Proserv Group AS

Engineering expertise

Established for over 30 years, the Proserv Group offers engineering and services expertise across the oil and gas markets.

It comprises 30 companies across the world, each of which is a specialist in one of Proserv’s five Strategic Business Units (SBUs): test and control systems, instrumentation and calibration, oil and gas sampling, abandonment and decommissioning, and speciality marketing.

Whilst Proserv’s individual companies had long been highly successful, 2006 proved a significant year in the company’s development, when it was decided to integrate its skills and expertise into a single corporation. Since then, not only has there been organic growth within Proserv’s existing markets, but yet further progress has been made owing to the business’ acquisitioning. In 2008 alone it has already bought three companies: PsiPro, in Norway; GM Engineering in the UK; and PT Petrotech in Indonesia, which possesses a subsidiary facility in New Orleans, USA. After a period of about a year, each will be more closely integrated into Proserv’s infrastructure, and a closer evaluation of each individual organisation will be made.

As CEO Arve Sem Henriksen explains, the company has a broad and prestigious array of customers. “Our major clients are the oil and service companies,” he says. “Often, in fact, we will sell to other service companies, like Haliburton and Subsea 7, who integrate our systems into the bigger packages that they offer. The strength of the business comes in our ability to be flexible and provide local solutions to our customers’ problems. We speak to our clients to understand what they need for the future, and we can then align our research and development program accordingly. In that way we will always be able to provide them with solutions and improvements for their systems.

“In the years since I have been here, there has been a particularly strong focus on abandonment and decommissioning,” Arve continues. “We have looked to expand geographically, but we have also looked at advancing technologically. For this reason we have certainly become a leading company, and we feel that we are on the way to becoming the world’s number one.” Proserv’s status in the sector was recently confirmed by its winning of a $7m platform decommissioning project in the Gulf of Mexico. The contract involves the abandonment of two platforms with associated wells, and the removal of pipelines and subsea tie-ins. Proserv will project manage to ensure that the operation is run safely and efficiently, and, as part of its marine management of the project, the company will be tasked with providing the necessary well abandonment personnel and equipment to undertake the process. Once complete, Proserv will manage a site clearance program.

Whilst there has indeed been a substantial focus on abandonment and decommissioning in recent years, Proserv is beginning to focus more attention on its test and control systems SBU. This provides a reliable service for those working in high-risk environments. Its range of equipment includes smart well control systems, wireline equipment, and wellhead control panels. In fact, in April, Proserv announced two key contracts, worth over $12m, with the world’s largest oil corporation, Saudi Aramco, to supply state-of-the-art well head control panels to two facilities in Saudi Arabia.

Proserv’s three other SBUs also offer clients a wealth of benefits. The company operates laboratories and mobile facilities to provide onsite services as part of its instrumentation and calibration SBU. Its services include testing, calibration, and repair, and both fully-integrated or bespoke solutions can be provided. For accurate oil and gas sampling, Proserv provides both innovative and high-quality equipment for the exploration and production phases of a reservoir’s development. In particular the company highlights the Proserv Positive Displacement Bottom Hole Sampler, which delivers representative reservoir samples for laboratory analysis. Finally, as part of its speciality machining SBU, Proserv offers industry-leading equipment and technical skills for complex oil and gas operations. Once more, the company is able to offer standard innovations, but also asserts that it can respond to a sketch or mechanical drawing from its customers, to produce bespoke solutions.

Proserv’s expansion shows no sign of slowing – particularly given the current demand for oil – but Arve stresses that the company’s growth must remain a step-by-step process: “Of course we could grow faster with the necessary resources, but we can only work with what we have, so it must be a controlled growth. From 2006-2007 we more than tripled our revenue, and we are looking at expanding into new areas. We are not yet present in a big way in South America, and we will look to develop there in the future. Our foundations are very strong in all other areas though, so we must look to utilise the infrastructure that we have established to continue our growth in established markets. We are currently working on some major contracts in the Far East, and we’re expecting to make significant announcements in the next few months. Our ambition is to be the world leader in each of our SBUs,” he concludes.

Proserv Group AS

Services: Oil and gas industry products and systems