Norwegian oil service firm Interwell has opened a facility in Aberdeen and is planning significant expansion in the city.
Interwell is a well intervention specialist offering some of the most advanced well barrier solutions available in the upstream oil and gas sector, and is described as the number one supplier of bridge plugs in Norway.
The new Aberdeen team is led by managing director Andrew Louden, a former Schlumberger and Helix-RDS manager who spent half of his 20-year career overseeing well operations at Marathon and BP.
He is joined by ex-Schlumberger deal structuring specialist Jim Laidlaw as UK business development director.
Mr Louden said: “We have the slimmest retrievable bridge plugs on the market and our target is to establish ourselves as the supplier of choice for well barrier and straddle solutions.
“We have started with a group of nine highly experienced staff and expect to grow to around 30 as activity increases. In our first operational month, we loaded out three jobs including a new client. Based on this very positive start we expect to turnover £5million in year one.
“Interwell’s product portfolio can be deployed in almost every oil and gas well, from appraisal to abandonment.
“Our ultra-high expansion plugs and straddles are particularly suited to mature fields where reduced tubing sizes and wellbore restrictions make it impossible to use conventional plugs.”
Interwell also has global offices in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Oman.
Aberdeen-based offshore accommodation specialist Arcadion said yesterday it had secured work worth almost £10million and multiplied its workforce.
The firm has landed deals with Apache North Sea and Shell UK.
Arcadion has increased offshore staff numbers from just six in December 2010 to 55 by last month.
The team now provides services to more than 40 UK installations each year.
Technical director Clive Gregory said: “I’m absolutely delighted with what we have accomplished in this short time.
“I’m proud to work alongside a team with such an incredible range of energy industry experience.
“We are looking forward to a long relationship with both Apache and Shell.”