Aberdeen mechanical service company EnerMech has been awarded an £8.2million contract in Azerbaijan.
The crane operation, maintenance and inspection deal is with BP Exploration (Caspian Sea).
The three-year project covers 12 BP offshore pedestal cranes operating in the Chirag, Central Azeri, West Azeri, East Azeri and deepwater Gunashli developments, plus the Shah Deniz gas development project.
It is anticipated EnerMech will use an average of 60 people a year on the contract.
An important element of the deal is EnerMech’s commitment to employ Azeris in the majority of posts within 30 months of the start of the contract.
To support this programme, EnerMech will mobilise a new £500,000 crane simulator to Baku for crane-operator competency assessment and additional onshore training for Azeri staff.
EnerMech managing director Doug Duguid said: “This is undoubtedly an important award by BP-operated projects, which underlines our international credentials for being able to undertake wide-ranging crane-maintenance and training work scopes.
“A differentiator was our willingness to commit to training and employing Azerbaijani nationals during the entirety of the contract and that process will start as soon as our crane simulator arrives in Baku.”
Mr Duguid said the award would also lead to an increase of the EnerMech workforce in Azerbaijan in preparation for expanding operations in to other countries in the Caspian region.
He added: “This contract is important strategically as it allows us the opportunity to introduce our other service lines such as equipment hire, hydraulics, hose management and training into Azerbaijan and it also gives us a springboard for future expansion into Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Georgia.”
In April, EnerMech acquired hydraulic-engineering firm Norson Power in an £11million deal and the enlarged group’s 2010 revenue is forecast to exceed £60million.