partly puts this success down to Seaward’s highly specialist nature: “There are hundreds of sign companies, but there isn’t really anybody that does what we do,” he remarks.

“This is in terms of being able to send a surveyor to a rig or platform anywhere in the world, and to ensure that the signage and pipe markers meet the local regulations. This is whether the asset is in Angola, Brazil, Kurdistan, Korea or the North Sea, we can check that it is fit for that market from a signage perspective. We also carry out corporate audits for companies that have their own particular safety system that they adhere to so we make sure we follow those guidelines as well.”

With positive forecasts for the oil and gas industry over the next decade at least, Seaward is pressing ahead with its plans for further expansion. In particular the company is looking into the potential of opening a new office and manufacturing facility in Korea, either in its own right or through a joint venture. “South Korea is a major builder of drill ships, whilst Singapore for instance builds jack-ups and semi-submersibles. Each drill ship is a huge investment as they’re so sophisticated, but we’re seeing quite a few now being ordered that we have been contracted for,” describes John.

Seaward’s reputation as a market leader has stood it in good stead in helping secure the signage contracts for assets to come out of Korea and Singapore in recent years, and this

Seaward Safety Ltd

European oil & gas

PROFILE

53

success

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Structure of

54

customers, such as design and engineering, workshop construction, testing and certification, on-location installation, repair work and project management; due to its state-of-the-art facilities, expertise and resources, MHF Group offers these services while maintaining the highest standards of product quality and operational safety. Listening to the needs of its customers and offering a pro-active approach to challenges, MHF Group meets expectations every time.

A major project for the firm was its participation in commissioning and rest points for the Seven Borealis, the flagship vessel of Subsea 7, a global leader in seabed-to-surface construction, engineering and services to the offshore industry. The Seven Borealis was built to be a pipelay and heavy-lift vessel that can meet the demands of today’s deepwater projects,

Established since 1997

, the MHF Group has developed two business components, MHF Contracting BV, the human resources and personnel recruitment side of the business, and MHF Services BV, which focuses on all activities taking place in the on and offshore fields. The company has developed a strong reputation for its design and construction skills in the offshore oil and gas, offshore wind and petrochemical industries; it also works in the waste-processing industries and for large-scale harbor installations. Mainly focusing on the North Sea area, MHF Group employs 50 full time personnel and between 50 – 100 subcontractors, depending on the size of the contracted projects.

“We build tailor-made structures, piping, repairs and modifications in the field of on and offshore structures,” says Nico Broere, commercial manager at MHF Group. “Our expertise allows us to respond immediately to requirements and meet deadlines for offshore projects in a fast and safe manner. Safety and efficiency is key to our company’s success.”

Offering full installation and repair services, MHF Contracting BV is IS0 9001: 2008 certified to contract and execute on and offshore projects of piping, steel structures, modifications and/ or repairs in the shipping, offshore and general industry, while MHF Services BV is ISO 9001:2008 certified in the labour consulting of personnel. Delivering high quality, and above all, safe solutions to its customers.

By making the dramatic reduction of traditional lead-and-lag times associated with industrial construction its mission, MHF Group efficiently delivers a wide range to its

while enhancing productivity and efficiency.

This project was carried out at the Huisman Yard alongside Huisman, world market leader in turnkey services for deepwater pipelay systems.

Another recent project for the company is the fabrication and installation of all drill related piping for the Drillship-Noble Globetrotter I and II. Working at the Huisman Yard once again, MHF Group was part of the innovative design and construction of the compact box type drilling tower, which allows for a significantly smaller sized vessel while retaining the same capabilities of the new generation large drill ships with a maximum water depth of 12,000 foot and 43,000 foot pipe storage capacity. MHF Group installed the high-pressure lines for it, made from 4130 material and presenting an impressive working pressure of up to 1035 Bar. Strategically located close to Botlek Europoort, the port of Vlissingen and Antwerp, MHF has been based at the industrial Deltahaven, Stellendam, since November 2001 and it opened a second production hall and office building in June 2004. As a contractor of projects, MHF Contracting BV’S permanent staff consists of a range of planners for men, ironworkers, welders, pipe fitters, fitters (co pumps and

The company has developed a strong reputation for its design and construction skills in the offshore oil and gas, offshore wind and petrochemical industries; it also works in the wasteprocessing industries and for large-scale harbor installations MHF Group mhf-contracting.nl

Services Designs, builds and delivers structures

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

revision), burners, key heaters, cleaners and administration. Employed certified welders at MHF Group include six gr (argon), six gr (co2) and six gr (electric); its ironworkers work in construction and repairs, building small to large building sections, and its pipe fitters work in construction and maintenance for the building and maintenance of petrochemical pipeline pipes, rebuilding the lines and building lines on the oil rigs.

With a full order book for 2013, MHF Group is focusing on offering the best quality solutions to its wide range of customers, as Nico highlights: “Our current main client base is Saipem UK, Heerema, All Seas, Blue Water and Subsea 7. There are plenty of opportunities for us to continue growing as a company and keep offering high quality products to our customers by keeping efficiency and safety as

our top priorities.” Ongoing projects include the deck renewal of Hereema Balder, a deepwater construction platform, and the modification of Audacia’s bow door section, which was cut out of the vessel and transported to MHF Group’s workshop. Once there the company removed structures and existing reinforcement before fabricating and installing new reinforcement boxes and hinge points. The company has also installed the complete accommodation section on board Audacia in four parts and installed the complete firing line, including the raises flooring inside firing line of the pipelay vessel Audacia. It is obvious that MHF Group can execute various jobs world wide with its flying squad and its offshore skilled labour force.

Looking ahead, MHF Group has a positive outlook for the future and is keen to continue growing as a company by offering increased efficiency at its extensive construction facilities in Stellendam, thus ensuring on-time, reliable, high quality solutions to multinational companies working on global projects.

MHF Group

European oil & gas

PROFILE

55

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

European oil & gas

56

well Performing

Salalah Methanol Company

L.L.C. (SMC) owns and operates a newly established methanol production facility in the Salalah Free Zone located near the Port of Salalah. The company was founded in February 2006 and is wholly owned by Oman Oil Company S.A.O.C. (OOC).

In turn, OOC is a commercial company wholly owned by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman, which was incorporated specifically to pursue investment opportunities in the energy sector both inside and outside Oman. As such, OOC plays an important role in helping diversify the Omani economy and to promote Omani and foreign private sector investment.

At a total cost of $900 million, the facility’s commercial production started in May 2010.

By February 2013, less than three years after start-up, SMC had achieved three million tonnes of methanol production. This is a world-class performance for a new plant. In 2012 alone SMC produced around 1.1 million tonnes at more than 100 per cent of capacity utilisation.

On average the facility has the ability to

produce 3000 tonnes a day of methanol.

Alongside the plant itself, the site consists of related utilities, off-sites, and export facilities.

“We are what is known as a black start plant in that we have captive power generation on-site,” explains Awadh Al-Shanfari, CEO of SMC. “We also maintain water desalination, boiler feedwater preparation, auxiliary steam generation, condensate/water treatment facilities, instrument air/plant air and nitrogen generators, and effluent and sewage treatment plants.”

The methanol is produced from natural gas supplied to the facility through a 24-inch pipeline provided by the Ministry of Oil and Gas through the Oman Gas Company. The final product is exported from the Salalah Port Company facilities, which are in the immediate vicinity of the site.

ICI technology is used for carrying out the production provided through Jacobs Consultancy by way of a basic engineering and FEED package for the facility. Johnson Matthey provides the initial charge of catalysts.

As to the choice of product, Awadh explains:

been able to achieve together.”

These initial years certainly seem to have put SMC well on the way to achieving its vision of being globally recognised as the Omani flagship model of excellence in the hydrocarbon industry, with sustainable growth and best returns for all stakeholders. Maintaining this momentum, this year SMC is continuing to look at ways of developing the performance of the plant by beginning with de-bottlenecking, which should leverage benefits in energy optimisation and increased production.

Beyond that SMC has expansion plans, and is looking into the feasibility of downstream products. Casting an eye back at how far SMC has come since its formation Awadh describes the company’s pride in its achievements: “It was a challenge for us to build the plant, but we achieved it within time and budget. We achieved one of the fastest start-ups of any methanol plant, reaching 100 per cent on specification methanol production within twelve days - from first introduction of feedstock natural. We are very proud of our performance so far in all areas and will continue to build upon this,” he concludes.

Salalah Methanol Company L.L.C. smc.co.om

Services Methanol production facility

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

“Methanol is the simplest alcohol compound.

It is a commodity chemical, and can be used to produce many different products. In particular methanol is a basic ‘building block’ for the production of plastics, paints, and man-made fibres. It is also used to make an important gasoline fuel additive. This is why we chose methanol, as it’s a very versatile product.”

Since its launch, SMC has continued to impress with its performance. A Methanol Plant Benchmarking Study carried out by Johnson Matthey/ABB for 17 plants places SMC in the top five globally. It has also been recognised as the best company amongst Oman Oil Subsidiaries based on performance.

This isn’t only in terms of production volume.

SMC has achieved more than two million manhours without a lost time incident (LTI) as of March 2013 in the operating phase, and a peak of around 16 million man-hours without an LTI during construction phase. Health and safety for all employees and contractors at the plant site is the highest priority for SMC. Various ongoing and future improvement programmes including Operational Excellence, Corporate Risk Management, Enterprise Performance Management Systems (EPMS) and Integrated Management Systems are being implemented to improve processes and enhance this performance even further.

From an environmental perspective, even at the early design stage, SMC invested heavily in measures to minimise the impact of its activities. This includes processes like using all treated effluent water in the 37,000 square metre green belt area within the complex, and a fully equipped onsite laboratory for the completion of regular environmental checks.

“Our greatest strength though is our people,” highlights Awadh. “Since we started the plant we have had to train our own people in methanol production, and this is from two sides – technical skills and soft skills. This has included things like safety, management, HR, leadership management, and negotiation skills.

Our strategy from day one has been to invest in people and we are very proud of what we have

Salalah Methanol Company

European oil & gas

PROFILE

57

FIELD-READY AT LAST! 4 modules • ECT • ECA: 64, 128, or 256 channels • IRIS • RFT/NFT, MFL

11 Possible Configurations

from Eddyfi is the new worldwide reference for advanced eddy current instruments. Customers in more than 25 countries have praised the unit’s number of available channels (8), compact size, light weight, battery autonomy, and sealed enclosure.

The system is supported by Eddyfi’s team of application experts, along with Eddyfi’s extensive range of specialized tube and surface array probes. With all its multi-technology configurations, including IRIS (UT) and eddy current array (ECA), you can build the best-performing field-ready tool… at last!

New European Office in Lyon, France For more information visit www.eddyfi.com

assurance Applus RTD

For over 70 years the business has been at the forefront in a number of fields, developing solutions and services to meet the most demanding industry requirements and pioneering innovative products

is a leading global energy service provider dedicated to delivering the highest possible levels of quality by meeting customer needs and exceeding their expectations.

The business, which is part of the Applus+ Group, focuses on delivering technical excellence and assurance through non-destructive testing, inspection and certification to capital intensive, high-risk energy, utility and infrastructure industries in every region of the world.

The company has industry-leading experience and expertise in project management for pipelines, offshore and onshore production facilities, refinery and storage facilities in the oil and gas, traditional and renewable energy sectors and national utility and infrastructure markets.

At the core of this exceptionally high level of service and ability lies Applus RTD’s people and its technologies, the combination of which allows it to successfully serve clients across North and South America, including Canada, the US and Brazil, as well as in Europe, South East Asia and Australia.

Applus RTD can trace its roots to 1937, when marine welding engineer Lambertus van Ourwerkerk, who believed that NDT would play a crucial role in the use of welding techniques as a replacement for traditional riveting in steel construction, founded his NDT firm, RTD. The business continued to grow, illustrating the benefits of NDT techniques in a number of sectors before taking its first steps into the oil and gas industry when gas production began in the Netherlands. It was at this early stage that the benefits of NDT became hugely important for the energy industry as RTD carried out detailed inspection of welds and other infrastructural elements in the growing gas pipeline network. In fact, from this early success Applus RTD has maintained its premier position in the global pipeline sector.

Through subsequent decades RTD continued to expand, both from establishing divisions in countries including Germany, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and

by acquisitions. In 2006 the company became part of the Applus+ Group, a global leader in inspection, testing, certification and technology.

Today Applus RTD has become a leader in the industry, developing and honing an unrivalled bank of knowledge of the processes involved in the energy and power industries and capable of delivering its services worldwide.

A key reason for Applus RTD maintaining its leading position is its dedication to technology and innovation. The business has been at the forefront of R&D in its field since its establishment and today carries out this work at its Technological Centre in Rotterdam. This location has witnessed the development of many widely used and highly regarded technologies that are in operation every day around the world.

In Rotterdam Applus RTD’s R&D team is divided into three departments – Physics, Hardware/Electronics and Software – each responsible for optimising existing technologies and techniques and creating new, highly efficient and reliable technologies that meet and exceed the challenges found in the oil and gas industry. This work is carried out collaboratively, as Applus RTD works both with clients on specific developments and takes part in wider joint industrial projects and collaborations with universities and international research institutions.

In terms of the oil and gas industry Applus RTD works with clients in both the downstream and upstream sectors. In the former, the business acts as a leading service provider that predominantly delivers inspection, testing, certification and technology focused on the integrity and technical assurance of major assets such as refineries, petrochemical plants and chemical plants. This covers existing and new build facilities in the US, the Gulf of Mexico, Canada, Brazil, the UK and continental Europe, South East Asia and Australia.

For clients in the upstream sector the business provides a similar level of service – covering inspection, testing, certification and technology for major exploration, drilling, production and transmission assets such as onshore facilities and pipelines, offshore FPSOs and drilling platforms and storage facilities.

While its range of services covers all of the key requirements of clients, Applus RTD is perhaps best known for its world-leading NDT services and solutions. The company is the global number one in this field and has been responsible for pioneering the use of a number of innovative and highly advanced solutions

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Excellence and

Applus RTD

European oil & gas

PROFILE

59

European oil & gas

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

PROFILE

60

Applus RTD

and non-destructive investigation methods including magnetic flux leakage, radiographic and ultrasonic. Customers choose Applus RTD’s services as they are industry proven to deliver technical assurance, reduce risk and non-productive time and allow a complete picture of the asset’s condition to be built, which in turn enables efficient and safe operations in any environment. The range of NDT services provided by Applus RTD encompasses: 66 Eddy Current 66 Laser Profilometry 66 Leak Testing 66 Magnetic Particle Inspection (MPI) 66 Magnetic Flux Leakage 66 Material testing 66 Penetrant testing 66 Pressure testing 66 Positive Material Identification (PMI) 66 Thermal testing 66 Radiography testing 66 Ultrasonic testing 66 Visual testing Alongside NDT services Applus RTD is widely recognised for its testing capabilities, including in-service inspection and certification, new construction inspection and consultancy, radiation protection services and rope access. The correct inspection and certifications are essential aspects of operating and maintaining an asset or worksite effectively, and to ensuring that the assets and all equipment complies with the various national and international standards.

Of course, Applus RTD’s services would be nothing without its highly skilled and experienced workforce. Indeed, the company believes that its people are the very heart of the business and accordingly it places considerable emphasis on training and investing in its employees. The company delivers a broad range of training programmes at in-house centres around the world and also provides tailored courses that have been developed to ensure compliance with even the most stringent international standards.

These cover a number of key competencies including hardness measurement, IRATA rope access, ionizing radiation, NDT technics, materials science, radiographic testing, and ultrasonic testing.

Operating as an established leader in the industry, it is little surprise that Applus RTD regularly works with many of the major oil and gas companies. Most recently the business has

signed a four year global Enterprise Framework Agreement (EFA) with Shell, a contract that represents a significant milestone in a long-term relationship between the two companies. The EFA identifies Applus RTD as a provider of services related to vendor and quality assurance/ quality control inspections, as well as NDT testing and related services to Shell and will cover many of Shell’s direct operations as well as its affiliates worldwide, both for capital projects and existing operating assets.

This is just one contract win of many that continues to cement Applus RTD’s reputation across a range of industry sectors worldwide. For over 70 years the business has been at the forefront in a number of fields, developing solutions and services to meet the most demanding industry requirements and pioneering innovative products. The company is currently in a positive growth period and hopes to raise its profile even higher in the sector, a target that seems all to achievable bearing in mind its track record to date.

Eddyfi Eddyfi is the most dynamic company in the field of nondestructive testing (NDT) equipment. It employs the world’s most renowned experts in the field of advanced eddy current testing. Eddyfi focuses on providing complete high-end solutions for the inspection of critical components in several major industries including oil and gas, and power generation. Eddyfi has the expertise, engineering, and manufacturing flexibility to supply fully-integrated and speciallymade solutions that make customers safer, more efficient and more profitable.

Applus RTD applusrtd.com

Services Global energy service provider

european

from exploration to end user

europeanoilandgas.co.uk