Modular offshore accommodation solutions are becoming more sophisticated and quicker to deploy, in response to demand from independents and marginal producers
You can’t get hydrocarbons out of the ground without a dedicated team onsite, and you can’t keep them there without accommodation units.
The most challenging environment for accommodation units is offshore. HB Rentals specialises in offshore accommodation modules, and operates from hubs across the world in Broussard, LA, USA; Aberdeen, Scotland and Singapore.
The firm supports operations throughout Europe (including Norway and the Netherlands), the Caspian, the Middle East, and Africa from its base at Dyce, Aberdeen. The company opened a Middle East office in Dubai last year.
Spurred by sustainable growth in the region, in September HB signed a partnership agreement with Abu Dhabi-based Gulf Automation Services & Oilfield Supplies to represent its accommodation and zone 1 pressurised cabins rental business.
UAE-based Specialist Services has been thriving on providing solutions to supermajors and service companies.
The firm provides large offshore wellhead accommodation, modular unit solutions and EPC/EPM solutions, with revenue split evenly between the divisions.
In Iraq, the company has found a niche in providing robust trailer-mounted mobile camps that can be quickly deployed to almost any location on a skid for shorter term and interim support.
Chris Ridley, sales and marketing manager at Specialist Services, says the market remains competitive which puts pressure on EPC work. “A typical EPC project may take 18-24 months,” he says. “Though because of demands in the market now those timelines
are being squeezed quite aggressively at the moment.”
Ridley admits that the market is “always tough” but says being trusted with repeat business is a key to success. Understanding a client’s business is also vital. “We pride ourselves on being innovative and being a solution provider,” he says.
“Quality, depth of understanding and timescales are as important as price. If you get to a handover point and things are not ready or not up to scratch, the add-on costs can outstrip the perceived up-front tender costs.”
Going Global
As an accommodation provider, safety and welfare of oilfield workers is paramount.
A constant challenge is ensuring high standards of safety in difficult conditions.
“This company is about providing safe environments in which people can live and work,” says Ridley. “Meeting certification requirements is absolutely crucial for us.”
The company has around 70% of the global wellhead market, and has been expanding its reach from its established bases in Abu Dhabi and Dubai with the opening of new facilities and service centres in Aberdeen and Singapore.
Ridley says the company is going through a “major restructuring” following the hire of around 70 new management staff and more than 200 new fabrication workers.
Ridley adds that once the new Aberdeen service centre is up and running, the company’s ambition longer term is the USA, in order to access the booming offshore sector there and in rapidly growing offshore markets in Mexico and Brazil.
The company works to international standards – including the stringent Norwegian NORSOK certification – to ensure their products satisfy any global market. “This goes even to source of material,” explains Ridley. “You have to be able to track you materials all the way through to check compliance with the process, from foundry to sub-contractor to end-user.”
Thinking inside the box
Specialist has enjoyed growth in the modular accommodation market, and this year has developed robust new solutions. The company currently holds a stock of 250 AC60 units and is in the process of building 80 more.
“We’ve had a rental operation that has been quite regionally-focused,” says Ridely “we’re now looking to give it a global footprint: our strategic intent is to lead the market internationally for rental solutions in A60 offshore modules.”
A recent innovation is exterior modular walkways and stairwells, which can be fitted with accommodation units to comprise a fully-formed on-rig solution rapidly.
Marginal modules
The company has also adapted to the changing upstream landscape. “The industry is a lot different to how it was ten years ago,” explains Ridley. “What you have now is a lot of marginal field developers coming in, a lot of brownfield and different newfield development.
For assets deemed not worth casing by the majors due to the amount of hydrocarbons on offer, independents are pursuing these aggressively, and they need to be reactive to get facilities on the ground quickly.”
Ridley says that this is where modular solutions can come into their own: The support infrastructure required for a marginal or more risky exploration and production project can be put in place within weeks, while a permanent solution can be developed once a well is established.
In addition to reducing delay before drilling, a rig operator gets to account for accommodation as operation, rather than capital expenditure, until the marginal resource is confirmed as commercially viable and extraction is well under way.
Ridley says this allows firms to “take some time while we work with them to make effective decisions in terms of best spend,” describing this as “one of the unique selling points.”
Ridley also says that modular rentals are an excellent business tool for Specialist Services.
“A lot of our products are interrelated,” he explains, “so a Weatherford or Halliburton may need well testing equipment. We can get cabins that can go alongside that.”
The company offers newentrants to markets what Ridley calls a “business in a box”.
“Traditionally a company sets up an office and facilities in a new market with a development team, puts some guys on the ground, then sees what they can massage out of the market,” he says. “We can land up to 50 cabins within a few weeks because a new player is getting into markets and client bases that we know.”
Algeco soars in the United Arab Emirates
Algeco, a supplier of modular space and secure storage rental and sales solutions, has recorded significant performance increase on projected targets for its first year of business in the UAE.
Having set realistic targets for its first year of operations, Algeco more than doubled its year one targets on both its market leading modular product and its flat-pack warehouse, which sees 200 sq m of fully operational warehouse space delivered within just four working days.
Through its distribution agreement with Byrne Equipment Rental, Algeco’s first year working in the UAE has far exceeded expectations.
General manager, Jim Muldoon, has attributed the firm’s success to quality. “All Algeco products are designed and manufactured to European standards and are extremely flexible,” Muldoon says. “This, combined with the expertise of the team, has proven to be an excellent asset for companies looking to assemble on-site offices, accommodation or even retail stores.”
October marks the end of Algeco’s first official year of trading. “We have a number of expansion plans in the pipeline and myself and the team are looking forward to an exciting 2012,” says Muldoon.
