A US oil field services giant has moved more than 400 employees into a building in Dyce following a £3 million refurbishment.
Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE) has upgraded the interior of its owned premises at Stoneywood Park North in another demonstration of its commitment to the region.
The facility had been empty since 2016, as Baker Hughes consolidated its operations at Kirkhill Industrial Estate, Dyce, and moved its wireline division to Portlethen.
A large number of employees have been relocated to Stoneywood from Silverburn House on Claymore Drive, Bridge of Don. The company had rented Silverburn House for more than 10 years.
It said the move would help drive “cost efficiencies” and make it easier to expand in future.
BHGE launched in July 2017 following a multi-billion pound merger between US firms GE Oil & Gas and Baker Hughes.
The two companies had taken steps to consolidate their footprints in the north-east prior to the deal, and the task has continued post-merger.
In October 2016, Energy Voice revealed Baker Hughes had puts its premises at Aberdeen Innovation Park in Bridge of Don on the market. The company said it was looking to close and consolidate its North Sea onshore facilities. The facility is still up for sale, a BHGE spokeswoman said yesterday.
Last year, the combined BHGE business said operations from its manufacturing plant on Broadfold Road, Bridge of Don, would be moved to Montrose to create a “centre of excellence”. The decision led to a “very small number” of redundancies.
Some £31m, including £4.9m from Scottish Enterprise, is being invested in the Montrose facility.
Employees at Stoneywood will support activity at the centre of excellence, which will provide research, training and subsea production technology for global oil and gas projects.
BHGE, which employs 2,500 people in Scotland, also has a continuing programme of investment in its Altens and Inverurie sites.
Romain Chambault, director Europe–oilfield equipment at BHGE, said: “The subsea manufacturing sector has been through an incredibly tough few years, but we are seeing signs of improvement in the market.
“Last quarter was our largest for orders since 2015, with subsea production awards across six different projects.
“The recent investments we have made in our north-east Scotland facilities demonstrate our long-term commitment to the region, where we have a skilled workforce with decades of experience and a number of important manufacturing hubs for some of our core subsea technologies. Our presence here remains crucial for our global operations.”
Matt Abraham, supply chain and HSE director at Oil and Gas UK, said: “The subsea sector is a high-tech, export-driven engineering and manufacturing success story of crucial importance to the UK. Investment is returning to the UK Continental Shelf and this announcement demonstrates BHGE’s confidence in the future potential of the basin.”