Seadrill taps into rich seam of North East
26th September 2006
A WORLD-LEADING oil and gas drilling contractor is creating 60 new jobs in Northumberland as it looks to the North East to help it capitalise on an unprecedented boom in the industry.
Norwegian owned Seadrill Engineering has just opened a satellite office in Eddie Ferguson House, Blyth, home of the New and Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC).
Sixteen employees will initially support the company's activities in its Aberdeen, Bergen and Stavanger offices, with job numbers forecast to rise to 60 within three years as the company looks to recruit specialist engineers from the North East labour market.
Seadrill Engineering has extensive contracts with major global companies such as Shell, Statoil and BP, to upgrade oil rig drilling technology, allowing the companies to tap into harder to reach pockets of oil and gas in the North Sea.
One NorthEast has backed the project with a £200,000 Selective Finance for Investment Grant. The regional development agency's inward investment and aftercare team worked with Seadrill and NaREC to identify suitable space in NaREC's facilities as the ideal location to establish its first presence in England.
Chris Levett, Seadrill Engineering Managing Director, said: "It was a choice between Blyth and other international locations but we decided on Blyth because of its location, accessibility, the quality of these facilities at Eddie Ferguson House and the pool of resources in the North East related to our industry.
"This office gives us the capacity to do the extra work our clients want us to do. If we are to grow, we have to get the resources in place and over the next three to five years this is where we intend to build up our main engineering support base."
Seadrill Engineering is beginning a recruitment process to fill future positions with graduates and North East workers with oil and gas sector experience, some of which may be working overseas.
The firm is particularly keen to find electrical, structural and mechanical engineering and design specialists to work from its Blyth base.
The Blyth office will work to help Seadrill Engineering customers update ageing technology on oil rigs with new state-of-the-art automation, allowing access to lucrative oil and gas reserves previously out of reach.
Seadrill Engineering is the engineering arm of offshore services firm Seadrill - based in Stavanger with an annual turnover of £500m and 4,400 staff worldwide.
"The oil and gas industry is in the midst of an unprecedented boom at the moment, the oil companies just can't get it out of the ground quick enough," said Mr Levett.
"The help of NaREC and One NorthEast has been of great assistance to me in presenting my business case to my management for this operation to go ahead.
"I was able to say that ‘the authorities in the North East are there to encourage us not only with words but by putting their money where their mouths are.'"
Richard Marr, Finance Director at NaREC, said: "With a skilled workforce and a wealth of resources already in the region, it makes sense for oil and gas companies to look at the North East as a key part of the future for new and emerging energy technologies.
"With investment from companies such as Seadrill, we are building the beginnings of an energy cluster in south east Northumberland, focusing on the great potential already here in Blyth."
Simon Goon, One NorthEast Head of Business Development and International Relations, said: "This investment is as a result of the investment and aftercare team's long established Norwegian activities and is a real joint effort between One NorthEast, NaREC and regional partners. It is a real coup for the region to secure a company of Seadrill Engineering's stature with the calibre of jobs it will bring.
"Mike Pedersen, who works in the Norwegian marketplace for One NorthEast, made the initial contact with the firm through the region's Norwegian Collaboration Centre and its soft landing base for companies looking to invest in the North East."
Anyone interested in future job opportunities at Seadrill Engineering in Blyth, should contact Seadrill on Tel: 0870 142 3023 or e-mail seadrill.engineering@seadrill.com.
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