Ågotnes Sveis

All hands on deck

Founded in 1996, Ågotnes Sveis AS is a privately owned limited company based in the Norwegian Sotra region just outside Bergen.

The company provides an array of mechanical repair and workshop services including welding, plate and pipe work, and essential maintenance. Though a relatively young company, Ågotnes Sveis has built up a plethora of experience through various offshore projects as well as in the wider construction industry. Competitively priced and offering short lead times, the organisation delivers stable and reliable products that fulfil not only the quality demands issued by the authorities but the expectations of its wide range of clients. The 30-strong staff base, of which 17 are permanent and the remainder hired, offer specialist knowledge to the industry based on years of training and hands-on experience.

Hanne Sekkingstad, administration leader of Ågotnes Sveis outlines the company’s key strengths: “We are set apart by the availability and flexibility we can offer clients. Our workshops are open for 12 hours a day and our staff have the ability to be flexible with their working hours to give the best service offering. We work very closely with our customers to give them the highest quality possible at the best available price. We operate mainly in the oil and gas industry, working in vessel repair and the maintenance of rigs for major offshore companies such as SeaDrill, Songa, Odfjell, Transocean and ProSafe. We can offer a specialisation in sea fasting, pre-fabrication, mobilisation and de-mobilisation.”

The organisation’s capabilities vary as much as the clients needs, with tailor-made services catering for the most extreme of conditions and requirements. Offering a package capability from calculation, briefing and drawing to fabrication, certification and surface treatment, Ågotnes Sveis has the facility for quality deliverance from start to finish. The company’s expert portfolio covers vessel repair, including fast mobilisation and steel frame construction, lifting jacks and lifting gears, construction machinery including hydraulic mechanics and machining, workshop welding, industrial building fabrication and engineering services. In addition, the business works closely with associated companies for the provision of electrical services and its specific abilities for the oil and gas industry include the pre-fabrication of pipespools, mobile equipment and offshore tool containers.

The 650 square meter plate welding and 550 square meter machine pipe workshops are equipped with facilities to bend H-beams up to 200mm, cut plates up to 16mm, machine up to a diameter of 500mm, turn lengths up to 2000mm, drill holes up to 100mm and handle plate thicknesses of up to 200mm. The 30 mobile and stationary welding machines, burning benches, stamping machines, plate sharers and additional manual turning lathes bring enviable capabilities to Ågotnes Sveis.

Located in close proximity to CCB (Coast Center Base), Ågotnes Sveis carries out a great deal of important offshore projects in the North Sea region. Most recently, the company has been involved in four rig projects for CCB and many contracts have been carried out for Statoil Hydro. In light of the economic crisis, operations have slowed down in the past month, though this is expected to pick up again in October.

With quality at the heart of the company’s vision and strategy, stringent regulations and training schemes are imposed across Ågotnes Sveis’ business processes. All operators have either certificates of completed apprenticeship or welder approval test safety certificates according to NS-EN287. Quality Manual is followed through all procedures. For the highly demanding and critical offshore industry Ågotnes Sveis has qualifications for repairs, modifications and fabrications ensuring clients know their structures and equipment are in the safest hands possible. Whilst half of the workforce operate in offsite works, the other half work in the internal workshop departments for weld repairs and modifications. Over the past two years the company has undergone audits from StatoilHydro, FMC, Acergy and Deepocean, receiving approval in each case for its established HSE system and every day quality assurance. Working in accordance with NS-EN ISO 9001:2000 and NS-EN ISO 3834-2, ISO 14001:2004 as well as the Achilles Joint Qualification system, Ågotnes Sveis is set to grow in popularity and prominence in the oil and gas industry. Further, in 2010 the company aims to be certified by OHSAS 18001.

Looking to the future, Hanne outlines her vision for the company: “Though we have suffered marginally under the global economic crisis we are positive about the coming years. We have plans to expand our employees base, with further offices and greater workshop capabilities. Next year we will expand the workshop in order to take on bigger projects from clients such as CCB, Acergy , StatoilHydro, Subsea 7 and others. Our flexibility to offer clients solutions on short notice and the quality and safety assurance we can supply will ensure we maintain a leading position in the competitive Norwegian oil and gas market.”

Ågotnes Sveis

Services Mechanical repairs and workshop services