Oceaneering AS
Deep thinking
Modern advancements are giving rise to an ever-more impressive range of technologies, and in every industry these are being utilised by the market leaders to improve operations.
Global oilfield provider Oceaneering is one such company, where the use of applied expertise has seen the business grow from an air and mixed gas diving business to an advanced applied technology organisation, with a focus on deepwater applications.
The Norwegian arm of the business, Oceaneering AS, performs a number of activities for the oil industry on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) and throughout Scandinavia. However, the company also follows through projects for clients anywhere in the world. These services are divided into two core divisions – ROV Operations, and Deepwater Technical Solutions (DTS), which encompasses several business streams of its own.
“We have the Remote Intervention Technology unit which designs, develops, and manufactures a wide range of subsea related tooling, the Rental & Maintenance division where we maintain tools for clients, and Dredging & Decommissioning, which offers a range of services to this sector – either in conjunction with ROV operations or as a stand alone offering,” begins Erik Hestnes Sæstad, vice president and general manager of operations.
“We are also leading the way in subsea electrification through our Subsea All Electric department, which has established expertise within subsea intervention. The department’s product portfolio meets the expectations of the oil industry for future subsea systems, particularly in the expanded use of electric sensor equipment and electric valve actuators. Efforts are focused on subsea electrical actuation, distributed electrical subsea power and inductive contactless galvanic-sealed connections for power and communication,” he continues.
At the beginning of the year Oceaneering AS acquired the oilfield technology company Norse Cutting & Abandonment AS (NCA), bringing it under the DTS division. “We have integrated a small part of that portfolio, but essentially NCA continues to operate as a separate entity with additional services that complement the rest of our offering,” describes Erik. “The acquisition is consistent with our strategy to expand our subsea business, and enable us to provide some tooling as a service line, which we already do with our installation, workover and control systems. NCA also has a lot of experience in decommissioning and this will enhance our ability to participate in the plug, abandonment and decommissioning markets of the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico.”
This has been followed by a further acquisition in the last few weeks of AGR Field Operations, which is a provider of inspection, maintenance, field operation, and subsea engineering services. Although this development is very much in its early stages still, Oceaneering AS believes this will significantly increase its inspection business, particularly within Norway, and take advantage of various synergies between the businesses.
As a business that has integrated technical development of subsea engineering, tooling and ROVs into one organisation, with the aim of providing clients with a single point of contact, such acquisitions serve to only strengthen Oceaneering AS’ strategy. “A clear benefit of the business is that we can lean on exchange resources from other areas when needed, and as a very lean organisation we can really capitalise on maximum utilisation of our assets. Norway is a very competitive market, with a high cost base and therefore we have to focus on safety, project execution, risk management, and quality of services. We want our customers to see ‘One Oceaneering’ and we will co-ordinate internally in order to deliver to expectations,” highlights Erik.
One of Oceaneering AS’ key competitive advantages has always been its research and development (R&D) activities, and overarching ambition to lead in technical development. With this in mind, Erik elaborates on some of the company’s latest activities in this area: “In order to stay ahead of the competition we need to be even more innovative, and throughout our divisions we have many good examples of this. We are proud of whom we are and what we have to offer, and know we have to develop ourselves continuously by investing in our more standardised services such as ROVs, and improvements in operations and training. Technology is often connected to new tools and equipment, but I believe that it goes much further than this in terms of how you operate and the circle of service you provide. If we can train people in the right areas, more efficiently and get more out of this investment, then that is also driving the business forwards as well. A competent and well-trained workforce is a ‘win-win’ for both our customers and ourselves. It’s about having embedded values that we live by and hold each other accountable to, every day. We will continue to think outside the box and stimulate innovative processes throughout the whole organisation. We invest for the long term.”
This future view is positive, with Oceaneering AS expecting to see increased demand for its services from 2012 and 2013 in line with the expected increased activity on the Norwegian Continental shelf.
Summarising his thoughts on this progression, a complete supplier and expect to see increased demand for future subsea services. The business intends to continue to exploit new areas and grow by adding more services into the portfolio. With established engineering and workshop groups within subsea services, topside and inspection, the business are enabled to use synergies and experience to better fulfil the customer’s requirements.”
Oceaneering AS
Services: Deepwater applications and solutions