Training to gain
Subsea construction and engineering company Technip Norway provides essential infrastructure services to customers working in some of the worldÔÇÖs most challenging environments. Ruari McCallion reports.
French engineering company Technip, headquartered in Paris, employs more than 23,000 people across the world and generates an annual turnover in excess of Ôé¼7 billion. The Technip GroupÔÇÖs main office in Norway is in Sandvika, a few kilometres west of Oslo, with additional facilities in Orkanger, Haugesund and Stavanger. As the leading subsea engineering contractor on the Norwegian continental shelf, Technip Norway employs around 370 people and generated revenues in excess of Ôé¼400 million in 2009.
ÔÇ£In Norway we design, fabricate, install and service systems for subsea oil and gas fields,ÔÇØ says Hallvard Hasselknippe, managing director of Technip Norway. Globally, Technip is involved in most segments of the oil and gas business, apart from down-hole and production, including subsea, large onshore facilities and offshore platforms. ÔÇ£Technip NorwayÔÇÖs primary area of work is the Norwegian continental shelf but we also work on subsea projects offshore north-west Russia, in the Barents Sea and on some ad-hoc international projects for example, in Egypt. WeÔÇÖre also looking at Caspian subsea operations.ÔÇØ It isnÔÇÖt the only company active in those areasÔÇöfar from itÔÇöand isnÔÇÖt alone in the North Sea, either. ItÔÇÖs a very competitive area and that competition has led to a raft of significant advances in marine energy technology over the past 40 years. It remains a technology-rich environment and if youÔÇÖre not at the forefront of development, youÔÇÖre nowhere.
ÔÇ£Our main differentials besides our competent people are our technologies, our product focus and our project execution model,ÔÇØ says Hasselknippe. ÔÇ£We have a strong focus on organisation, from project set-up through management and support functions, which we organise as a matrix of operation. We believe we have developed a very good quality management service, with a strong focus on growing and training people.ÔÇØ
The companyÔÇÖs employees in Norway represent 25 nationalities from across the worldÔÇöas far afield as Australia and the Americas, as well as European countries and Russia. Induction training begins with health, safety and environment (HSE), followed by technical initiation. The company also sends its management group on three-day courses, which re-emphasise HSE as well as covering leadership and communications. The intention is to embed its core cultures and values within the company from top to bottom, such that Technip can become the reference company in safety performance. It offers a number of issue and project-specific courses and has implemented a structure for project execution training in partnership with an external consultancy.
ÔÇ£Everyone has to meet our safety and quality (QHSE) standardsÔÇöthat is essential,ÔÇØ says Hasselknippe. ÔÇ£We have an apprenticeship scheme and graduate recruitment and training programme, which enable us to ensure we have a mix of younger and more experienced people. We blend newcomersÔÇÖ training into project work, which gives them an insight into different parts of the business. We expect a certain level of competence in our recruits and our 18 to 24 month initial training process enables us to see how quickly our new employees understand the business and become valuable contributors. We give new recruits proper work from the outset, under guidance of course, which means they get direct experience immediately.ÔÇØ
Technip Norway operates as a main contractor to oil and gas companies and is currently engaged as an EPIC (turnkey) contractor on several significant field developments in the Norwegian North Sea sector. The current portfolio includes the Dong Oselvar and the ENI Goliat, both EPCI projects. Goliat, in the Barents Sea, is the companyÔÇÖs largest project ever in Norway.
ÔÇ£Our previous track record includes, among others, the Marathon Alvheim development. We were responsible for the whole subsea part of the project, apart from the design and fabrication of the Christmas trees and control systemÔÇöbut including on this occasion design and fabrication of manifolds. We normally just install, rather than produce,ÔÇØ he says. ÔÇ£Our supply chain has been developed through long-term partnerships over many years.ÔÇØ
The company operates a fleet of 16 vessels, with three more due to arrive over the next two years. Apache, one of the companyÔÇÖs reeled pipelay vessels, is operating from the Orkanger Spoolbase near Trondheim and spools between 10 and 20 kilometres of pipeline on each of its trips, servicing the mid-Norwegian Shelf developments planned for the coming years. About 650 kilometres of pipeline, ranging in size from six to 16 inches in diameter, has been produced since operations began in 1995.
ÔÇ£Skandi Arctic is a purpose-designed and built diving support vessel, which was commissioned in 2008 and is jointly owned with DOF,ÔÇØ Hasselknippe says. ÔÇ£We developed it when we won an innovative diving frame contract from Statoil in 2006.ÔÇØ While a lot of subsea work is undertaken by remote-operated vehicles, there is still a call for diving. ÔÇ£We concentrated on remote operations from the early days and many fields today are below the maximum mandated depth for diving of 180 metres. Many clients prefer diver-less operations; however, diving is still a skill worth having, especially when dealing with unexpected contingencies. Divers can deal with emergencies faster than you can design tools for the job.ÔÇØ The fleet also includes other high spec powerful deepwater pipelay and multi-purpose subsea construction vessels, which are designed to be capable of working year-round in virtually all sea, depth and weather conditions. However the climate develops, the Barents Sea and north-east Atlantic is still likely to remain a cold, stormy and challenging environment, so sophisticated heavy-duty vessels will continue to have a role.
ÔÇ£Our challenge recently has been the effect of the financial crisis on revenues and activities. However, we prepared well ahead of the impact and were able to ride out the storm without any significant drop in the activity level,ÔÇØ he says. The opportunity to construct and install the Hywind wind turbine enabled the company to diversify into new areas; but oil and gas will continue to be its main market.
ÔÇ£Looking forward, we expect some high market activity levels. The Norwegian Shelf is starting to look very promising; Statoil and others are determined to replace declining production. Mix that with frontier operations, like the Barents Sea and north-west Russia, and this remains an interesting area to be in. Our challenge is to ensure we have the people and assets to maintain competitiveness. ThatÔÇÖs why we are investing in recruitment, training, our fleet and development of the subsea segmentsÔÇöto ensure we continue to serve our markets in an outstanding way.ÔÇØ
