Liaaen Teknologi A/S

Submersed in excellence

As part of international project management company STRATA Marine & Offshore (SMO), Liaaen Teknologi is an industry leader in the offshore oil and gas market, and marine equipment industry.

For more than 140 years, Liaaen has supplied maritime technology and prides itself on its competence and workshop capacity with products including sub sea torque tools for ROV operation, tidal turbines and sub sea insulation caps.

Liaaen’s activities on the engineering side of the business include feasibility studies, mechanical engineering, strength analysis, complete development of new components and systems, verification work and technical documentation. As part of its maintenance work, the company refurbishes and maintains equipment for the oil industry, tests equipment through pressure testing, functional tests and integration testing, and assembles prototypes, products and other items. Liaaen’s machining processes consist of milling, CNC boring, turning and vertical turning. Its workshop and machine facilities are specially suited for machining medium sized and large components.

“We were founded back in 1861 so we have a long tradition of ship building, although the company gradually developed from a shipyard into a technology company,” explains managing director Jan Strom. “Now our main activities are marine related within the oil and gas industry. On the marine side, we undertake fabrication and engineering for companies such as Rolls Royce, with gearboxes and connection systems for instance. On our engineering side we have a department that is mainly focused on oil and gas. Our main clients in this area are customers such as Shell and large engineering companies, as we’re involved in the design and construction of items for subsea installations. It’s our core business within engineering, as well as with regards to products, because it’s one of our main product technologies. We insulate subsea components, have high competence within the valve technology field, and are heavily involved in all kinds of intervention technologies.”

Liaaen has been part of the AMEK group since October 2007 and recently joined STRATA Marine & Offshore, an engineering and fabrication group. Jan reveals more: “There are six companies, including ourselves, that have come together to better serve customers. By joining our sibling companies so to speak, we’re more capable of meeting customers’ requirements – we can offer services ranging from engineering and testing to assembly and manufacturing. This delivery of a complete package is unique in our industry.”

Besides this obvious strength, Liaaen boasts the capacity to undertake large projects, as Jan comments: “The fact we’re one of few companies that undertakes large component machining is an asset. We have large facilities for assembly and testing, and we have our own test pit for high pressure testing. Currently, we’re developing new technology both for customers and for our new product line within thermal insulation.”

As a technology driven company, offering innovative resolutions to customers is a key concern for Liaaen and it continuously strives to present state-of-the-art solutions: “Within valve technology and pipelines, we have a special technology developed several years ago that is a reinstalled and retrievable technology within valves,” Jan explains. “This is not that common and we know that clients such as Exxon Mobile are looking into this because developments are going deeper underwater. Most large companies that develop oil fields look for a quick turnaround on projects so they prefer equipment that is easy to install, retrieve and maintain.”

He adds: “Our sub sea insulation system called SIS is another new technology. It’s a field proven system to 1400 metres that we use to insulate components that typically couldn’t be insulated before – basically all components that were breakable, such as connection systems. Very few companies can deliver this kind of new technology.”

Besides offering advanced technology, Liaaen plans to develop through acquisitions. “We are looking at acquisitions almost every week although we’re expecting some organic growth that will require the addition of 16 employees this year,” says Jan. “We’re acquiring our next business this month in Sweden, which will serve both our manufacturing and engineering interests within oil and gas. We’ll continue to update our equipment, having just invested in two CNC machines. The majority of our machines, mostly CNC operated, are only around eight years old.”

With thoughts on the future of Liaaen, Jan concludes: “We have employed international companies to help us forecast the years until 2015 and have a very good market outlook. Since we have experience in deepwater development in South and West Africa, we are one of the key players in the future of that market. We have created an identity as a national company but, as we now operate as part of a group, we’ll work more internationally and directly participate in markets such as Brazil, West Africa, South East Asia and South Pacific instead of trading through local or regional companies. We’ll concentrate on developing businesses in our new markets, mainly in Brazil, West Africa and Asia, and the primary goal for the next three to five years is to expand internationally.”

Liaaen Teknologi A/S

Products / Services Engineering and maritime technology