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Oil&Gas
ISSUE 5 | www.bus-ex.com/oilandgas
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grupo zeta: petromoc: leni gas & oil:
Trinity Exploration and Production:
More than meets the eye Changing the landscape in Trinidad for the better
+ regional focus: Trinidad & Tobago
At GSS we understand the importance of that ‘just like home’ feeling and try our best to recreate it for you even in the most remote locations. From the depths of the Iraqi desert to the wilderness of sub-Saharan Africa, GSS goes the distance to ensure your employees are well cared for. When you partner with GSS, you can trust us to deliver on our promise of bringing you quality of life no matter where you are in the world. Delivering quality of life where it’s needed most www.gss-contracting.com
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issue no.5
8
8 interview:
The voice of an industry
The evolution of Oil & Gas UK, how it aims to strengthen the long-term health of the offshore oil and gas industry, and what the immediate future holds for its members.
14 interview:
Aphrodite’s isle
Cyprus is on the threshold of economic and social change as it contemplates large scale gas discoveries in its waters: we asked Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism how this will change Cyprus’s role in the eastern Mediterranean.
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contents
Regional focus: Trinidad & Tobago
20
20 Trinity Exploration & Production More than meets the eye
As CEO, Joel “Monty” Pemberton explains, Trinity Exploration and Production’s business has never been just about recovering oil and gas.
38 Leni Gas and Oil (LGO) Delivering growth
38
Chief Executive, Neil Ritson discusses how, by tapping into Trinidad’s underexploited resource wealth, Leni Gas and Oil (LGO) is fast on its way to becoming one of the premier junior oil companies.
48 Range Resources
Wide-ranging potential
Trinidad Chief Operations Officer, Walter Cukavac discusses the incredible progress made by Range Resources in a little over two years.
58 Damus
Underpinning Trinidad & Tobago’s prosperity
Fulfilling an essential role in advancing the upstream and downstream oil and gas industries that promise to define the Caribbean over the coming decade.
72 COTEEL
Hard work, faith and favour
58
Trinidad’s well developed oil and gas industry has enabled the emergence of COTEEL, a small, agile service company that is determined to stay ahead of its larger competitors.
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issue no.5
82
90
Americas: 82 grupo zeta the gas giant
Mexico’s largest gas company is the go-to partner for companies looking to set up operations in the country.
90 SPX – Marley Mexicana Mexico’s tower of strength
By combining over a century of experience with cutting-edge, environmentally friendly technology, Marley Mexicana has solidified itself as one of jewels in SPX Group’s crown.
98
98 Recope
Costa Rica’s pillar of competitiveness
Costa Rica’s national hydrocarbons importation, refining and distribution company is taking a leading role as the country prepares to lead the region in green energy.
108 SOS Safety International Going beyond safety
For more than 20 years SOS Safety International has been committed to providing quality products and service to its ever-growing list of clients.
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114
Africa: 114 petromoc
Fuelling a nation
Mozambique’s state-owned distributor of petroleum products continues to expand, both within its home nation’s borders and further across Southern Africa.
130
Europe: 130 MISTRAS Group
Enhancing life expectancy
MISTRAS Group Executive Vice President, Phillip T. Cole, discusses the group’s priceless contributions toward North Sea development over the last 20 years.
138 offshore marine management Made to measure solutions
Offshore Marine Management (OMM) has carved out a reputation for expertise and operational excellence in several industries, one of which being the oil and gas sector.
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The voice of a
The evolution of Oil & Gas UK, long-term health of the offsho what the immediate futu Words by
8 |
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Wi
Interview
an industry
, how it aims to strengthen the ore oil and gas industry, and ure holds for its members
ill Daynes BE Oil & Gas
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Interview
W
hen asked to explain just how important North Sea oil and gas remains, it doesn’t take Malcolm Webb, chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, very long to respond with what I think you will agree is a pretty conclusive response. “Today the UK is reliant on oil and gas for approximately 73 percent of its primary energy supply.” This falls into three main categories, electricity generation, the heating of homes and workplaces, and transportation. From an electricity perspective, some 40 percent of that comes from the burning of gas, while 80 percent of the energy we use to heat our homes comes from natural gas and the transport sector remains overwhelmingly depend on oil. “With these factors in mind,” Webb continues, “it is easy to see how the oil and gas that we produce will remain essential to the UK’s energy supply for many, many years to come.” Oil & Gas UK is the leading representative body for the UK offshore oil and gas industry, and therefore you are unlikely to find another association better placed to give a complete perspective on the state of the sector today. Nevertheless, the association that exists today is a far different entity to that which existed as recently as ten years ago. “Ten years ago we were an organisation called the UK Offshore Operations Association (UKOOA) and we represented the major oil companies operating within
the North Sea,” Webb states. “These tended to be the larger, household name players, of which 32 were members of our association, yet none of them actually operated within the supply chain of the sector. It was in 2006 that we decided that this model did not represent where we wanted to be and thus we set about changing our constitution and our name in 2007, subsequently opening up our membership to the whole of the industry, embracing the supply chain as well as the companies that hold licenses to explore.” This radical shift in focus proved hugely successful with Oil & Gas UK now boasting around 370 members, with its ranks continuing to swell at a rapid pace. “It has certainly been interesting how we have gone from being what was essentially a trade association representing a sub-sector of the industry to being a whole industry association,” Webb says. “However, we have retained many of the traits that we have always held dear. These include the fact that we remain a not-for-profit organisation, one that is owned and led purely by its membership and one that operates under a strong, professional directorate.” At its core, Oil & Gas UK exists to do three things. The first is to help maximise the recovery of oil and gas resources from the UK offshore area, in which The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) estimates state that there are probably at least 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent yet to be produced, on top
“Today the UK is reliant on oil and gas for approximately 73 percent of its primary energy supply” BE Oil & Gas
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Chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, Malcolm Webb
of the 41 billion that have already been recovered. The second is to promote the long term sustainable future of the UK’s oil and gas supply chain, a magnificent success story in its own right, while the third is to continue to raise awareness of the industry. “The UK was one of the first countries in the world to actively explore the production of oil and gas in offshore areas and as such we have built up a fantastic degree of expertise in that field and are rightfully revered as being a centre of excellence in terms of offshore engineering and a global leader in subsea engineering,” Webb enthuses. “One of the by-products of this has been the growth of the UK supply chain. While today it is turning over around £21 billion a year in the UK, a further £6 billion is being made through the exporting of oil field goods and services elsewhere throughout the world. This
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figure is only expected to increase further and could even outshine the production aspect of the sector in the very long term.” “One of the things we are aware of,” Webb highlights, “and maybe this is in part down to the fact that our operations take place offshore, is that our industry is not always at the forefront of people’s minds. In fact, rather curiously, some people seem to have forgotten that the North Sea is, and will for some time remain, a major part of the British economy. Therefore it is our goal to make sure that the public realises this.” It is the importance of oil and gas in the UK’s energy equation that Webb, and many others, sees as being one of the primary drivers for the continued success of the sector. Indeed, without the UK oil and gas industry the UK’s balance of trade alone would be at least £30 billion a year worse off due, in part, to the need to import resources. Then of course there is the fact that this is an industry that provides for around 440,000 high paid, highly skilled jobs in UK, making it one of the country’s more important employers. While the association is very much focused on the future of the oil and gas sector, 2013 has proven to be a year of reflection also, specifically in light of the fact that this July marked the 25th
“The UK was one of the first countries in the world to actively explore the production of oil and gas in offshore areas”
Interview
anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster, which claimed the lives of 167 men. In marking this, Oil & Gas UK hosted Piper 25, a three-day event held at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, aimed at bringing together people from across the oil and gas industry to reflect on the lessons learnt from the tragedy, review how far offshore safety has evolved since and to reinforce industry commitment to continuous improvement. “For the event,” Webb says, “we brought not only leading voices from the UK, but from all around the world, together with union representatives, regulators, academics and industry figures. We also had a very well attended workforce engagement day as part of the conference. We were also delighted to have Lord Cullen, who ran the public inquiry and produced the Cullen Report, as the keynote speaker. I think for me the most important thing that came from the conference was that there was an absolute lack of complacency. No one is complacent about safety, and the point we made was that we need to remain uneasy about our safety record because we certainly haven’t reached the point where we want to be yet; and that is where absolutely no one is getting injured during our operations offshore. I am delighted to say that our safety record is hugely impressive on both a national and international level, but I don’t think we can be happy until we get to the point where nobody is injured and there are no unplanned hydrocarbon releases from our operations at all.” Turning again to the future, Webb has a pretty clear vision of where the industry is headed, at least in the short-to-medium
“We are now advancing on what some might refer to as being the last frontier area, the West of Shetland” term. “We are now advancing on what some might refer to as being the last frontier area, the West of Shetland, which is a very significant development. Meanwhile some of the more mature areas also remain hugely important, for example the Central North Sea area as well as the Northern North Sea, while at the same time we also have to make sure we get all the gas we can out of the Southern North Sea. There is a huge production challenge remaining and that will keep us engaged for many decades to come. The other area for growth is of course going to be the UK’s supply chain, which we believe has the potential to conquer the world market in the years ahead.” As far as Oil & Gas UK goes, the future looks equally as exciting. “While we are extremely proud to have grown our membership to almost 370 members we still see much more room for growth,” Webb concludes. “My personal opinion is that, with 3,000 supply chain companies spread across the UK, there is no reason why we can’t become a member organisation of more than 1,000 in the fullness of time.”
For more information about Oil & Gas UK visit: www.oilandgasuk.co.uk
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Interview
Aphrodite’s isle Cyprus is on the threshold of economic and social change as it contemplates large scale gas discoveries in its waters: we asked Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism how this will change Cyprus’s role in the eastern Mediterranean Words by John O’Hanlon Research by Richard Halfhide
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Interview
T
he economy of Cyprus in recent years has largely depended on tourism and financial services. The fundamentals of these industries are still sound despite the well docu mented financial and banking crisis that affected the island in 2012 and Cyprus is now making every effort to restore its economic stability. That should be its principal concern, laying aside all thought of revenues from hydrocarbons, says Yiorgos Lakkotrypis. But it’s impossible to ignore the fact that trillions of cubic feet (tcf) of gas have been found within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the south coast of Cyprus. Leaving aside the question of direct revenues, Cyprus is ideally placed to be an energy hub for the whole of the eastern Mediterranean. With turmoil the order of the day from Egypt all the way round to Lebanon, where else would investors feel confident in basing their operations? “We would like Cyprus to be a fixed point of stability in the region. We have good relations with of all these countries. That’s a fact that will help to attract investment for sure, and build a positive role for Cyprus in the energy supply chain to the European Union.” So his government’s strategy has been above all to manage these hydrocarbon discoveries very responsibly and avoid
falling into a resource trap in which long term sustainable industries and ways of life succumb to euphoria. “Our goal is to rebuild the economy in a balanced way with the right strategies and the right structural reforms and then we will have the hydrocarbons as the cherry on the cake so to speak!” Still, it is some cherry. In the short term, six blocks in the EEZ have been licensed to date, one to Noble Energy from the USA, three to Italian-South Korean consortium Eni-Kogas and two to the French group Total. “At the same time we have been working very hard to position Cyprus as a regional hub, or base, for offshore drilling operations,” says Lakkotrypis. “By that I mean that Cyprus is in an ideal geographical and political position for servicing the offshore drilling not only of Cyprus but also of Israel, Egypt and Lebanon. Any company that is based in Cyprus can service all these countries, and that wouldn’t be the case if they were based in any one of them alone.” Global giants such as Halliburton and Schlumberger have already established a presence on the island, he adds. Naturally Cyprus also wants to see monetary returns from its own gas reserves and is considering how best to achieve this. “We already have a proven
“Our goal is to rebuild the economy in a balanced way with the right strategies and the right structural reforms and then we will have the hydrocarbons as the cherry on the cake!” 16 |
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Vasilikos Power Station
reserve of around five tcf in the Aphrodite field but we are very confident that there is a lot more coming after about October 2014.” Assuming even a low average hit rate of plus or minus 25 percent in each case, the sheer number of prospects the island controls guarantees large volume flows, he believes. The plan is to process the gas at a new onshore liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal and sell it on the export market. Memoranda of understanding have been signed with Total, and with Noble Energy and its Israeli partners Delek and Avner, for constructing the new plant at Vasilikos. The LNG plant will initially process natural gas from the Aphrodite Field and other fields that may be
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“We already have a proven reserve of around five tcf in the Aphrodite field but we are very confident that there is a lot more coming after about October 2014” discovered in Block 12 of the EEZ. It could be expanded to accommodate additional natural gas discovered whether in Block 12 or other blocks, as well as natural gas from neighbouring countries. A final investment decision will be taken in 2015 – until then the donkey work will be in exploration, resource definition and finance raising. “As far as we can plan it right now, we should be able to start exporting at some point in 2020.” One sustainable spin-off from the gas discoveries will be the opportunity to make the island energy independent. In the absence of its own primary sources of power Cyprus depends exclusively on imported fuels, mainly crude oil, for generating electricity. “If we can start to create cheap electricity in Cyprus, we will be able to develop more energy intensive industries which have been out of our reach thus far,” says Lakkotrypis. These would definitely include the establishment of dow n st rea m hyd ro c a rb onrelated industries, but every kind of manufacturing or process business
Interview
would become competitive, and even agriculture and tourism would benefit. Another challenge for Cyprus, as a new entrant to the business of hydrocarbons, will be creating and growing a skills base on the island. Currently those who need to know about the industry are going elsewhere but Yiorgos Lakkotrypis would like to create a knowledge based O&G economy and to do that Cyprus’s public and private universities and schools will have to start putting courses on their syllabi, starting with basic skills like high pressure welding, fabrication and pipework. It’s not that Cyprus hasn’t enough bright people qualified to degree level, whose very presence should be a draw to incoming businesses. They may lack the specialised skills but will quickly acquire them. With 17 percent unemployment – 40 percent among those under 25 – conditions are right for getting new industries up and running. The government will do all it takes to achieve business growth over the coming five to seven years and to encourage local energy related investment in areas like offshore drilling support and logistics. Even in terms of energy Cyprus does not want a gadarene charge into becoming a hydrocarbon-based economy. The country has plenty of sun so it has set a target of raising the renewable segment of the energy it uses from the current level of around 7.5 percent to 13 percent by 2020. That will help to peg the cost of electricity until natural gas comes on stream, says Lakkotrypis. “The less oil and natural gas I need for domestic electricity
“The less oil and natural gas I need for domestic electricity generation the more I can export! We have embarked on a very aggressive strategy to develop renewables” generation the more I can export! We have embarked on a very aggressive strategy to develop renewables.” He’s equally determined to protect the tourist industry, though he does not think it is under much threat from energy development. “The offshore installations are many kilometres from the coast and we have carefully selected the area in which our Energy Centre will be created. Though it is on the coast it is not in a tourist area.” Looking at the map one can see how perfect Cyprus is as a low risk jurisdiction, ideally situated to deliver support services to operators who might prefer not to pipe the gas they obtain to any one of several mainland alternatives at loggerheads with each other. Aphrodite may not have expected to have an oilfield named after her but she would surely approve of Cyprus her homeland finding such a pacific role.
About the author For more information about Cyprus Energy visit: www.mcit.gov.cy
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regional focus:
Trinity Exploration & Production
More than meets the eye Trinity Exploration and Production’s business has never been just about recovering oil and gas. As CEO, Joel ‘Monty’ Pemberton explains, it is equally about behaviour, rigour, purpose and changing the landscape in Trinidad for the better
written by: Will Daynes research by: Vincent Kielty
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regional focus:
Trinity Exploration & Production
I
n much the same way that Trinity Exploration and Production operates under the motto that “it’s not just about oil”, Joel ‘Monty’ Pemberton has lived most of his working life with the belief that it’s not just about how much money one can earn. “I think this outlook was borne out by the way I was brought up to never really be focused on money alone,” explains Trinity’s Chief Executive Officer. “It was back in 2003, during my time working in London that I decided to take a step back and look at my own future. In doing so I realised that even though I was getting paid handsomely for my work at the time, it would only be when I followed my own aspirations for a better life that I would truly be happy and that I would begin to reap the rewards that only such efforts can bring.” It was in Bruce Dingwall, Executive Chairman of Trinity, that Pemberton found a kindred spirit when it came to this way of thinking and this helped greatly in convincing Pemberton to join, what was then Ten Degrees North Energy, as Chief Financial Officer in 2005, before being promoted to his current position in 2009. Since Pemberton assumed the role of CEO the company has rebranded itself as Trinity, becoming the full cycle independent oil and gas producer that it is today, with onshore and offshore assets in Trinidad and South Africa. Headquartered in San Fernando, Trinity’s focus is Trinidad where it operates assets on both the West and East coasts. The company’s core values are behaviour,
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Trinity Exploration & Production rigour and purpose, while its staff of more than 270 individuals possess an excellent understanding of the local operating environment and business culture. Trinity is seeking to build Trinidad’s first independent oil and gas company of scale. It hopes to achieve this by growing reserves and production for the benefit of all stakeholders, and to its credit it has to date shown it has considerable ability to do so by quadrupling its production levels in the years since Pemberton became CEO. “While Trinidad is one of the world’s major oil and gas producers, the marketplace
SCHLUMBERGER TRINIDAD INC. The LiftWatcher real-time surveillance service provides remote communication and control of all artificial lift systems and surface controllers through a web-based interface. Schlumberger experienced surveillance engineers monitor alarms and alerts 24/7, 365 days a year. Based at one of many Artificial Lift Surveillance Centers (ALSCs), they analyze data from multiple wells across several fields simultaneously and in real time. Data are transferred via satellite to and from remote locations, hostile environments, and sites with limited or no data acquisition capabilities. Where an existing SCADA system is in place, the LiftWatcher system can extract the data and process it with the same top-quality results. From motor temperature to continuous flow, ALSC engineers review alarm events for all measurements at the wellsite. An ALSC surveillance database contains more than 700 data signatures—conditions that cause
alarms to be sent, one third of which are considered critical to preventing ESP downtime, misuse, or failure. The engineers analyze data summaries and poll data on demand. Using Schlumberger best practices and systematic workflows, they identify probable causes and quickly report remediation options for rapid implementation. Recommendations are relayed directly to field personnel, who review them via text messages, e-mail, or a user-friendly Web application. Critical events requiring immediate action to prevent equipment failure are also communicated by phone. When engineers see an opportunity to optimize a well, they recommend the use of the LiftPro Well Optimization Service for improving underperforming artificially lifted wells. LiftWatcher and LiftPro are marks of Schlumberger. www.slb.com/liftwatcher
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SSL
Southern Supplies Ltd.
THE DIFFERENCE IS
ALWAYS SOUTHERN
Southern Supplies Limited is dedicated to providing our customers with a diverse range of oilfield and industrial products that improve their performance and productivity. We also introduce Kerui Group Holding Co. Ltd as an agency we represent in the oilfield. Kerui is a National Hi-tech enterprise and one of the leading enterprises in China petroleum equipment industry base.
40-44 Sutton Street, San Fernando, Trinidad W.I. Telephone: 868-657-5194 | 868-652-8816 | 868-653-2531 | info@ssltt.com | www.ssltt.com
Seen “The delivery of Total Fluids Management (TFM) product achieved through project management, design and distribution of drilling, workover and completion fluids to oil and gas industry customers within the framework of Wellbore Management and Surface Solutions� Baroid Trinidad Services Limited Certified to ISO 9001:2008 since 2006 Certificate of Registration No. 10000121 QM08
Contact us today and put your company in the spotlight! Phone: 868-624-6620/648-3783 Email: iacosta@baroidtrinidad.com
vincent@bus-ex.com
Trinity Exploration & Production is characterised by its Southern Supplies Limited (SSL) lac k of i ndependent Southern Supplies Limited (SSL) has come a long way companies operating in since its humble beginnings in 1982, and is now a major the region,” Pemberton player in the supply of industrial equipment, pipe, valves continues. “What we have and fittings, tools, and hardware in the region. instead is a large number Our strategic local and international partnerships with some of major conglomerates of the world’s leading brands, manufacturers and suppliers, together with a dynamic and responsive international with incredibly large asset supply chain, allow us to fulfill just about any demand portfolios. This creates an that a customer can bring us. ideal scenario for purposewww.ssltt.com built vehicles like Trinity to come in and partner with these companies in order to help them monetise every drop of oil or gas that they would otherwise miss.” Such efforts create a win-win situation for both Trinity and the major oil and gas players in the region, particularly given that Trinidad is home to significant reserve pools and lots of acreage in which Trinity can apply its model to great effect. Underpinning this however is Trinity’s own asset portfolio, which itself has seen an increase in production of some twelve percent since February of this year. “As this production continues to grow and cash continues to flow into the business it helps to reaffirm our own strong position in the marketplace,” Pemberton highlights. “Furthermore, we will commence the
“Since Pemberton assumed the role of CEO the company has rebranded itself as Trinity” BE Oil & Gas | 27
WHEN PRECISION IS PARAMOUNT Specialising in Heavy Haulage & Equipment Rental since 1945 We are the best source for large-scale construction, engineered heavylifting, equipment rental and multi-modal transport throughout the Caribbean. We are keen to show clients how it is that we are best suited to serve their projects. Container Transport • Project Warehousing Crane & Equipement Rental • Turnkey Project Cargo Handling Irregular & Oversized Load Transport Port Cargo & Material Handling • New Equipment Sales Heavy Lift & Haul Engineering • Heavy Haul Transport Rigging Engineering • Customs Brokerage Affiliated companies are as follows: Advance Readymix Limited – Concrete Suppliers Vega Minerals – Quarry Operators, Aggregate Suppliers
Tel: 868 653 3802 | Fax: 868 652 8030 E-mail: info@paramounttransport.com | www.paramounttransport.com
Trinity Exploration & Production drilling of two more exploration wells in the coming weeks, which lie within existing assets and could potentially double the size of Trinity by themselves.” Back in 2009, when Pemberton assumed the role of CEO, the company was producing approximately 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). As a result of its efforts to grow both internally and through the acquisition of new assets Trinity today produces some 3,830 boepd. At the same time its labour force has also grown from 120 employees to more than 300 at press time.
THE PARAMOUNT TRANSPORT AND TRADING COMPANY With a passion for service, Paramount was solidly anchored from the roots of Joseph Lutchmansingh in 1945. The Paramount group, first secured their place in the energy sector in 1967 by assisting with the construction of a desulfurization plant for Texaco Trinidad, and have since maintained a frontline presence building on experience gained by the demands of the highest standards known worldwide. The Paramount name is now reinforced with an employee base of over 500 committed individuals who can celebrate 3 generations of best practice, refinement and evolution. Through the years our clients have pushed the boundaries and Paramount have stepped up each and every time to deliver with exceeded expectation – size and volume are part of our daily routine. Through heavy lift equipment rated in excess of 700 tonnes, heavy haul capabilities beyond 1 kiloton and loads over
200 ft in length we have been known to draw a crowd while executing an impressive array of well planned lifts, twists and turns. Paramount’s value is not defined by lifting / moving a load within the parameters of our equipment; it is our ability to execute without incident, safely and as planned. Paramount’s potential is enabled through the technical skill of our workforce, providing customised solutions to the dynamic business needs of our clients. The Paramount influence in the construction industry includes the successful partnering of our own ready mix concrete plants (Advance Readymix Ltd.) with our quarry under the name of Vega Minerals Ltd. Our passion for refinement brings with it new, cutting edge equipment, which has enabled us to offer our clients a truly superior product, resulting in an ever expanding market footprint. www.paramounttransport.com
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Petroleum Contracting Services Limited is a locally owned and operated service company established and registered in Trinidad and Tobago in 2004. We have since grown to be one of the largest local on-land providers of swabbing services, crude oil transportation and drilling site preparation.
265 Goodman Road, Penal, Trinidad W.I. Phone/Fax: 1 (868) 647 6655 Email: petroleumtrinidad@gmail.com
Trinity Exploration & Production The first half of 2013 saw the company bring At Petroleum Contracting Services Limited, we pride a total of six onshore ourselves in providing integrated services ranging from development wells into turn-keysolutions to one-off oilfield services. We are production with an average committed to providing the highest level of service to our initial production rate of partners. Our philosophy, accountability and work ethic 150 barrels of oil per day have fostered long term relationships with many of the existing on-land lease operatorships. We have a reputation (bopd), ahead of a budget to uphold and it’s our mission to do so, while continuing of 50 bopd per well. The to deliver the highest quality of service that our clients two exploration wells that demand, in an honest and trusted environment. Pember ton prev iously We have extensive in-house expertise which translates mentioned, and which into viable solutions that help improve our efficiency and the company has already reliability without compromising our primary commitment to secured two jack-up rigs to health and safety. E. petroleumtrinidad@gmail.com drill with zero cost options for additional rig slots if required, will bring this figure to eight wells for the year. The company’s work for the year doesn’t end there however. On the contrary, Trinity intends to continue with its onshore development campaign by drilling a minimum of five new wells by the end of 2013. In light of these plans the company has updated its production guidance to 4,200 - 4,500 boepd exit rate for 2013. Trinity strongly believes that Trinidad, a prolific hydrocarbon presence, offers significant remaining potential for oil and gas producers and that it is
Petroleum Contracting Services Limited
3,830 boepd Currently produced by Trinity
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Quality Service BuildS laSting relationShipS At EDG, we combine world-class engineering, design and project management with complete project team support. Through EDG’s project experience and our extension of staff approach we have become a trusted consultant to Trinity Exploration and Production Company, LLC. Our quality service, cost-effective solutions, and the character of our staff allow us to be a dependable resource to our clients, worldwide. For more information about EDG and our portfolio of engineering services, please visit us on the web at www.edg.net.
Better people
“Trinity Exploration and Production LLC values the relationship we share with EDG a company which we consider to be knowledgeable, professional and thorough in all of its operations. As well, Trinity considers EDG to be a competent provider of brownfield engineering support for our business.” Chief Operating Officer, Trinity Exploration and Production
Better BuSineSS
www.edg.net | 1.888 .EDG .9298
Trinity Exploration & Production uniquely positioned to capture upcoming opportunities. As such it makes perfect sense that its current focus is trained firmly on the island. However it is important to remember that as an independent company with significant international experience possessed by its upper management, Trinity understands that as it expands as a business so too will its geographic reach. “Of course we don’t know exactly where things will take us in the long run,” Pemberton says, “but what we do know is that having a solid business,
EDG INC In December of 2010, EDG partnered with Trinity Exploration & Production, LLC (formally Bayfield Energy Galeota Limited) to provide engineering services for a Brownfield program located offshore of the East Coast of Trinidad. Trinity called on EDG to provide an action plan for renovating four existing offshore platforms, interconnecting pipelines, and an onshore terminal they had recently acquired. These platforms were originally commissioned more than thirty years before and had seen little attention or upgrades over the years. EDG leveraged significant offshore, operations, design, construction and laser scanning experience to frame the opportunities and provide workable improvement alternatives without compromising the existing production. Using laser scanning technology, EDG was able to create accurate as-built information to indicate all of the modifications that had occurred over the decades. This data
was leveraged by EDG’s multidisciplined team to successfully complete the project, which included engineering, design and drafting, procurement services, project and document control, construction management, inspection and laser-scanning. EDG’s project team of process, mechanical, electrical, instrument, and structural engineers quickly became an extension of Trinity’s staff, a team of reliable engineers that could be deployed when required. It was through quality execution and prompt responsiveness that EDG championed the project. From initial engagement to effective and innovated engineering solutions, EDG has earned Trinity’s confidence as their trusted advisor. EDG, Inc. is a multi-discipline, international, engineering, design and project management firm serving the Oil and Gas and Industrial Markets in eight offices worldwide for over 30 years. www.edg.net
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S O LU T I O N S TO D AY F O R A G R E E N E R TO M O R R O W
Envirospec was incorporated in 2005 to serve the needs of residential, commercial and industrial customers with air and water purification and filtration systems.
• Waste Management – this deals with the remediation and recycling of waste bi-products. • Electrocoagulation process • Centrifugal process • Automated Tank Cleaning Services - which deals with the cleaning out of chlorides and other sediments present in water storage tanks. • On-Site Analysis and Evaluation • Roof Cleaning • Bottle-less Water Dispensers – this comprises of the rental of our bottle-less water dispensers at a low monthly cost. • Other Biodegradable Solutions for Industries
Tel: (868) 649-9208, (868) 376-9598, (868) 289-6388 | Email: envirospectt@yahoo.com
Southern Maintenance Services Co.Ltd
Southern Maintenance Services Co.Ltd Merging experience, technology, training and safety, to produce a level of service that surpasses our competitors, while focusing on our priorities, which are, our customers, employees and the environment. Products and Services we provide: • Pipeline Construction • Sandblasting and Painting • Welding and Fabrication • Labour Supply - On land and Offshore • Procurement • Transportation • Civil and Marine Construction LP #55, Isthmus Road, Galeota, Guayaguayare, Trinidad, WI. Telephone – 1-868-630-3257 | 1-868-630-1970 | 1-868-630-6195 | E-mail – southmai@tstt.net.tt
Trinity Exploration & Production built upon solid assets, Envirospec can take you to the right Founded in 2005, a Company with humble beginnings, places. What we also know started when Mr. Marvin Wilson (CEO), saw the need to is that what we are doing provide air and water purification systems to customers today is helping to grow with the aim of improving the overall health and well being our business, increase of customers and the environment at large. Envirospec has our options and flexibility, since expanded to offer a range of products and services that are geared towards providing high quality, environmentally and ultimately create safe, cost effective solutions. We guarantee professionalism a sense of excitement while continually modifying our applications, with market that can be felt throughout research and development, to meet and exceed our the company.” customers expectations. Without Question our products and It is also Pemberton’s services are committed to ameliorating an environment that hope that Trinity becomes is rapidly deteriorating. something of a trendsetter E. info@envirospectt.com in the region. “The basin today is dominated by major international oil and gas companies. What we feel we need is more companies like ours to come in and look at monetising every single piece of acreage and extract value from material that wouldn’t otherwise be subjected to work. We believe that more Trinity’s in the marketplace will create a greater scope for oil and gas opportunities and helps create a natural chain throughout the region of
“What we have here is one of the most sophisticated industries of its kind, anywhere in the world” BE Oil & Gas | 35
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businesses that will each profit from the development of the sector.” Pemberton also hopes that the work of Trinity, and others within the sector, goes some way to helping the vast majority of Trinidadians to begin to really appreciate the size of the industry that exists on their doorsteps and the economic benefits it brings to the island. “What we have here is one of the most sophisticated industries of its kind, anywhere in the world,” he enthuses. “What you find here is upstream oil, upstream natural gas, mid-stream processing, downstream energy, export infrastructure and all the service companies that go with it, all of which occurs in an area no larger than 51 square kilometres, on an island with a population of just over 1.3 million.” With so many opportunities located in one area it is Pemberton’s belief that it is only a matter of time before Trinidad’s oil and gas sector opens up further still to national and international investors, and Trinity wants to be on-hand to help facilitate this. “We are unique in the sense that being an operator on the ground we understand how things operate, how to bring the right people on board, how to build the right relationships and so forth. This places up is a strong position to help make things happen in a part of the world where a vast amount of potential is just waiting to be harvested.” For more information about Trinity Exploration & Production visit: www.trinityexploration.com
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Trinity Exploration & Production
regional focus:
38 | BE Oil & Gas
Leni Gas & Oil (LGO)
Delivering
growth Chief Executive, Neil Ritson discusses how, by tapping into Trinidad’s underexploited resource wealth, Leni Gas & Oil (LGO) is fast on its way to becoming one of the premier junior oil companies
written by: Will Daynes research by: Robert Hodgson
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Altech-2 rig
Leni Gas & Oil (LGO)
B
oasting one of the highest growth rates and per capita incomes in all of Latin America, Trinidad and Tobago is among the wealthiest and most developed nations in the Caribbean. It is also the leading Caribbean producer of oil and gas, and its economy is heavily dependent upon these resources, with them accounting for approximately 40 percent of its GDP and 80 percent of its exports. Boosted by recent oil finds, including the 48 million barrels discovered off south-west Trinidad in 2012, the industry continues to thrive, drawing in investment on a regular basis. One company that has been established in Trinidad for several years now is Leni Gas & Oil (LGO). Incorporated in 2006, the company’s strategy is based around the simple concept of delivering growth through the acquisition of proven reserves, enhancement of producing assets, and the identifying and acquiring of underexploited projects. “In many respects the most important progress that the company has made has come in the last couple of years,” states Chief Executive, Neil Ritson. “In that time we have really focused our efforts on the reactivating of old oil fields where we have identified opportunities for additional reserves and production that have previously been overlooked for various reasons.” Turning back the clock slightly, LGO’s original asset of note was the Ayoluengo oilfield, one that was originally discovered in the 1960s by Chevron and operated by LGO since October 2007. Having spent the much of the next five years developing Ayoluengo the decision was made to expand
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40% Of Trinidad’s annual GDP stems from oil and gas
First sale from Tank 2
42 | BE Oil & Gas
into other areas of interest in order to grow more rapidly. Initially this led the company to the Gulf of Mexico and it was around this period in its history that LGO became exposed to Trinidad. “Almost immediately,” Ritson continues, “we came to the realisation that Trinidad was a very good match indeed with our corporate strategy and that this location, which has been an active producing region for more than 100 years, possessed a cost structure that offered us a better set of opportunities to grow than that which exists in Europe. With this in mind we decided to focus our future investments on the region and that has become core to our strategy going forward.” At the heart of LGO’s operations in Trinidad is the Goudron Field. It does however also hold assets in the form of the Icacos Oilfield, the Moruga North leases and the Cedros Peninsular leases. Located between the East Moruga and Beach Marcelle fields in south-eastern Trinidad, Goudron was originally discovered by Trinidad Leaseholding Limited in 1927 and was largely developed in its current form by Texaco between 1956 and 1986. It was then in late 2009 that a field reactivation contract for Goudron was signed and this contract was acquired by LGO in October 2012.
Leni Gas & Oil (LGO)
Sales Tanks 1 and 2 at Goudron
“What we are doing at Goudron today is using our expertise in field well reactivation to take wells that have been neglected and bring them back into use,” Ritson explains. “In doing so we take a TLC approach rather than a high-tech one. These wells are not in a condition that makes them conducive to many new technologies. Our approach has already started to create a positive return with production from the field rising
from an incredibly low base to around 350 barrels a day, which represents growth of more than 750 percent in only nine months of operations.” LGO’s move into the Trinidadian market came at a time when government and industry figures had become increasingly vocal about the decline in local production. By coming into the region with an expressed aim of bringing underexploited projects back into production
“By using state-of-the-art drilling technologies we plan to drill 30 new wells and we expect to achieve a significant uplift in production” BE Oil & Gas | 43
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“For us this is a country that has the potential to help us grow into a company capable of producing up to 5,000 barrels per day�
Altech-2 rig at the Goudron field
44 | BE Oil & Gas
Leni Gas & Oil (LGO) the company quickly gained the support of local bodies and the government. As Ritson goes on to highlight, this immediate support wasn’t the only benefit that the company gained from setting up operations here. “Trinidad has a long history of oil and gas activity and that has resulted in an experienced local workforce. This has allowed us to staff our organisation exclusively with Trinidadians. Indeed there is not a single ex-pat within our local workforce and this gives us a unique strength in the marketplace.” When it comes to the medium term plans for its Goudron asset, LGO is currently working with approximately 90 old wells across the field, which together are expected to contribute around 400 barrels per day at peak production. The future beyond this involves the drilling of new infill wells across the existing area. “By using state-of-the-art drilling technologies we plan to drill 30 new wells and we expect to achieve a significant uplift in production,” Ritson says. “Currently we are awaiting the environmental consent to commence this work and while it will then take a month or two to mobilise equipment and start the programme, executing this work really starts to change the forward momentum of the business. The recent
GEPL and LGO technical staff
awarding of reduced overriding royalty terms from Petrotrin at Goudron will also assist us to more rapidly deploy capital.” When combining both its Spanish and Trinidadian operations, LGO’s group production is currently running at between 400 and 450 barrels per day, which is significant by junior oil company standards. With new drilling the company anticipates this figure quickly rising to between 1,000 and 2,000 barrels per day. As far as the long-term future for the company goes, Ritson’s thoughts have also begun to turn towards the planning of secondary recovery at Goudron. “While Goudron has to date only produced somewhere between four and five million
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Goudron tank battery
Leni Gas & Oil (LGO)
750% Of Trinidad’s annual GDP stems from oil and gas barrels, it actually has a very significant in-place volume and our task will be to start giving the field more energy via water injection and start to sweep some more of that oil into the producing wells. That is one particular programme that can also start once we commence with new drilling.” In the meantime LGO is naturally aware that there are other opportunities in Trinidad that it could one day capitalise on. “We are a company that is prudent in our growth strategy,” Ritson concludes. “We don’t see ourselves taking on more than we can reliably deliver, but saying that we have negotiated some other options in Trinidad, other opportunities that we believe have the potential to give us a good return on production growth and we will continue to work those so that they provide us on-going and sustainable growth. For us this is a country that has the potential to help us grow into a company capable of producing up to 5,000 barrels per day. Our job is to go out there and utilise our strengths to make this a reality.” For more information about Leni Gas & Oil (LGO) visit: www.lenigasandoil.com
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regional focus:
Wide-ranging
potential
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Range Resources
Trinidad Chief Operations Officer, Walter Cukavac discusses the incredible progress made by Range Resources in the little over two years that it has been present on the Caribbean island
written by: Will Daynes research by: Robert Hodgson
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Range Resources
I
t was in 2011 that Range Resources entered into the oil market of Trinidad. A listed oil and gas exploration, development and production company already boasting interests in Puntland, Somalia, Texas, USA and the Republic of Georgia, Range’s arrival on the Caribbean’s southernmost island nation was instigated through the acquisition of 100 percent interest in three production licences, Morne Diablo, South Quarry and Beach Marcelle. Each located within producing onshore oilfields, Range’s newly acquired assets were complemented by the acquisition of a local, fully operational drilling company possessing six drilling rigs and further completion and workover rigs, and operational personnel. The Morne Diablo onshore licence comprises 9,300 acres along the south coast of the island and is subject to a farm-in agreement with Trinidad’s national oil company, Petrotrin. Range has extended its existing FOA until 31 December 2021. The licence has 2D and 3D seismic coverage and features multi-productive horizons, all of which are currently being targeted. Of its 300 plus wells, 165 are currently producing with 33 new development wells having been added since its acquisition in 2011 and potential for a further 100 wells to be drilled over the coming years. Comprising of 3,700 acres of land, the South Quarry onshore licence is another of Range Resources’ three original acquisitions. Subject to the same type of farm-in agreement with Petrotrin as Morne Diablo, the licence also shares characteristics such as the fact that it been subject to 2D and 3D seismic and
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Gulf Engineering Services Limited
Gulf Group of Companies have been servicing the Oil and Gas Industry in our Twin Island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, South America and the Caribbean for the past Thirty-Seven years on a twenty-four hour basis
with a combined working knowledge of over three hundred years. Our facility is API and ISO 9001 certified. The principal area of business includes Machine Shop Services, Sales and Supply and Rental of drilling and cleanout tools and associated equipment. We are pleased to be associated with Range Resources and welcome them to our shores and wish them every success in their future undertakings as we continue to provide our services to meet their specific needs. E. rgopeesingh@gulfengtt.com
SERVICING THE OIL & GAS INDUSTRY
GROUP OF COMPANIES
Email: rgopeesingh@gulfengtt.com | Telephone: 1 868 652 8447/8
Range Resources
is home to multiple horizons that are being Production Sharing Contract with Petrotrin, actively explored. The field was discovered which extends in ten year periods. The in 1938 and resulted in over 90 wells drilled licence contains four individual fault blocks to date, 14 of which are currently producing. that will be targeted using a waterflood EOR What makes South Quarry stand out however programme, while a technical study carried is the fact that there are numerous oil seeps out in 2012 also identified more than 50 infill present in areas yet to experience any well locations. In total, there are currently 230 significant appraisal work. This has led Range wells found on the Beach Marcelle licence. to mobilise one of it shallower rigs from “It was the availability of these licences Morne Diablo programme and the drilling company that really presented us with across to South Quarry to undertake appraisal of some the opportunity to come of the oil seeps along with the in and establish ourselves development of an inventory as a significant player in Trinidad,” explains Trinidad of up to 20 wells. Of Range Resources’ Beach Marcelle on the other Chief Operations Officer, wells are currently hand is a 3,900 acre licence Walter Cukavac. “In the producing oil in Trinidad subject to an Incremental time since we have made
142
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considerable strides, doubling our employee count to 240 people, adding a new technical administrative office which allows us to do more in house engineering and evaluation of projects, and increasing the operational capability of our drilling company.” This latter development has seen the company bring a further two drilling rigs online and complete the drilling of more than 30 wells. “There are very few independent operators in this market that possess the infrastructure that Range has to offer,” Cukavac continues. “Trinidad is a small market in relative terms and this naturally presents some limitations for companies when it comes to things like gaining access to rigs and equipment at short notice. Our capabilities allow us to execute our projects with our own equipment and better control the timing of our activities.” Boasting a stable economic and political climate, a judicial system based on English common law and solid infrastructure in the form of roads and transportation networks, Trinidad is clearly a great place to be for a business like Range Resources. “What we have established in the country is an experienced management team dedicated to the longer term outlook in Trinidad,” Cukavac says. “I think historically
the smaller operators in Trinidad have shared certain characteristics that have seen them collectively play a low risk game based on short term goals. What makes Range different is the fact that we are undertaking field development plans that are setting us up for years to come. We know it will take more than drilling one or two new wells to make a telling difference and we have a huge inventory of close to 200 wells to drill.
“What we have established in the country is an experienced management team dedicated to the longer term outlook in Trinidad” 54 | BE Oil & Gas
Range Resources
This is what will make a real as often as possible has also had a positive impact on difference over time.” The difference Cukavac Trinidad’s environment. speaks of doesn’t just come W hen it comes in the form of benefits for to suppor t i ng loc a l Trinidadians, it is important Range Resources. It also means positive developments to first consider the fact that for the areas around which some 98 percent of Range’s Range’s production the company operates and workforce are nationals target for the end of 2014 the communities who live of the island. “Almost all there. Aware of the sensitive of our technical staff call nature of Trinidad’s ecology, Trinidad home, while we it has always been the aim of the company to have also made great strides to bring optimise its operations in order to minimise in young engineering talent from local the footprint it leaves behind. Part of its schools that we train, mentor and help to efforts have seen Range focus on the drilling absorb the right culture that we line our of slimmer, six inch holes which utilise less business with from top to bottom,” Cukavac drilling fluids, while the reusing of water enthuses. “In addition to the work we do
4,000 barrels of oil per day
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onsite we also continue to support local businesses, endeavouring to maximise our local content of supporting items, and also provide capital and sponsorship of several local schools and charities.” As we speak, Range is in the process of ramping up its drilling activity in Trinidad, with the next ten wells scheduled to be
accessed by its production and work over rigs in the coming weeks. This is all part of its plans to lift and maintain the oil production to 4,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of 2014, before increasing this again to 9,000 by the end of 2015 through conventional and unconventional work programmes. Equally if not more significant is the fact
“To date we have ramped up our personnel levels and our internal infrastructure, now it is time to put that to use in order to increase our oil production levels and revenues”
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Range Resources
that Range now finds itself close to finalising a partnership with Niko Resources, a deal that will give it access to 280,000 acres of onshore and offshore acreage. “Access to this acreage, which itself has a huge upside in terms of reserve potential, will allow us to consolidate an even larger presence in Trinidad,” Cukavac says. “It also follows on from our participation in the recent onshore bidding round for the St. Mary’s Block. This is a 35,000 acre block, again with massive reserve potential, that really typifies the kind of long term projects that we want to target in Trinidad.” Consolidating acreage that will bring the long term opportunities it desires is clearly high on the list of the company’s priorities moving forward. Nevertheless, as Cukavac
concludes, Range remains conscious of its own need to press forward with the progress it has made across the business. “To date we have ramped up our personnel levels and our internal infrastructure, now it is time to put that to use in order to increase our oil production levels and revenues. As our work force matures technically and gains greater capabilities we will be able to take on increasingly complex types of drilling and production work that will ultimately allow us to further reduce costs and increase profitability.” For more information about Range Resources visit: www.rangeresources.com.au
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Underpinning Trinid & Tobago’s prosper
Damus is a privately owned company fulfilling an essentia advancing the upstream and downstream oil and gas indu that promise to define the Caribbean over the coming dec
written by: john o’hanlon | research by: robert hodgs 58 | BE Oil & Gas
Damus
dad rity
al role in ustries cade
son BE Oil & Gas | 59
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Damus welder at work at the La Romaine facility
Damus
A
s we have recently seen in our extensive coverage of Trinidad & Tobago’s state oil company Petrotrin and its engagement in the exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons as well as the manufacturing and marketing of petroleum products, this island nation’s near term future is largely defined by its onshore and offshore resources. Major and junior exploration companies are scrapping over new licences and preparing to pour billions of dollars into development projects. To succeed, though, they need to partner with competent local companies that can provide the support services they need, and this is where Damus, a key supplier to Petrotrin as well as the private sector, comes in. Established in 1973 the company has established some nine subsidiaries and affiliates since the time of its acquisition by the Mahabir family in 1981. Since then it has grown to become not only the largest mechanical fabrication and construction contractor in Trinidad & Tobago but the largest in the whole eastern Caribbean region. With a permanent staff of 200 augmented by a temporary workforce that can vary from 500 to over 2,000 depending on current projects, its services focus on the design, manufacture, procurement, installation and maintenance of almost every class of equipment required by the industry. Damus’ headquarters is at La Romaine to the south west of Trinidad. There it operates a twelve-acre yard which used to house its main fabrication operation until it built a much larger shop at Point Fortin, 30 kilometres to the south. This houses a
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GEORGE UNION’S
PIPE AND TANK COMPANY
The Best in our Industry George Union’s Pipe and Tank was first founded to meet the demands of the petroleum industry in Guyana, specifically as it relates to the manufacturing and fabrication of Industry-standard Tanks and pipelines. What we offer PIPING • Fabrication and Installation of pipelines for Petroleum products, including LPG. • Repairs and maintenance • Pressure Testing • Installation of Service Stations, hoists, air meters, etc., TANKS • Fabrication, erection and repair of vertical and horizontal tanks. • Installation of underground tanks at Service Stations. • Installation of LPG Tanks. TESTING OF PIPES AND TANKS • Thickness Testing (Ultra sonic) • Pressure Testing (Hydrostatic) • Tank Calibration CLEANING • Sandblasting, painting of Pipes, Tanks, etc; • Cleaning of Petroleum Storage Tanks
www.georgeunionpipeandtank.com
Damus 50,000 square foot workshop, George Union’s Pipe and Tank over 160,000 square feet of George Union’s Pipe and Tank are committed to a very high warehouses and an office standard of work, innovation and on-time delivery, this building on a 30-acre site, has allowed us to expand our operations in new frontiers, with the capacity to turn out always endeavouring to meet our clients varied needs and 300 tonnes of steel fabrication objectives. We have the privilege of serving very large multia month based on working national companies with operations in the Caribbean, North America, Europe and other parts of the world. one shift per day. TwentyHaving well over 35 years in business, with a highly skilled four hour operation will and trained workforce, customer satisfaction is guaranteed. add an incremental eighty www.georgeunionpipeandtank.com percent of production. The 24,000 square foot workshop at La Romaine is now mainly used for light fabrication work and the submarine pipe fabrication that the company performs for Petrotrin’s offshore Trinmar operations. It is worth dwelling for a moment on this work, as it illustrates Damus’ innovative approach to solving customers’ problems. “Petrotrin is investing significantly in its Trinmar fields” confirms Director of Overseas Operations Stuart Mahabir. There are two ways of installing the undersea pipelines that link the rigs and transfer crude onshore – you can either use a specialised pipelaying ship to position continuous coil or join sections in situ from specially adapted barges. However high mobilisation costs and availability issues make the former a very expensive operation. Trinmar continues to use Damus’ Atlantic LNG Plant built by Damus
“The work done for Bechtel on the 15 million tpa LNG plant at Point Fortin was a major milestone for the company” BE Oil & Gas | 63
Protective and Marine Coatings
Providing a wide range of high performance marine and pc coatings. Addressing the needs of a worldwide Clientele in an ever changing operating environment. International Paints Available at:
Tel: 1 868 665 6260 / 1676 | Fax: 1 868 671 6518 For Technical Information contact:
Joshua Madoo: 1-868-788-5984, Email: joshua@integra-pc.com Anil Maraj: 1-868-741-3517, Email: anil@integra-pc.biz Denesh Ragbir: 1-868- 775-9067, Email: denesh@integra-pc.com
ANALYSER SERVICES TRINIDAD LTD. is a company registered in Trinidad & Tobago and in existence for the past 15 years. We are part of a group of companies headed by Norsk Analyse AS of Scandinavia. Our support center is staffed with highly trained and experienced technicians to service and support Analyzer, Sampling Handling Panels, and Gas Detection Equipment. Services we offer are; • Sales & After Sales Support • Preventative Maintenance • Service • Training • Spares Parts Tel: 868 679 3839 / 636 6576 | Fax: 868 679 3840 | Email: anaserv@tstt.net.tt
Damus pipelaying barges, on which pre-fabricated sections of Integra Protective Coatings Ltd has happily partnered with pipe – ‘pipe strings’ – are Damus Ltd in their successful provision of quality work over welded together in situ. This the years. From providing appropriate coating products, is the most effective solution technical advice, inspection services to introducing the for the client, and was made latest in coatings technology. Integra’s direct relationship more effective when Damus with International Paints also ensures all projects and backup services are monitored by our global team. re-engineered its barges to joshua@integra-pc.com enable them to operate in sea conditions that would have delayed the work in the past. “This is industry best practice. The work is now done higher above water level – it saves both money and time,” says Mahabir. Pipelaying is a good example of the bread and butter work that Damus does, however in recent years it has distinguished itself by taking on and successfully completing some very high profile and complex projects. The first such project to be landed in 1998 lasted nearly a decade and involved the construction of a four-train gas liquefaction facility at Point Fortin with a total capacity of 15 million metric tonnes per annum (tpa) for Atlantic, one of the world’s largest producers of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The EPC contractor for the $5 billion project was Bechtel Corporation of the USA, and Damus was Bechtel’s main mechanical
Integra Protective Coatings Ltd
300 tonnes Monthly capacity of Damus’ Point Fortin fabrication site
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Our Edge is Efficiency Advantage Lab Services Ltd. provides comprehensive laboratory testing services, which help physicians and other healthcare providers in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of disease and illness in patients. We also provide access to specialized clinical tests, used to detect cancer, monitor heart disease, identify neurological disorders and pinpoint individual allergies, among other things. You can rely on our adherence to the highest levels of quality assurance and our employment of state-of-the-art technology. For every test performed, we monitor the quality of the entire process from initial request, through test performance, to the prompt reporting of the result. Phone: 868.653.6993, 868.290.3211, 868.648.0549 | Fax: 868.652.8017 E-mail: rmaraj@advantagelabservices.com www.advantagelabservices.com
Stationery & Office Consumables Specialised Library Supplies Office Furniture & Machines Audio Visual Equipment Computer Supplies Self-Inking Stamps Printing Services
Quality Brands • Attractive Prices • Free Delivery • Knowledgeable & Responsive Staff
Damus subcontractor, completing Advantage Lab Services Ltd train one in 1999, trains two Advantage Lab Services Limited, located in San Fernando, and three in 2002 and 2003, Trinidad, is a company specializing in high technology with train four finally being Laboratory testing services. The business was established commissioned in 2007. “That to offer a high quality diagnostic service to Clinicians, was a major milestone for Hospitals, Nursing homes, Corporate Companies and the the company,” recalls Stuart community at large. Our Ultra modern facility and state of the art Laboratory Mahabir with pride. “At the complimented with our 25 years experience in Laboratory time the Point Fortin facility medicine provides a full range of Lab services including was the fourth largest in the Drug & Alcohol testing, Lipid Profiles, HIV, DNA Paternity, world.” Damus’ contribution Executive & UKOOA Medicals, Occupational Health Testing, included installation of all Ultra Sounds and ECG’s. above ground piping, static Advantage Lab Services Limited: Guided by the people we and rotating equipment, spool serve, provided by people who care. www.advantagelabservices.com and utility tank fabrication. More recently the company completed its largest job ever, showing its diversity in the very different field of power generation. Between 2009 and its commissioning in 2012 Damus was the main mechanical contractor for a new 720 MW combined cycle power plant (CCPP) built by Germany’s Ferrostaal GmbH for Trinidad Generation Unlimited (TGU) at La Brea. At the $740 million plant’s official opening in October 2013 Trinidad’s Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine hailed it as the nation’s most efficient, producing electricity at half the unit cost of other sources. Damus’ client list includes such major companies as BP, BG, BHP Billiton, Repsol and, of course, Petrotrin. To work with these companies presupposes best practice enshrined in certification, such as ISO 9001:2008, which assures the company’s quality management system (QMS) and the Safe-to-Work (STOW) accreditation. STOW assures not only safety but also environmental performance, stresses
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RM ENGINEERING
R.M. Engineering Limited is a Multi-Disciplinary Consulting Firm which provides services to Government, Institutional and Industrial Clients in the Architectural, Civil, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical Fields as well as Project Management.
Email: rm_eng_01@yahoo.com Telephone: 1 (868) 665 5575 / 671 9467 Telefax: 1 (868) 665 5575 Address: R.M. Engineering Limited 505 Centre Pointe Mall, Ramsaran Street. Chaguanas.Trinidad and Tobago
Stretching the Miles MILEAGE MACK offers the widest range of passenger, commercial and industrial tyres in Trinidad & Tobago. Our certified technicians provide sophisticated, professional, and highly technical services using state-of-theart computer diagnostic equipment. Mileage Mack is a certified member of the Tire Industry Association of North America (TIA) and Specialty Equipment Market Association.
inspired Your weekly digest of business news and views
Telephone: 1-(868)-657-1704 Email: sales@mileagemack.com www.mileagemack.com
www.bus-ex.com
Damus Mahabir. “Achieving that accreditation in 2012 was R.M. Engineering Limited was established on the 7th significant in that it confirmed January, 2005 and has been providing Consultancy Services that our workers were trained, since then. The company’s key personnel have considerable approved and recognised experience in the successful management and execution of a by the industry accepted wide variety of projects in Trinidad and Tobago. regulatory body in the local We actively aim to always satisfy our Clients by continuously improving on our operations and are proud to be associated energy sector. It affirmed with Damus Limited for whom we have been providing once and for all the company’s engineering consultancy services for over eight years. record of compliance.” rm_eng_01@yahoo.com Being a large employer, Damus recognises the importance of a well-trained and accredited workforce, he continues. “We operate a mixture of internal and external training, with an in-house syllabus for our junior engineers covering structural design, mechanical design and other topics. We also offer financial incentives to encourage them to acquire qualifications that may be required for our contracts.” Though the global economic situation is reflected in a current slowdown regionally, Damus is planning ahead for the O&G boom that is in the making. The port of Galeota on Trinidad’s south-eastern tip is central to Trinidad and Tobago’s deepwater acreage and its shallow water acreage on the east coast. It is also close to Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. If Portof-Spain is becoming the Houston of the Caribbean, as Minister Ramnarine states, he also proposes that Galeota should become a significant energy services hub for this part of the Caribbean. “We are planning to build a new fabrication facility on the east coast of the island,” says Mahabir. “It makes sense BP Bombax Subsea Manifold, built by Damus for us to improve our facility at Galeota to
R.M. Engineering Limited
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regional focus:
Damus take advantage of investment that is going to increase over the next five years.” While activity levels are reasonably high offshore, Damus continues to seek out downstream project opportunities. One significant opportunity coming over the horizon is a proposed $850 million petrochemical plant at the Union Industrial Estate in La Brea, to be built by a consortium led by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). The plant will produce a million tonnes a year of methanol and 100,000 tonnes of dimethyl ether (DME). If the project goes ahead, it would be the first new downstream energy plant in Trinidad and Tobago since 2010. Damus, as the only regional company with the experience, capacity and track record in delivering projects like this is well placed to capture particular construction elements of such a project. Meanwhile Stuart Mahabir is looking further afield in a region that is increasingly grappling with the conflict between traditional industries like tourism and fishing and the oil trade. Curacao, with its huge independent refinery is a case in point. But Damus will always maintain its standards, he assures: “We are proud of our reputation and our brand. We will always conduct business in a transparent way and never tarnish the good name we have established for ourselves. We hope our customers continue to recognise our efforts in providing excellent contracting services to the local and regional oil and gas industry.” For more information about Damus visit: www.damusgroup.com
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regional focus:
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COTEEL
Hard work, faith,
and favour Trinidad has a well developed oil and gas industry, a fact that has enabled the emergence of COTEEL, a small, agile service company that is determined to stay ahead of its larger competitors
written by: john o’hanlon research by: robert hodgson
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regional focus:
Supply, installation and commissioning of D3306 crane engine on an offshore platform
COTEEL
T
he story of COTEEL is a classic the O&G industry,” says Selvan regretfully. tale of entrepreneurship. “They suffer from big company syndrome. As Entrepreneurs are defined as the older people retire and younger people people who see an opportunity have come in they have lost touch with their and seize it: but to be realistic customers. That is the main reason why we they also need the skills and technical know- have been able to penetrate that market.” how to deliver to the customer base they have The requirements of the O&G market itself identified. It was in 2011 that it dawned on have not changed that much, he adds. It is husband and wife team Selvan and Tricia more a question of the service sector not Ramnarace Moonan, each of them a high keeping up, but the problem is a serious one flier in their different fields, that they could that manifests itself right across the sector, do a better job for the Caribbean oil and gas clients and service providers alike. COTEEL sector than the incumbent service providers. was set up to remedy this deficiency. And Less than three years later they are showing the timing was serendipitous: a time when the brakes were on the whole they were right. industry thanks to the global Selvan is a career engineer with 30 years’ engineering recession was an opportunity knowledge and experience in to get the documentation, reliability techniques behind the service proposal and the him: Tricia is a qualified technology right, then seek to Of local platform accountant and an expert in capture some key clients. operators are business intelligence systems. As a new entrant, it was COTEEL clients “We were at a stage where we vital to get things right were essentially providing from the get-go, says Tricia consultancy services to the large organisations Moonan. Ok, the company was a start up, but we worked for.” Like true entrepreneurs they 400 percent turnover growth in the second sat down one day and wondered why they trading year and another 400 percent in the were working for someone else when they third year to date is a powerful indicator that could be doing it for themselves, bringing their COTEEL was on the right track. “Our current combined expertise to the local Trinidad & customer base is three times bigger than Tobago market, the Caribbean Region, and in when we started,” she adds. “All the customer feedback so far is that the service level from time perhaps to an international client base. Above all they had direct knowledge of COTEEL is a breath of fresh air compared the local hydrocarbon sector, and were only with past experiences. The overriding too aware that the big players were getting comment of all new prospective clients is a less than ideal service from their existing that they are not pleased with their current supply, support, service and maintenance service providers in this sector and they are partners. “They no longer really understand looking for alternatives.” The company is
50%
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regional focus:
growing a portfolio of strategic partnerships in the sector and among others holds the rights to distribute Adicomp Compressors, FCI watermakers (desalination being seen as tomorrow’s solution for offshore installations), Randolph and De’Ran gears and is a reseller of Weir Minerals’ pumps and valves. Its strategy was to get an initial contract, not worrying too much about margins, in order to prove its mettle. One such opportunity was to overhaul nine engines: in the year that COTEEL was able to deliver this job to the complete satisfaction of the client, its regular partner was only able to partially overhaul one comparable engine. “That is what we do well,” says Selvan. “We do the complete package, not just the engine.”
By the whole package he means the engine itself, its cooling system, generator, instrumentation and controls. These may be supplied by different dealers. COTEEL can be described as a ‘one stop shop’ that is equipped to handle a complete package, onshore or offshore. This approach gives COTEEL a competitive edge in the industry – and it does the job quickly including recommissioning and testing so that downtime is cut drastically. “Getting the first job is tough: getting subsequent jobs is a lot easier. Once we have our foot in the door, we have a client!” One of the more interesting projects he recalls was to dismantle and relocate a fire water pump from one deck level of a platform to another. “We handled the entire
Refurbished CAT 3508 diesel engine transported back to offshore platform for re-commissioning
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COTEEL
“We are able to make quicker decisions and mobilise a team more rapidly than larger and more complex organisations” project including dismantling the existing pump structure, modifying the design and reinstalling and recommissioning the pump. Another project of ours that sparked the interest of a new client involved installing and commissioning a new engine for a crane located on an unmanned platform. The engine required minor modifications and an ingenious approach to installing it due
to location restrictions.” All of this COTEEL was able to do, to the customers’ complete satisfaction, in just three short days. COTEEL is a small company that acts like a large one, with robust Standardised Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Business Continuity Planning in place: time after time every work activity in COTEEL is done consistently and all data and documents are backed up at a secondary fireproof location. All data entry is standardised and centralised. When a report is generated, all data elements have a uniform look with no duplicate or obsolete information in the system. This produces more effective reporting and more efficient decision making. This level of operation has gone down well with customers. Within the two and a half years in which COTEEL has been in operation it has built up excellent relationships within the energy sector - and specifically within the energy sector that operate offshore platforms. It has established business relationships with almost half of the platform operating companies in Trinidad and Tobago, supplied mechanical services to 12.5 percent of them and supplied watermakers and parts to 25 percent of companies in this sector. By identifying the long waiting times, indifferent service and costly downtime that was the bugbear of the local industry, COTEEL
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regional focus:
was shown an open door: it could contribute to de-risking the customers’ operations – as long as it could get the first job right the first time. “Because we are small we are able to make quicker decisions and mobilise a team more rapidly than larger and more complex organisations,” says Tricia. Being able to quote, get a team together, and execute quickly helped clients make a quick decision. Their understanding of the post service-reporting regime in the industry was another advantage. As part of the company set-up process Selvan and Tricia standardised the reporting procedure and simplified the forms so they are more understandable for COTEEL’s and its client’s employees alike, while still satisfying regulatory requirements. Long delays in providing post service reports, and in some cases altogether failing to provide them, was another common experience among clients’ existing service providers. The same thing happened at the other end of the process. It could take months to get a quote – another place where COTEEL could change the game by turning round quotation requests within days, and providing a full and professional report immediately the job has been completed. STOW-TT certification is a prerequisite to working in the Trinidad O&G sector.
Overhauling and reinstalling a fire wat
Short for Safe To Work, STOW was initiated in 2004 by the Trinidad & Tobago Energy Chamber after hearing the complaints from its members in the energy service sector, who were experiencing challenges in meeting the range of health, safety and environmental (HSE) requirements among the major O&G operating companies. This made it difficult for companies to prequalify for work and fully explore
“Because we are small we are able to make quicker decisions and mobilise a team more rapidly than larger and more complex organisations” 78 | BE Oil & Gas
COTEEL
ter pump on an offshore platform
Installation of new crankshaft in CAT 3508 diesel engine
business opportunities in Trinidad and Tobago’s leading industry. This is a costly process as well as one that requires in-house expertise at a deep level and COTEEL has grasped it head-on; something that will differentiate it from other small companies that might compete. “We want to perform at the highest level,” says Selvan. “Being small we have to make sure we have everything in place - our larger competitors still have a lot of clout and would cut us out unless we have all the boxes ticked!” Environmental performance is increasingly important to clients. COTEEL has elected to pursue a procurement policy that favours chemical and other products that have a low impact on the environment, even if higher priced. Employees are encouraged to deposit
domestic recyclables in the office bins. “Change begins with individuals and this culture starts at home,” is the Moonans’ mantra. While he could recruit experienced personnel, Selvan is keen not to import the laissez faire culture and poor working practices too often found in the incumbent providers. “Our strategy is to hire qualified people and train them the way we want them to be trained. It used to be the case that only one percent of the population had a university degree: nowadays there are many more opportunities for tertiary education. That means we have more choices in getting better qualified people who are willing to tackle the training that they need to function in this industry.” Selvan Moonan believes that recognising good performance is one of the best ways to
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regional focus:
“We have implemented a process that aims specifically to reward employees for achieving or surpassing identified objectives�
Supply, installation & commissioning of FCI watermakers on NGC platforms
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COTEEL motivate employees. “We have implemented a process that aims specifically to reward employees for achieving or surpassing identified objectives both in Operations and Health and Safety – and also in achieving an extremely high level of customer satisfaction.” This concern for people extends to the wider community. In support of promoting healthy sporting activities as an option for young adults in its local environment, COTEEL co-sponsored a local cricket team, Hillpiece Cricket Club. The team, like COTEEL itself, turned out to have a winning strategy as it won the final match at the City Sports 30-Overs Sunday League, at Guaracara Park, Pointe-à-Pierre in June 2013. It also won the Independence Sports Club 20-20 Men’s Windball Cricket, at Scott Road Penal, in August 2013. While the O&G sector is always going to be the central focus for COTEEL it has not shrunk from seizing other opportunities that present themselves. In a significant diversification of its portfolio the company obtained the exclusive distributorship in the Caribbean for a product line which Tricia and Selvan Moonan expect to be strategically important in the growth of the company. This is a wellknown brand of garden machinery, for which there is a lively and growing market among the many garden hobbyists in the Caribbean. COTEEL will not only operate within its core energy market but offer premium products within the agricultural industry as well. At this moment then, COTEEL is consolidating its position in the vibrant Trinidad & Tobago hydrocarbon market, led by local companies such as Petrotrin and its partners among the global majors, while
keeping a close eye on all opportunities that are a good ‘fit’ with its competencies and regional market knowledge. Looking further ahead Selvan hopes to expand into other regional English-speaking markets where the local O&G market is expanding – Suriname might be a case in point. There is a need for more reliable proactive maintenance solutions such as oil sampling and vibration testing – activities well within COTEEL’s expertise. “Optimising the maintenance cycle also increases the client’s environmental performance and the efficiency of the machines. It is a benefit to the customer if he can spend less and have the machine running longer,” he says. COTEEL is already becoming a wellknown name in Trinidad & Tobago, where it is growing as much by attraction as by promotion. Its achievements over the short period since it was founded are solid, well resourced and repeatable. If its founders’ energy and entrepreneurship are anything to go by, this is a company that will be significantly penetrating the market in the sectors in which it operates. As Selvan Moonan says: “Hard work, faith and favour with God have brought the company this far - further than other companies less than three years old have gone! We intend to never let go of that winning combination, to the benefit of our customers, employees and to ourselves.” For more information about COTEEL visit: www.coteel.com
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the
gia
Mexico’s largest ga go-to partner for c to set up operati because of its lo history as an imp and distributor
writt John O’ resear Peter Ro
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gas
Grupo Zeta
ant
as company is the companies looking ions here simply ong and stable porter, processor of gas products
ten by: ’Hanlon rch by: owlston
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Manzanillo
Grupo Zeta
F
ounded in 1977, Grupo Zeta started life as a simple sales organisation set up by the legendary Don Miguel Zaragoza Fuentes, one of Mexico’s best known entrepreneurs. Knowing that there would be a growing demand for gas in the country as its industrial base grew in tandem with its population, Zaragoza then set about the task of creating a full-scale downstream industry. He began to fabricate storage tanks, gas cylinders and every kind of gas handling equipment. Today Grupo Zeta is a fully integrated gas company that employs 70,000 people. It has a presence in seven countries, more than 70 distribution centres bringing gas to nearly 1,000 towns and industrial sites and controlling the entire supply chain from the industrial or domestic consumer at one end, only just stopping short of production. Don Miguel even has his own fleet of tankers to bring liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to replenish the huge Zeta owned tank farms at the port cities of Manzanillo and Ensenada as well as the storage facilities he has established in Guatemala and Peru. From these facilities the gas is taken to depots across Mexico as well as to the Central American countries of Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica as well as Peru, where Grupo Zeta has a strong presence. With expansion in all these territories Zeta is currently constructing a $40 million expansion to the vital LPG terminal at Guatemala’s main Pacific port Puerto Quetzal. Back in Mexico the network of road tankers is robust, says Juan Pablo Fierro, Zeta’s Assistant Director of Operations, reaching customers in every state.
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This is of vital importance equally to largescale consumers and those households that depend on gas for heating and cooking. “We have a phone in system for ordering domestic supplies: for businesses, how we supply them depends upon the amount they are consuming. For instance mining companies consume huge amounts of gas, and are typically located in remote areas, way beyond the reach of pipeline reticulation that exists in the cities. The good thing about LPG is that it can be tanked like water and we do exactly that! We schedule our deliveries in such a way that they will never run out of gas.” Many mining operations consume so much gas that that they need their own on-site storage capacity. Zeta will install all the equipment and tanks that they need, says Fierro, but he then points out that this is far from the end of the story. Once there is any significant gas storage – a level set fairly low at 20,000 litres – a whole raft of regulation kicks in, part of which involves fire precautions. Essentially the site has to have its own fire fighting service with staff trained and equipped to deal with any emergency that might arise. Zeta will install the equipment, and man the station with trained staff to a level that provides the client with complete confidence that it is compliant with industry best practice and statutory regulations.
The shareholders of mining companies that come in to exploit Mexico’s rich silver and gold reserves insist upon world class levels of environmental, safety and social performance. In many jurisdictions this is a real challenge, however Mexico has plenty of experience available and in Zeta they find a competent partner to which to outsource this aspect of the business. “The bigger the storage facility the bigger the risk,” says Fierro. “We provide end to end service for mining companies, so if there is
“Gas is dangerous … that is why we insist on standard operating procedures in everything we do” 86 | BE Oil & Gas
Grupo Zeta
Tanks at Ensenada
a leak or any other problem we have people who reorganised its business units to treat these are well qualified and experienced in dealing two as a single unit. It will be recalled that with the product available to fix that problem.� the Toronto-based company Agnico-Eagle had Dealing with gas leaks is not started to develop its Pinos something that can be handled Altos gold mine, with silver as by general engineers, no matter a by-product in 2007, pouring how well qualified they are, its first gold in 2009. Pinos he adds. Special tools have Altos is located in the Sierra Madre mountains in northern to be used when working on People employed by Mexico, 220 kilometres west gas equipment, designed to Grupo Zeta eliminate the risk of generating of Chihuahua. Underground any spark either through mining began in the late friction or static electricity. And the operator has spring of 2010, and a satellite operation was to know how to use them. This is all part of the started nearby in 2010, pouring its first gold service offered by Zeta. in December that year. Agnico-Eagle expects Much of the current mining development to be producing in its Chihuahua mines until seems to be happening in the north-eastern 2029, and has now turned its attention to states of Chihuahua and Sonora, and Zeta has Sonora where it is developing its La India
70,000
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mine in the prolific Mulatos gold belt. That mine is expected to start producing in 2014 and to average 90,000 ounces of gold per year over the reserve life. Zeta is negotiating a deal with Agnico-Eagle that would revamp its entire LPG storage and pipework in its Chihuahua operation, a deal that would include a specially built long chassis truck (at Zeta it is affectionately known as ‘the beast!) that carries a 22,000 litre tank. The Sonora and Chihuahua operations are only 70 kilometres apart, providing operating synergy between the two properties, he points out. With both Sonora and Chihuahua attracting new companies, Zeta has plenty of opportunity to bring its innovative equipment to new projects. With an unequalled track record in the sector, and the capacity to guarantee supplies of gas, Zeta is the perfect partner for these companies says Fierro. “We always have gas. Other companies tend to run out but that never happens with us.” Most of
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the competing gas companies buy their gas at the border between Juarez and El Paso, Texas. This gas is piped through from the USA and when that pipe breaks down, lines of trucks build up waiting to get filled. That can take a week, he says. Zeta has independent supplies, tank farms at strategic locations, and its customers will never run out of gas, he assets confidently. “In the gas business everything has to be 100 percent serviceable. If you are relying on old equipment and it breaks down you have a problem. Small details can cause huge problems in this industry.” Attention to detail in maintenance and the provision of the most up to date equipment is something that Zeta is passionate about, he says. “We have maintenance teams always on alert. They think like doctors! Even if they are at home they have their phones on 24/7 to deal with either gas supply or for maintenance.” And in a rather smart marketing move, this service is available whether or not the supply
Grupo Zeta
contract is with Zeta. Service is every bit as important as price to these customers. One of Juan Pablo Fierro’s responsibilities is to train the staff, not in technical matters, which is done at the company’s Juarez training facility, but in matters relating to customer service. It is another area in which Zeta is differentiated from its competitors. “We have a meeting every morning talking about how we can improve our service to customers and analyse any glitches. We want to sell more gas of course but the priority is service, and in that we start with our own employees, the people who are touching our clients.” It is a concept more familiar in the hospitality industry, he says, but among gas suppliers it is rarely found. Finally, he says that Mexico needs to follow other countries in requiring that individuals
as well as companies are nationally accredited before they are let loose on gas. A scheme similar to the UK’s Gas Safe Register would do a lot to raise industry wide standards. Meanwhile it is down to Grupo Zeta to be the guardian of best practice, something that Juan Pablo Fierro wholeheartedly accepts. He thinks it is crazy that you can’t cut hair in Mexico without a certificate, but you can repair a gas leak! “Gas is dangerous. People who work on it daily can get blasé and drop their guard. That is why we insist on standard operating procedures in everything we do.” For more information about Grupo Zeta visit: www.grupozeta.com
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Mexico’s tower of strength
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SPX - Marley Mexicana
By combining over a century of experience with cutting-edge, environmentally friendly technology, Marley Mexicana has solidified itself as one of jewels in SPX Group’s crown
written by: Will Daynes research by: Jeff Abbott
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Marley Sigma Cooling Tower
SPX - Marley Mexicana
W
hile the name, SPX Cooling Technologies, has only been in use since 2005, the company that bears this title actually possesses over a century of experience, during which time it has become amalgamated with some the best known names within the cooling industry including Marley, Ceramic, Recold and Hamon Dry Cooling. This has resulted in the company possessing more than 250 global patents in the power generation, industrial, refrigeration and HVAC markets. Originally founded in Germany in 1894, Balcke & Co. as it was then known, quickly went about becoming a world leader in cooling towers during the early 1900s. Marley, meanwhile, was founded in the US in 1922, first as the Power Plant Equipment Company before becoming The Marley Company in 1926. Marley would go on to invent and patent most of the industrial cooling tower innovations and technologies that remain so vital to this day. It is this legacy that means that Marley Mexicana remains the only entity left within the SPX Group to retain its original name, that and the fact that the brand has been known in Mexico now for more than 50 years. Drawing its strength across its operations from the unmatched quality of its products, SPX Cooling Technologies today boasts more than 150 offices, subsidiaries and partners across the planet, providing it with both a global reach and local presence in core markets that allows in to deliver the solutions its customers require quickly.
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The company first opened its Mexico office, from which Marley Mexicana continues to operate, in 1960. Ever since it has been the leading regional force when it comes to cooling tower technology and sales, and has been responsible for installing towers into many of the country’s most important power plants on behalf of Comision Federal de Electricidad and Petroleos Mexicanos. It is in Mexico that the company have noticed that in the last five years in particular there has been a considerable increase in interest from customers requesting access to material and equipment that doesn’t just exceed their expectations in terms of quality, but which also decreases pollution and toxic residues.
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There is certainly a growing culture within the country of companies looking to be more sustainable and environmentally conscious, one that has increased as the Mexican energy sector has expanded in value. Fortunately for those in possession of such ethics, Marley Mexicana has long been known as a reliable supplier of cooling towers and air cooled condensers specifically designed to lower pollution and increase efficiency. Promoting sustainable energy production is a trait that the company has long striven to possess and is encapsulated in the fact that SPX Cooling Technologies is proud to be a member of the US Green Building Council and is an advocate of the LEED Program, a voluntary, consensus-based national
SPX - Marley Mexicana
Marley Series 600 Cooling Tower
“SPX Cooling Technologies is proud to be a member of the US Green Building Council and is an advocate of the LEED Program� standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Evaporative cooling is a central strategy for green building design due to its energy savings and low environmental impact. Also, water treatment strategies to minimise make-up and blowdown can offer the potential to gain water resource credits in LEED. The LEED Program in itself is linked
closely to the ASHRAE 90.1 Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, a US standard that provides minimum requirements for energy efficient designs for buildings. LEED sets the ASHRAE 90.1 efficiency as the threshold for compliance before a building can even be considered for receiving LEED credits. These credits are subsequently granted based on improvements
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in overall building energy efficiency that are better than ASHRAE 90.1. Towers that are selected larger in physical size with energy efficiency in gallons per minute per horsepower above ASHRAE 90.1 can help a company to acquire LEED credits. The use of variable frequency drives (VFDs) can also enable significant annual energy savings in most climates, which also can help to enable LEED credits. Marley
Mexicana’s Tower Sizing and Selection tools are able to assist its clients by providing the ASHRAE efficiency calculation on the output of each selection. As part of the Green Building Council the company can also supply its customers with the Green Building water calculator. This solution easily allows a company to determine water usage values such as evaporation, drift, blow down, and total water usage by
“Rather than being fearful of change, Marley Mexicana are embracing the prospect of serious reforms being made to the energy industry”
Marley Quadraflow Cooling Tower
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SPX - Marley Mexicana
Marley Series 400 Cooling Tower
simply adjusting operating conditions like total water flow, hot water temperature, cold water temperature, wet-bulb temperature, drift rate, and concentrations to match each individual scenario. The energy sector in Mexico finds itself at a key point in its evolution. This is perhaps best emphasised in the moves that have been made this year by the country’s President, Enrique Peùa Nieto to reform the energy sector. This culminated in early September when a bill of amendments calling for the overhaul of the sector was submitted to Mexico’s Congress. The bill itself is seen as the beginning of a series of changes to federal legislation governing the sector and sets out the basis for a new perspective on its operation. Rather than being fearful of change,
Marley Mexicana are embracing the prospect of serious reforms being made to the energy industry, recognising that they present the possibility of more opportunities for companies like it that are part funded by foreign capital. With a renewed focus on the industry being driven by government it stands to reason that investment will be made in new power plants and infrastructure within the country, and coupled with the increase in demand for environmentally friendly solutions, this will directly benefit the likes of Marley Mexicana. For more information about SPX - Marley Mexicana visit: www.spx.com
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Recope
Costa Rica’s pillar of competitiveness Costa Rica’s national hydrocarbons importation, refining and distribution company Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo SA (Recope) is taking a leading role as the country prepares to lead the region in green energy
written by: John O’Hanlon research by: David Brogan
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T
he situation for obtaining gasoline, diesel oil and other oil products in Costa Rica is not ideal just at present. Following an accident in 2011 it was decided that the country’s refinery at Moin, part of the Caribbean, or east coast, port of Limón, was too expensive to run, and since then the country has relied entirely on imported petroleum products. Costa Rica is the most developed and stable democracy in Central America and it is happily named – it has a lot of coast on the isthmus that links the continents of North and South America, and though not rich, it is prosperous enough, strategically placed for trade, and its 4.5 million citizens enjoy a good standard of living with a per capita income of around $10,000. According to CIA figures and estimates, Costa Rica’s economy was affected fairly mildly by the global recession. It contracted 1.3 percent in 2009 but resumed growth at about 4.5 percent annually between 2010 and 2012. While the traditional agricultural exports of bananas, coffee, sugar, and beef are still the backbone of commodity export trade, a variety of industrial and specialised agricultural products have broadened export trade in recent years. High value-added goods and services, including microchips, have further bolstered exports. Tourism continues to bring in foreign exchange, as Costa Rica’s prolific biodiversity makes it a key destination for ecotourism. Last year Costa Rica’s oil sector generated $2.175 billion. Foreign investors remain attracted by the country’s political stability and relatively high education levels, as well as the incentives
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Recope
Heard Tell us about your company and we’ll tell everyone else www.bus-ex.com
Recope offered in the free-trade Felguera IHI zones; and Costa Rica has Felguera-IHI, a company participated by Spanish attracted one of the highest Corporation DF and Japanese IHI Corp., is the leading levels of foreign direct Spanish company in providing LSTK EPC fuel storage investment per capita in Latin solutions for all ranges of industry products, temperatures America. Four years ago Costa and pressure conditions, from regasification terminals to Rica’s leaders declared that individual storage tanks. With more than 40 years presence in the global market, and state-of-the-art technology, it would become the world’s has references in the USA, and several countries in the first carbon-neutral nation by Middle East, Europe, Africa and Latin America, where has 2021, taking transportation, developed three major LPG integral expansion projects energy, into consideration, for RECOPE Moin Refinery in Costa Rica, involving a total and everything else including increase in capacity of 17,500cbm. agriculture, which accounts www.dfdurofelguera.com for a staggering 37 percent of Costa Rica’s emissions. The country won’t be able to achieve these goals without its own refining capacity. The organisation responsible for hydrocarbon products is 50 years old this year. Recope was established by the legislative assembly, or Congress, as a commercial company, though it remains 100 percent governmentowned. And the company is already playing its part in the battle against emissions, having implemented a decision in 2011 to lead the entire region in introducing low sulphur diesel. Needless to say, ensuring a constant supply has been a challenge, though Recope’s distribution division, located at El Alto de Ochomogo in the town of Cartago and led by
“We have enough capacity to supply all demand at this moment, and are building new tanks to ensure we have enough products to supply to our clients in the future” BE Oil & Gas | 103
60,000 bpd Capacity of new Recope refinery
its sales and distribution manager Francisco Rojas Esquivel, has stepped up well. Recope has built up an adequate infrastructure across the country, with four tank farms strategically located to supply the main towns. They are linked with each other and to the oil port at Moin by a network of pipelines. Three pipelines run from the Atlantic, or Caribbean coast to the capital San Jose, and three more from the Pacific coast. “We do not have any problems with pumping – we have enough capacity to supply all demand at this moment, and are building new tanks to ensure we have enough products to supply to our clients in the future,” says Rojas. Recope also has operations in Costa Rica’s three international airports at Liberia, Limón and San Jose itself, as well as the main domestic airports. “We do have an issue with tank capacity, and we are working on that right now to increase aviation fuel capacity at these airports.” A new tank farm and sales terminal is being constructed at Liberia airport in the north of the country, and will be in operation by the end of the current year, he says. The aviation fuels side of the business was probably the segment that the recession hit hardest, though it affected all products. “We had a hard time in the 2008 crisis but we are recovering from it now!”
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Recope
His problems will be over when the new and expanded refinery has been built at the Moin site, and that could be delivered by 2018, he says. However there are one or two hurdles to be overcome before that happens. In 2009, Recope and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) formed Soresco, an equal joint venture, to upgrade and expand the 25,000 barrels per day (bpd) Limón refinery that was badly damaged by fire in August 2011. The project was to have been carried out with a loan of up to $900 million from China Development Bank. Once built, the refinery would be leased back to Recope for 15 years. However the feasibility study on which the project was based was rejected by the Costa Rican
Controller’s office because it was carried out by HQCEC, a subsidiary of CNPC — an arrangement prohibited under the Soresco JV agreement. The office also said the study may have underestimated costs to inflate the project’s estimated rate of return of at least 16 percent, and further that it failed to address project risks, analyse the Costa Rican oil market and regulatory framework, or provide financial details to back up its calculations. Costa Rica has been commended for sticking to best practice in this matter, but its task now is to get the project back on track. “A new feasibility study has been commissioned,” says Rojas, “and we are working to a Plan B as requested by the government.” The revised plan will increase the capacity of the refinery
“A new feasibility study has been commissioned for the refinery project” BE Oil & Gas | 105
“The revised plan will increase the capacity of the refinery dramatically” dramatically, tripling to 60,000 bpd. It has been prepared with the help of experienced regional partners like Petrobras in Brazil and Ecopetrol in Colombia, to include the products that will take Costa Rica towards its carbon neutral future: products like biodiesel and bioethanol, produced from crops like corn and sugar cane. The great advantage of bioethanol for the environment is its potential to be carbon neutral on a lifecycle basis – meaning the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted during its use is offset by the amount it absorbs from the atmosphere during its growth.
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Though Recope will probably not be producing its own bioethanol, it will be able to obtain it locally, among other places from the modern plant of the sugar refiner CATSA, for blending into increasingly lowemission fuels. Another green innovation at the refinery will be the introduction of LNG to provide the heat required in its processes, and the existing electrical equipment at the plant is being assessed for conversion. At present it is not clear, he says, whether Recope will be given the mandate to distribute LNG as its use
Recope
increases nationally. From its incorporation it was given a monopoly to import, refine and distribute hydrocarbon products but whether LNG comes under this statute is disputed. It would make sense though, as Recope has the infrastructure and the expertise to undertake this work seamlessly, Currently Recope employs around 1,800 people, and construction work at the refinery will provide up to 2,500 construction jobs, though a high proportion of these may be filled by Chinese contract labour. But however it is delivered, it can’t come too soon for Francisco Rojas. It will, he says, allow Recope to play its full part in the regional leadership position that Costa Rica has adopted where it comes to adopting low emission fuels on the road to a carbonneutral country.
The job of overseeing the implementation of Plan B for the refinery, as well as completing expansion of the Moin oil port and upgrading the tank farm to increase Recope’s LPG and oil storage capacity, has been given to veteran company president Litleton Bolton Jones following the collapse of the earlier agreement. The harbour expansion is well under way and should be complete by the end of 2014 – the $96 million project funded by Recope and built by a Mexican-Costa Rican consortium will allow the oil terminal on the country’s Caribbean coast to accommodate tankers of between 40,000 and 80,000 tons. For more information about Recope visit: www.recope.go.cr
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Going beyond safety For more than 20 years SOS Safety International has been committed to providing quality products and service to its ever-growing list of clients
written by: Will Daynes research by: Vincent Kielty
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SOS Safety International
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SOS Safety International
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f you ask me what factors have contributed none of this would be possible without the most to our success,” says SOS Safety efforts of the company’s employees, whose International’s Managing Director, drive, passion and determination Nieves Carmen Nieves, “I would have to say it is credits as being SOS Safety International’s a healthy combination of hard work and greatest strength. “As a team we have all contributed to effort, a lot of negotiating, a lot of sales and creating a business with more than 20 years ultimately a lot of satisfied customers.” Since 1991, SOS Safety International of experience within our chosen fields of has been a premier distributor of industrial expertise,” Nieves highlights. “What this safety supplies and services. Committed to gives us today is a company that is a lot providing quality products and service for more than just a supplier of equipment. In the safety and protection of its customers, addition to this we have developed the ability their employees and facilities, and the to perform other critical services such as environment, the company supplies loading risk management, emergency response and equipment, fire fighting emergency pre-planning. equipment, remediation and It was our offering of these services that helped catapult oil spill equipment. “From our initial work business even further forward with our sales increasing by of selling industrial hoses some 40 percent in the space to storage terminals we SOS Safety of two years.” gradually evolved into a International’s sales business capable of meeting In that time the reputation growth over the last all manner of needs across a of the company has increased two years range of core industry fields further still and this has led including fire fighting,” to SOS Safety International Nieves continues. “As we grew, so too did gaining a number of significant contracts in the level of positive word of mouth about the region. These include the Terminal Fire SOS Safety International and this further Assessment contract awarded by Statoil South assisted in our expansion from our original Riding Point in Grand Bahama, Bahamas. As base of Central America into Latin America part of this the company will be responsible for and the Caribbean.” fire protection engineering, risk management With each task it carries out, SOS Safety and emergency response consulting services International operates under the belief that as well as the procurement and installation quality service is key to ensuring customer of fire systems replacements. satisfaction, that establishing open and honest Meanwhile, the company has also been relationships with said customers is vital and awarded the Petrojam Newport Fire Systems that it must be prepared to think outside the project bid. In this particular project the box in order to meet their needs. Of course company provides the Petrojam Newport
40%
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“With each task it carries out, SOS Safety International operates under the belief that quality service is key to ensuring customer satisfaction” terminal with a Fire Systems Assessment and was subsequently proud to announce that it had won the project bid for the supply of the bladder systems and all fire equipment as required per the bid. As Nieves goes on to state, being a multiskilled business has also allowed SOS Safety International to overcome a number of the
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external challenges facing the industry, not least of all the volatile economic climate of today. “By being flexible and multi-faceted we are able to move quickly when the market shifts, moving into other geographic locations and adding in-demand services in order to avoid the negative impacts that arise from a slow economy.”
SOS Safety International
Taking into account the above, it comes as little surprise that the company’s immediate objectives include continuing to grow at a healthy pace. Part of its growth strategy currently sees SOS Safety International looking into moving to a larger facility, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and measuring some 5,000 square feet. From here the company would look to act as a service centre for hydrostatic service and testing of SCBA gear, which caters to their region’s marine and municipal departments. “By developing part of our business to deliver service centre style needs we are again going to be meeting a pretty significant demand from the marketplace,” Nieves concludes. “There really is no one else, not
in our sector of the market at least, providing this type of service, especially to parts of the region such as Honduras, Jamaica and other islands. It is for this reason that I can easily envision a scenario where five years from now we will have at least three of these centres up and running, providing yet another revenue stream into the company.” Nieves finishes our conversation by simply saying that she is excited about the future, and who can blame her? For more information about SOS Safety International visit: www.sos-safety.com
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Petromoc
Fuelling
a nation Mozambique’s state-owned distributor of petroleum products continues to expand, both within its home nation’s borders and further across Southern Africa
written by: Will Daynes research by: Abi Abagun
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Petromoc
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ecognised as the second largest oil and gas firm in Southern Africa, Petromoc, or Petróleos de Moçambique to give it its local name, was formed in 1999 and is Mozambique’s state-owned distributor of petroleum products. Born out of the transformation of the Mozambique National Fuel Company, Petromoc today owns the largest retail network in the country, one that consists of 119 filling stations and supply posts, and 300 local consumer positions. The company owns and operates storage facilities and pipelines found across all the main Mozambican ports, with said storage facilities including 19 inland and coastal depots which boast a combined storage capacity of around 500,000 cubic metres. Petromoc markets fuels, oils, greaseoils and lubricants for use in the country’s major industry sectors, these being mining, agriculture and maritime, and is also able to provide customers with complete technical support. The largest supplier of fuel to Mozambique’s leading industrial and commercial companies, Petromoc also provides fuel to a host of neighbouring countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and the DRC. In total Petromoc is able to claim annual sales of approximately 407,000 cubic metres of petroleum products, 375,000 cubic metres of which are distributed to Mozambique’s domestic market, which equates to a domestic market share of around 42 percent. Meanwhile, some 33,000 cubic metres end up being supplied within the company’s foreign markets.
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Intertek Valued Quality. Delivered
Our Organisation
What we do
Environmental Services Government Services Commodities Analytical Services Industrial Services Minerals Services
Testing Inpsection Certification Auditing Outsourcing Advisory Training Quality Assurance
Contact: Dawie du Plessis Phone +258 23322658 | Fax +258 23324262 Email: cbe.mozambique@intertek.com | www.intertek.com
Petromoc
INTERTEK Intertek, a leading provider of quality testing, inspection and safety services to a wide range of industries around the world, has been awarded a Laboratory “Outsourcing” contract for provision of testing services at its Matola facility, Mozambique. At present Intertek provides Inspection & “Key” Laboratory testing services to Petromoc from its terminals, viz: Matola; Beira & Nacala respectively. The Intertek / Petromoc Matola laboratory is to undergo a facelift. This will include, but not limited to, the redesign of its present facility with upgraded laboratory furniture, extraction systems, Gas supply, IT infrastructure, Specialized Testing room, Controlled sample receipt facility & sample retention store. Intertek is committed to a significant investment in acquiring the latest testing equipment, in accordance with
Intertek international test procedures, able to meet the demands of product certification. This new facility shall provide for increased test capabilities able to meet local legislation as well as adhering to “export” requirements to land-locked countries. Also included are opportunities in providing water & microbiological testing by this facility. By virtue of providing services to Petromoc, Intertek shall provide independent services to third parties which shall remain in the strictest confidence and impartial by this facility. The laboratory shall operate on a 24/7/365 basis. It is Intertek’s vision to acquire the ISO 9001 certification within twelve months of the initial contract period. E. cbe.mozambique@intertek.com www.intertek.com
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Petromoc It will come as a surprise Grindrod Fuelogic Mozambique (Pty) Ltd to few that a company the Grindrod Fuelogic Mozambique (Pty) Ltd is proud to have size of Petromoc comes Petromoc as a shareholder. Grindrod Fuelogic operations blessed with significant are to be significantly expanded to meet Petromoc’s and the infrastructure assets from oil industry’s needs, with the addition of 60 vehicles. This which all of its activities will provide for additional delivery capacity out of Maputo, originate. These assets Beira and transport operations will be established in Nacala and Pemba by mid- 2014. Expanded operations are to include the Lingamo Oceanic include deliveries out of Mozambique into neighbouring Oil Terminal (IOL), the Beira countries. Petromoc is key to our success in Mozambique. Oceanic Oil Terminal (IOB) www.grindrod.co.za and the Nacala Oceanic Installation (ION). Located in the port area of Matola city and possessing san installed capacity of 412,000 cubic metres, the IOL facility covers an area of 40 hectares and acts as one of the gateways for the entry of petroleum products into Mozambique. The largest facility of its kind in the country the IOL is linked by pipeline to the fuel terminal through which it receive petroleum products from oil tankers. It handles a range of products including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), petrol, aviation fuel, kerosene, diesel, fuel oil, various grades of bitumen, and lubricating oils and greases. At present the IOL is undergoing work that will reshape the complex, increasing its operational capacity, modernising its
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Transportes Lalgy LDA Where the road ends we carry on…
Tel: 21 720 482/21 724 414; Cell: 258 82 303 5713/258 84 303 5317; Fax: 258 720 452/258 724 298; Email: Lalgy@lalgy.co.mz Avenida Uniao Africana, 4341 (Antiga Estrada Velha da Matola) Matola—Mocambique
Petromoc loading gantries for rail wagons and road tankers, and implementing other projects of importance to improve operational effectiveness. The success of the IOL becomes ever more important when taking into account that it represents a pilot facility for Petromoc’s plans to develop an integrated management system based on the principles of quality, environmental protection and occupational health and safety. Located in Munhava, the IOB may have a smaller installed capacity, in this case 26,000 cubic metres, but it is responsible for
handling massive volumes of fuel thanks to its strategic location that makes it a gateway for the distribution of petroleum products to landlocked neighbouring countries. In order to distribute fuel, and receive and backload
TRANSPORTES LALGY LDA The company has a variety of transport options available to meet our clients’ needs and respond to market requirements based on an aggressive growth strategy and continuously growing fleet which consists of over 500 vehicles: • Interlink side tippers • Side and Back end tippers • Fuel tankers • Low-beds • Superlinks and triaxles • Earth moving equipment The reconstruction and new opportunities within our country are creating a period of unprecedented growth. To support this period
of growth there is a huge and urgent need for quality logistics service providers. The geography of the country (with the seaports of Maputo, Beira and Nacala) coupled with the extremely limited rail infrastructure makes road transport the only viable option to support the growth and development within our country.Transportes Lalgy LDA is involved in many of these projects which include (but are not limited to): transport for infrastructure and construction projects in the coal and mining industry, gas products, regional imports and exports. E. helio@lalgy.co.mz
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Petromoc
407,000 m3 Petromoc’s annual sales of petroleum products calling oil tankers, the terminal relies upon a powerful and modern loading gantry. Meanwhile its link to the MozambiqueZimbabwe Pipeline Company pipeline gives it a unique opportunity to pump products into Zimbabwe. The ION also holds a critically important role for both the company and the country, in that it is responsible for the supply of fuels to the northern region of Mozambique. Linked to the fuel terminal by a four kilometre long pipeline, also belonging to Petromoc, the ION is able to receive fuel products and undertake backloading operations. Recently rehabilitated, the pipeline allows
the company to pump different petroleum products separately, thus improving their individual integrity and durability. Designed to have a storage capacity of 45,000 cubic metres, the ION is able to store petrol, kerosene, aviation fuel, diesel, and lubricating oils and greases. As well supplying Enviroshore the domestic market, the The close partnership between Petromoc and Enviroshore terminal is also used as provides specialist solution services to the oil, petroleum, a gateway to landlocked shipping and mining industries through the use of nations such as Zambia specialised organic waste processing, world-best practices and Malawi. and state-of-the-art environmental technology. We are focussed on creating a healthy environment for Of course, while the our children, while providing meaningful and rewarding company’s facilities are opportunities that improve the financial performance of huge importance, the of our partners. work carried out across Our vision is to be a world-class collaboration, and the Petromoc’s operations would principal partner of choice in the rehabilitation of onsite not be possible without its storage clean-up, soil and groundwater remediation. workforce. When it comes www.enviroshore.co.za to its human resources
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© SGS Group Management SA – 2013 – All rights reserved - SGS is a registered trademark of SGS Group Management SA
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T RUSTED SOLUTIONS 40.078
TRANSPORTATION
Cargo safety and integrity is critical. You need the peace of mind that comes from knowing that wherever your cargo is in the world, whichever transport route and vehicle it is contained in, best practice has been adhered too. SGS experts check against current standards and regulations, ensuring all health and safety requirements are met and that the right quantity and quality reaches the destination. Trust the integrity of your cargo with SGS Inspection Services, for more information visit www.sgs.com/ogc or contact ogc@sgs.com. Solutions for Oil, Gas & Chemicals that go ON and ON and ON...
SGS IS THE WORLD’S LEADING INSPECTION, VERIFICATION, TESTING AND CERTIFICATION COMPANY
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Petromoc the company’s primary objective revolves around SGS has been active in Mozambique since 1962, providing being able to empower services through its offices in Maputo, Beira and Nacala. human capital through We are the leader in independent inspection, verification, the constant development testing and certification services. of a skilled, dynamic and Providing trustable services to national and international motivated work force. clients like Imopetro, Petromoc, IPG, Vitol, BP, Shell, Trafigura and Glencore. SGS has established an expertise In its quest to motivate network including an ISO/IEC17025 accredited laboratories and permanently mobilise (OGC), and over 150 experts. its workforce for its Regarding the Oil, Gas & Chemical sector (OGC); SGS cause, Petromoc is in the can provide the following specialized services: blending process of implementing and cargo treatment services, sample management a comprehensive Human and outsourcing, calibration services, monitoring and Resources Management supervision of terminal and vessel operations (onshore and offshore), upstream services and collateral management. System. This will consist of www.sgs.com recruitment and selection, training and development, performance evaluation and professional careers subsystems, as well as wage administration regulations. Outside of its internal structure, Petromoc has also spent consideration amounts of time and effort to extend what it describes as its “brand of excellence” to the social, cultural and environmental sectors. Aware of its social responsibilities the company is always striving to act as an agent for sustainable human development, all the while retaining full respect for environmental standards. Petromoc’s social and environmental
sgs
1999 The year that Petromoc was formed
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This is a caption this is a caption
Petromoc responsibility programmes are structured towards continuous and regular activities that support cultural, social, sport, health and environmental undertakings. The company’s efforts have seen it sponsor various national sporting programmes, initiate various awareness campaigns against Malaria, HIV and Poliomyelitis, and lend its support to events related to the development of Mozambique’s national culture and identity. In aiding the educational needs of the country, Petromoc has contributed towards the rehabilitation of the Bagamoyo Primary School and volunteered to cover the enrolment fees of students who had dropped out due to a lack of financial resources. Elsewhere it was the company’s contributions that saw equipment supplied for an IT room at Liberdade Secondary School, while moves were also made to involve senior staff members in training activities and workshops centred on the themes of corporate social responsibility and combating HIV. Such corporate social responsibility efforts continue to form a core part of Petromoc’s existence, while at the same time the company remains as committed as ever to achieving its strategic goals, these being regional expansion, the maximisation of its logistics network and the further diversification of its energy portfolio by developing new products and services that add value and stability to the business. For more information about Petromoc visit: www.petromoc.co.mz
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MISTRAS Group
Enhancing life expectancy MISTRAS Group Executive Vice President, Phillip T. Cole, discusses the group’s priceless contributions toward North Sea development over the last 20 years
written by: Will Daynes research by: Marcus Lewis
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A robotic pipe scanner mapping internal corrosion in pipe-work
MISTRAS Group
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n the last four decades no fewer than 698 offshore fields have been discovered in the UK Continental Shelf, producing in that time some 41 billion barrels of oil and gas. With another 20 billion barrels estimated to remain untapped it comes as little surprise that the North Sea continues to be a huge boon to the UK and other surrounding nations. One of the many companies fortunate enough to have been part of this continued prosperity is MISTRAS Group, who have been a consistent presence supplying a range of highly specialised products and services in the North Sea for almost 20 years. “We began our activities here supplying valve leak detection technology in the form of our VPAC solution, which we developed together with BP,” explains MISTRAS Executive Vice President, Phillip T. Cole. “An acoustic emission instrument, VPAC can estimate the quantity of material leaking through valves using its accompanying proprietary software and with more than 1,000 systems currently in use it is the instrument of choice for valve leak detection.” It was then in January 2002 that MISTRAS successfully completed its first installation of a structural monitoring system on an FPSO. “This system is designed to monitor eight critical areas of the FPSO, areas that have been identified by stress analysis as being the most prone to cracks,” Cole continues. “This is technology that we used in the past on bridges and pressure vessels before adapting it to offshore use. Similar technology also extends to our installations that monitor and detect any failures in the structural wire armour or carcass of flexible risers.”
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In addition to its crack detection sensors, MISTRAS Group also possesses arrays of strain monitoring gauges which collect comprehensive data that can be used by engineering consultants to refine fatigue models and in some cases considerably extend the life of certain structures. A further service offered is what MISTRAS calls the on-stream inspection of process equipment. This service has been designed to
answer the question of how an operator can carry out inspections of pipework and vessels without the need to shut down production or place somebody in a potentially dangerous environment. “The non-invasive approach that our technology utilises,” Cole says, “involves using scanning systems around the outside of the pipes or vessels so that we can actually map the wall thickness at extremely high speeds
“MISTRAS can monitor clients’ equipment and infrastructure on a continuous basis to effectively manage its integrity over the course of its remaining life”
Working from ropes is the access method of choice for inspection work
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MISTRAS Group
A robotic scanner operated via umbilical cable can map at rates of 15 – 150 square metres per day
“The key reason that there to an accuracy of around 0.25 millimetres. This allows is demand for our services,” us to see where coatings have Cole continues, “is simply failed or where corrosion that our approach to doing is taking place.” things, where we work What binds all of MISTRAS’ with end clients and their activities together is the fact engineering consultants to that they are specifically develop faster and more Number of barrels of oil and gas believed to geared towards improving efficient ways of providing remain untapped in the detailed information about an safety and productivity by North Sea helping structures and plants asset, makes sense.” to remain online rather than One of the reasons it does shutting down operations so is because MISTRAS has to carry out invasive inspections. The very spent considerable time and effort designing nature of its work means that MISTRAS can and manufacturing many of its mapping monitor clients’ equipment and infrastructure and monitoring systems in house, a trait on a continuous basis to effectively manage its that differentiates it greatly from much of its integrity over the course of its remaining life. competition in the marketplace. “A lot of the
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Final adjustments prior to launching a mapping scanner
A weld scanner identifies
“The trust that the industry places in MISTRAS and its technology can be clearly seen in the host of tasks and projects it has been involved in over the years” technology we use is that which has been developed by ourselves with our more unique applications being the result of talking to clients and developing solutions to meet the issues they have discussed with us,” Cole enthuses. The trust that the industry places in MISTRAS and its technology can be clearly seen in the host of tasks and projects it has been involved in over the years. One of its more recent undertakings saw the
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company carrying out an inspection on around a kilometre of structural weld using a combination of two ultrasonic techniques, TOFD and Phased Array. Traditionally competing techniques, they were brought together by MISTRAS and used on the same weld inspection. The result was the most detailed and conclusive batch of information possible, something which has and will prove invaluable for the client in question.
MISTRAS Group
s cracking and corrosion in welds
Of course, while the impressive quality of the technology itself is one thing, just as vital are the men and women tasked with using it. “Clearly, given the specialist nature of many of the operations we conduct,” Cole says, “it requires our staff members to carry with them several years of experience. For this reason we make it our priority to invest a lot in each employee, providing them with the training and apprenticeship opportunities that help them become proficient in carrying out their tasks on a daily basis.” As previously stated, the North Sea remains a vital source of international capital, with activity and investment continuing to increase. With this also comes added pressure to extend the life of existing assets and this is arguably the biggest
Under-deck inspection using rope access
present driver of MISTRAS’ business. “In the US onshore sector we are the largest service inspection company present and that is obviously what we would like to be here in the North Sea as well. The best way for us to achieve this is by continuing to introduce our technology to new clients and getting it put in place. While in some ways it is fair to say that we a relatively small player in the North Sea at present, we do remain at the top end of a technology spectrum that is in the midst of a continuous process of innovation.” Cole concludes. For more information about MISTRAS Group visit: www.mistrasgroup.com
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Offshore Marine Management (OMM)
Made to measure solutions In little more than ten years Offshore Marine Management (OMM) has carved out a reputation for expertise and operational excellence in several industries, one of which being the oil and gas sector
written by: Will Daynes research by: Peter Rowlston
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Offshore Marine Management (OMM)
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ince its formation in 2003, “What we endeavour to do is allow the client Offshore Marine Management to be more involved and hands on in such a (OMM) has grown within way that ultimately we are helping them build the renewable energy, subsea their own capabilities. Our own strategy in telecoms and oil and gas sectors, recent years has involved developing further expanding from providing personnel for into operations and maintenance, and it is offshore projects to taking on turnkey cable with the type of contract that we have secured installation contracts. Indeed, OMM’s ability in the Middle East that we open ourselves up to adapt to ever changing market conditions to this area of the market and the contract has allowed it to flourish even in times of secured in the Middle East by CAOMM is an economic uncertainty. indication that our investment and strategy “Since we last spoke several years ago, we is valued and required by the clients.” have evolved further as a company to the OMM’s recent experience has led point where we went through Bruckschen to highlight that a full restructuring of the the Middle East is indeed a buoyant market, especially business at the beginning when it comes to power cables of 2013,” explains Chief and the services required to Operating Officer, Eckhard Bruckschen. “Since then we connect these from offshore The year OMM was picked up a number of key platforms to shore. This is not established contracts, one of particular strictly limited to this part of note being a maintenance the world however. contract in the Middle East secured by our “We have also witnessed a similar trend joint venture company CAOMM.” gaining momentum in Mexico, where the Within this three year maintenance contract government has recently opened up deep water CAOMM is responsible for maintaining the zones to international investment,” Bruckschen submarine power cables running between a says. “Currently there is one project underway network of platforms. Understandably there off the Mexican coast that involves the use of were a large number of players vying for this interconnected power cables.” contract, however the perfect choice was Latin America has been the source of other CAOMM. This is one of the largest submarine recent successes for the company, one of the power cable maintenance agreements more recent being the awarding of a multiin the world to date. million dollar Engineering Procure Install “One thing we have always taken great and Commission (EPIC) project, in this pride in is the fact that we are different from instance by Chilean electrical company Grupo those contractors who appear on site to provide Saesa. This particular contract is unique to a specific service and then disappear as soon Chile in that it will see OMM and its partner as the work is done,” Bruckschen continues. companies installing a submarine cable, the
2003
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Shallow Water Trenching Specialists Services • Sub Sea Product Trenching • Shore End Product Installation • Product Protection Installation • Project Planning Consultation Product Types • Fibre Optic Cable • Power Cable • Pipelines For further info & contact details visit: www.seatrench.com
Show the world what your company has to offer with our tailored packages
Seen www.bus-ex.com
Offshore Marine Management (OMM) first of its kind in the country, which will join the island Seatrench AS specialise in the subsea burial of cable of Huar in the Los Lagos and pipeline products. Seatrench AS developed systems region to Chile’s Central have proven their effectiveness and efficiency in the most Interconnected System. challenging of worksites. Seatrench AS supply a reliable, “Being an EPIC contract efficient, cost effective and safe solution for product this project will see us protection in shallow water. Seatrench AS offer a worldwide service to the telecommunications, renewables and providing a full assortment of oil and gas industries. management and engineering www.seatrench.com services including cable route design, marine surveys, installation and the provision of marine resources,” Bruckschen states. “This is very much a ground-breaking project and again represents the type of work that we hope to concentrate more on in the future.” Once again, the awarding of this contract saw OMM and its partner companies overcome a highly competitive international tender process, where the group was up against a considerable number of other organisations. The process itself demanded that prospective companies adhere to strict regulations and provide detailed case studies and examples of management procedures. OMM’s partnership with local companies is important to OMM, and contributed to its ability to deliver this important project to its client. The completion of the project is expected to generate massive benefits to the 520 families
Seatrench AS
“What we endeavour to do is allow the client to be more involved and hands on in such a way that ultimately we are helping them build their own capabilities” BE Oil & Gas | 143
“We will continue to spread ourselves across various disciplines and geographic regions, all the while remaining on top of market fluctuations” living on the island including huge savings on the cost of electricity, which will encourage further local investment. Additionally the island can expect to see considerable environmental benefits as the new supply will reduce its use of fossil fuels. With Latin America proving itself to be a
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hotbed of activity and increasing exploration making the Middle East an epicentre for oil and gas development OMM has every right to feel confident about its own growth opportunities, and that is before taking into account other possibilities the market has to offer. “In Europe we are witnessing oil and gas
Offshore Marine Management (OMM)
growth mainly coming from activity within Russia’s Barents Sea, and we believe that has the potential to create more work in the region,” Bruckschen says. “Elsewhere, all along the Norwegian coast to be exact, there are a number of existing platforms that will eventually be connected, meaning there will be a big demand for submarine cables once that work is commissioned. Decommissioning activities will continue to grow at a steady pace, while any further growth across key regions will of course be determined by future exploration.” While being optimistic about the future, Bruckschen remains aware of OMM’s need to remain on a steady course that will allow
it to avoid the pitfalls of growing too rapidly that it stretches beyond its means. “Of course we remain open to investment in the future, however it needs to be the right match for us,” he concludes. “In the meantime we will continue to spread ourselves across various disciplines and geographic regions, all the while remaining on top of market fluctuations, focusing on our established client base and working diligently to attract new business.” For more information about Offshore Marine Management (OMM) visit: www.offshoremm.com
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