Aberdeen-based Westerton UK is to invest more than £1milion in new premises in Houston, Texas.
A provider and operator of high-precision downhole tools for the upstream intervention sector, Westerton are to expand their global reach through the formation of a separate entity – Westerton USA.
The new Houston premises will be open for business in January 2018 as part of a strategy to grow Westerton’s portfolio there.
Founded in Aberdeen 20 years ago by Robin Porter, Western’s new US office will be located close to Houston’s Energy Corridor.
Westerton UK currently develops and manufactures its own electric wireline-deployed tools designed to form key components within well-intervention and well-abandonment activities.
Westerton UK’s general manager Robin Porter said that this investment showed his firm’s commitment to the oil and gas sector’s recovery.
He said: “We were affected by the oil and gas downturn in the same way as everyone else and, in 2016, we experienced a considerable slowing up of orders. This year, however, we have seen green shoots of recovery and there has been a definite upturn in Westerton’s business activity. By the very nature of intervention work, it is an area that is likely to be one of the last to slow down in a downturn and one of the first to pick up again.
“This is a very important time for the company. While the bulk of our work continues to come from Aberdeen, we view the UK as a declining market; the US, however, offers an opportunity for growth and expansion. We are already working with an increasing number of companies in the US, including several of the major operators and this is something we plan to develop.”
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