Scottish firm Sabre Safety has grown turnover by 86% and more than doubled the size of its workforce in just three years by helping to clear the air on oil and gas installations offshore.
The company designs and installs breathing air equipment and also supplies gas detection systems and training.
It is increasingly active in decommissioning work and shutdown operations for downstream activities.
Founded in 2001, Sabre initially focused on work in the North Sea.
But valuable experience gained in one of the world’s harshest environments, and under health and safety rules widely regarded as the most stringent anywhere, have led to global expansion.
Sabre now operates worldwide, providing onshore and offshore services in countries including Norway, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Turkey, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Nigeria, Oman, Vietnam, Canada and Venezuela.
As well as facilities in its home town of Cupar, Fife, and Dyce in Aberdeen, the firm has overseas operations in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and Muscat in Oman.
The North American facilities were set up specifically to support offshore work in the developing oil and gas sector in Atlantic Canada, while the Oman operation supports projects across the Middle East.
Annual turnover has grown by £6million to around £13million over the past three years, with the mainly Scotland-based workforce swelling by more than 80 people to 135 in that time.
Recent big contract wins in Norway are expected to take annual sales there to £4million next year and £8million in 2015, against £1.5million in 2012.
“Stavanger is shaping up as the jumping-off point for international work,” said Allan Cameron, Sabre’s technical director. Elsewhere, Sabre has signed a partnership deal with a local company in Kazakhstan. Sabre supplies engineering expertise at a major refinery, while the partner, YKK, supplies training in English, Russian and Kazakh.
Mr Cameron said: “Kazakhstan has one of the largest oil reserves in the world and represents a real opportunity for North Sea companies to bring their expertise to market.”
Sabre’s work in the area of training, developed in Aberdeen, has led to it being named a finalist in the Safety and Health Practitioner/Institution of Occupational Safety and Health Awards. It will find out if it has won the category for best utility and offshore contribution at a ceremony in London on Thursday, October 24.
Sabre is up against British Gas and Severn Trent, and has got to the finals on the strength of its training for safety supervisors working with hydrogen sulphide – one of the most toxic gases on the planet and a real threat in the oil and gas industry.
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