Focus: bespoke oilfield pumping solutions

Action International Services is a pump services company based in Dubai, specialised in providing engineered pumping solutions to customers, with a business unit dedicated to the oil and gas industry.

Padraig Nagle, managing director, talks to Oil & Gas Middle East.

What’s different about Action International Service’s offering from a typical hire company?

PN: With our technical expertise and the largest and most diversified fleet of specialised equipment in the region, we have the ability to provide superior cost effective solutions that meet customers’ budgets and timelines. We have a dedicated division focused on providing the upstream oil and gas and industrial sectors with temporary pumping solutions.

How would an operator benefit from choosing a service partner as opposed to buying in trusted brand pumps?

PN: We differ from many players in the pumps market because we offer pump services as opposed to being a pure hardware provider. We assemble the pump packages to order, and the specifications for that come direct from the customers. We hold the distributorship for a number of different major pump manufacturers, such as Godwin and Hughes pumps from the UK, but when customers come to us, we deliver Action’s services complemented with the reliability of well maintained industry leading equipment. Action stands for innovative engineering solutions, operational excellence and product reliability, and we are strongly complemented by our principal partner’s products.

What has demand been like in 2009?

PN: Each sector is quite different. The oil and gas business is quite robust for us. I expect that this year’s business will be at least the same, probably a bit higher than in 2008. That’s a combination of our growth, product diversification and capturing market share from our competitors. Action has recently expanded its industrial services capabilities to include shutdown equipment and associated services.

What’s a typical upstream call-out for you?

PN: Typically in the oil and gas business it would be a contractor who is experiencing problems. Usually it is water supply issues. In many cases small to medium sized service providers, which don’t maintain many assets, but may be specialists in their field, contact Action in order to expand their scope and capabilities. What we have developed is a reputation for delivering bespoke, rapid solutions in the event a pump fails. We can be there and have operations running again in a very tight turnaround. It’s very rare that we don’t have a solution in house. We have our own fabrication crew which means we can turn a bespoke solution round in just a couple of days. Because the solutions are tailored, fuel consumption is optimised, bringing associated cost-benefits over the course of the project.

What support offering comes with the equipment?

PN: We very much prefer to send a team along with the products. We highly recommend it, but it all boils down to how much risk the client wants to take on. What we are very good at is listening to our clients and gathering all the data we can from our clients in order to resolve an issue or provide a solution. We have a level of competence internally which is on a par with many specialist consultants. We have geologists, hydrologists, pipeline engineers, hydraulics experts, so we can do the A to Z of design internally. Additionally we have a very strong construction knowledge base which we can marry with our technical ability to deliver the solutions our clients need.

Have you seen regional variation in business this year?

PN: The oil and gas business is quite different in each territory. For example the Abu Dhabi market is very different to the general Arabian Gulf market, and even from the Dubai and Fujairah markets. We have quite a high and growing proportion of our business outside the UAE and the Gulf, and have recently sent equipment to Iraq, Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

How are you tackling the Saudi Arabian market?

PN: Saudi Arabia isn’t a country we have exploited fully yet, but that said, it’s very much in our sights.

Every market has slightly different dynamics in the region, so how we penetrate the Saudi Arabian market may involve acquisition or partnership, and we’re looking at the best vehicle for us now.