Scottish business Balmoral Offshore Engineering (BOE) is targeting a worldwide market worth £20million a year with new equipment it has developed.
The division of Balmoral Group is displaying the dynamic bend stiffener on its stand at this week’s Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston in the US.
The equipment is used by the oil and gas industry to support flexible pipes and umbilicals at rigid topside or seabed connections.
Jim Milne, chairman and managing director of the Aberdeen group, said on his 39th visit to OTC: “We have invested heavily in technology and infrastructure to produce the largest stiffeners in the world.
“Our added capacity allows us to produce stiffeners in excess of 15 metres (49ft) in length and with root diameters greater than 2m (6.5ft).”
Company spokesman Steve Gibb said the equipment was part of a multimillion-pound investment in elastomer products made in Aberdeen.
A technical and design engineering team of around 12 people has been working on the project for about two years.
BOE said a key aspect of the development programme was to eliminate significant health and safety issues associated with previous stiffeners.
Mr Milne also said that BOE’s Houston office was buzzing with activity.
Meanwhile, in South America, site infrastructure work for the new Brazilian manufacturing facility in Vitoria has been completed.
It is to provide Balmoral’s full range of products, including drill riser buoyancy and elastomer products such as bend stiffeners, restrictors and cable protection.
International business-development director Jim Hamilton said: “We are committed to cost-effective technology-led solutions for the deepwater oil and gas sector and will be offering this as local content to the Brazilian market in 2014.”
Up to 200 people are expected to be employed in Brazil.
Balmoral Group employs more than 360 people and has annual turnover of more than £50million.