HB Rentals has relocated its operation in Aberdeen to a much bigger site in the shire in anticipation of continued global business growth.
The supplier of offshore and onshore housing and related equipment to the oil and gas industry has all of its 60-strong north-east workforce installed in premises at Kirkwood Business Park, Sauchen.
It previously operated from Kirkhill Industrial Estate at Dyce.
Norman Porter, the firm’s director of operations for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, said the new site was about six times bigger.
The north-east operation traded as Duffy and McGovern Accommodation Services until it was acquired by Louisiana-based HB Rentals and its parent, Superior Energy Services (SES), in January 2007 in a £23.7million buyout.
Mr Porter said the UK arm accounted for about 10% of HB rental’s total revenue, turning over about £6million annually.
A strong market and plans to expand the range of services meant there was a need for more space, said Mr Porter, adding the north-east workforce had risen by 15% in the past couple of years and was likely to keep growing.
Much of the anticipated extra workload is down to a business strategy that has seen HB Rentals, which has operations in Broussard in Louisiana, Houston in Texas, Aberdeen and recent addition Dubai, grow its international presence.
The new Dubai office will be supported from Sauchen, which is the headquarters for HB Rental’s business across the eastern hemisphere.
Mr Porter said the firm was investing about £1million on its facilities in Aberdeenshire over the next five years, including on the lease of a new office building at the north-east site.
Houston-based SES serves the drilling, completion and production-related needs of oil and gas companies worldwide. The group employs nearly 14,000 people at about 400 locations in 19 countries.