ABERDEEN firm Walker Technical, which specialises in composite pipe repairs for the oil and gas industry, said yesterday it was to enter the American market for the first time through a joint venture with Louisiana-based Fairwinds International.
It said it believed this would give it sales of more than £300,000 in the first year, adding to its current annual turnover of more than £4million.
Fairwinds will act as Walker Technical’s sole distributor in the US, under the name Technopipe America, providing composite pipe-repair services to US clients.
Willie Rennie, chief executive of Walker, who led a multimillion-pound management buy-in at the company in June, said: “Diversification into new geographic locations and new market segments is an important part of our global expansion strategy.
“Around 50% of our business is now conducted internationally and having an American base and a strong relationship with Fairwinds will be massively beneficial to our future plans.”
Walker’s Technowrap products have application in a wide range of industries.
Glenn Mediamolle, vice-president of operations at Technopipe, said: “Our initial focus will be to serve the oil, gas, and petrochemical communities.”
Fairwinds chief executive Bill Napier added: “This product line has already revolutionised pipe repair with its warranties, tremendous applications, specifications and flexibility.”
Fairwinds provides a full range of engineering, construction project-management and inspection services to the oil and gas industry both offshore and onshore.
It has 40 full-time employees.
Walker Technical now exports Technowrap composite pipeline-repair systems to Angola, Azerbaijan, Equatorial Guinea, Brazil, Norway, Canada, Egypt, Oman, Nigeria, Brunei, Yemen, Qatar, Libya, Abu Dhabi and South Africa.
The company employs 35 full-time staff and has trained more than 400 composite pipeline-repair technicians worldwide.