Semco Technology has made a break-through in the Australian market with an order to supply two hydraulic wellhead control systems to Phillips Petroleum's Bayu-Undan project in the East Timor Sea. Worth $850,000, the order is for two systems, one for 11 wellheads and two spares, and one for nine wellheads with two spares. Delivery is scheduled for April 2001.
The systems will be engineered and manufactured at the company's facility at Forus, outside Stavanger. But the order was negotiated through Semco Technology's UK branch office in London - a presence there is considered important as London is the base for the engineering and procurement for many international projects, according to Sales and Marketing Director Geir Høiland.
The Bayu-Undan order marks an important success for the company's drive to increase its international business. It is already well established in its North Sea home market, where Phillips is also among its customers - Semco supplied a hydraulic wellhead control system to the 2/4-X production platform as part of the Ekofisk redevelopment project. A similar system is also being supplied to Statoil's Huldra platform, and the company is also bidding to supply four current platform developments in Norway - Norsk Hydro's Grane, Statoil's Kvitebjørn, ExxonMobil's Ringhorne and BP's Valhall water injection project, Høiland says.
Part of the Danish C W Obel group, Semco Technology has grown through acquisition in recent years. In 1996, it took over the offshore activities of Holta & Haaland, an established supplier of electro-hydraulic systems to the Norwegian oil and gas industry. Last year it acquired Chemical Injection Services, a leading supplier of chemical injection services in Norway. Its payroll has risen to 50 and estimated turnover for this year will be $10 million. The company now supplies a complete range of:
- Electro/pneumatic hydraulic control systems, including workover and intervention control systems, hydraulic power units and wellhead control panels
- Chemical injection systems, including chemical injection packages and modules, MEG injection packages and modules, and injection and pressure testing units
- Subsea control systems, including electro-hydraulic control systems, chemical injection systems, hydraulic power units and distribution systems (electrical, chemical and hydraulic).
The company's scope of work covers detailed design, engineering, fabrication, installation and testing of all deliveries. Semco Technology has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with FMC Kong-sberg Subsea which has also made a strong contribution to its export drive. It recently completed the delivery of two workover control systems and one hydraulic power unit worth around NKr 21 million for TotalFinaElf's Girassol development in Angola. This year it also delivered a hydraulic power unit for subsea systems to Mossgas in South Africa, and has supplied similar systems to Petrobras in Brazil.
Though its agreement with Kongsberg it has also in recent years delivered subsea distribution systems for chemicals and power to a number of fields in the UK sector - Arco's Gawain, BP's Magnus and Agip's Thelma.
