ABERDEEN-BASED mechanical-engineering group EnerMech said yesterday it had invested £20million in a new unit to operate worldwide.
The process, pipeline and umbilical (PPU) service division is to create 100 jobs in the first year, with about 60 of them in Aberdeen.
The unit is being headed by pipeline expert Les Graves.
He joins the EnerMech board as director and brings with him more than 30 years’ experience in pipeline construction, precommissioning activities and well and process services.
He will work with EnerMech business-development director John Wingfield and the EnerMech management team who supplied PPU services with their former company, PSL Energy Services, which was sold in 2007.
EnerMech managing director Doug Duguid said: “Until now, a restrictive covenant prevented us from entering this sector, but now it is full steam ahead. The £20million investment signals our intent that we will be a major player in providing process, pipeline and umbilical support in all the geographic regions in which we operate.”
Adding a PPU offering completes EnerMech’s business lines and the new division will sit alongside its equipment rental, rigging and lifting, hydraulics, crane services, training, valves and pumping equipment operations.
EnerMech was formed in April 2008. Last year, it agreed a £24million funding package with Lloyds Banking Group and, together with private equity provided by Lime Rock Partners and shareholder finance, has in place £40million to support its own growth and further acquisitions.
EnerMech employs 570 staff at its Aberdeen headquarters and bases at Great Yarmouth, Stavanger, Dubai, Qatar, Ras al Khaimah, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Ghana, South Africa and Perth, Australia.