International oilfield service company Expro has been awarded a multimillion-pound contract by Apache North Sea following completion of a competitive tendering process.
Expro said yesterday the contract, mainly covering work on the Apache-operated Forties field, was worth about £4.56million a year for three years with two optional one-year extensions.
Expro will provide wireline services and establish an alliance with another provider to deliver coiled-tubing and pumping services for Apache in the UK North Sea.
In total, 24 offshore employees will be dedicated to this work, some of whom have been recruited for the contract.
Abdallah Awara, director of Expro’s Europe and former Soviet Union region, said: “Expro already holds a contract with Apache for explosives services and this new work consolidates Expro’s wireline intervention services portfolio with Apache.”
The company said earlier this week it had devised a strategy 18 months ago to cope with a downturn in oil prices and this had proved important after it was acquired in a £1.81billion deal last year by a private equity consortium.
In May, there was a boardroom shuffle, with the group’s Aberdonian chief executive Graeme Coutts stepping up to executive chairman to be succeeded by chief operating officer Gavin Prise.
Mr Prise said this week that Expro, which specialises in well-flow management and employs about 700 of its 5,000-strong global workforce in Aberdeen, had come through the takeover well and was more strongly positioned than before, with the new owners fully supportive of the management team and their strategy. He added that revenue was in line with expectations and Expro was looking ahead confidently to growth in the future.