Fast-expanding Ulmatec targets offshore market

 
Towards the end of 2011, Ulmatec announced that it had reached an agreement for the acquisition of Stavanger-based Cetix Group, a technology group with long international experience in the oil and gas industry. Cetix is a holding company with subsidiaries in Stavanger, the UK and Lithuania; its acquisition is the latest in a number by the Norwegian concern.

As Stig Ulstein, Ulmatec’s chief executive explained, the group has a long-term strategy. Its philosophy is to invest in local expertise in the marine industry in order to reach out to an international marine market. “With several acquisitions of high-end marine brands over the last decade, we are closing on our long-term goal. We want to develop a strong marine group with Norwegian ownership that offers quality products and the best service in the market,” said Mr Ulstein.

Cetix has a technology-driven engineering team which has been an important partner for Ulmatec over a number of years. It specialises in Cetix AS launch and recovery systems (LARS) for ROVs, active heave-compensated winches, blowout preventers, well control units and choke control systems. Mr Ulstein says collaboration between the companies on products such as high-performance electric winches will now be even closer.

However, he reports that Cetix complements Ulmatec in more ways than winches and LARS alone. “Cetix also makes control systems for wireline operations in the subsea industry and control and safety systems for the whole energy sector,” Mr Ulstein explained. “The acquisition will also strengthen our expertise and capacity for engineering, project management, and electrical engineering and control systems.”

For its part, Ulmatec’s offering includes handling system for ROVs, as well as towers and logistics systems for use on deck in the oil and gas industry. In addition, the company has a focus on technology for oil recovery. “Together, we will be able to secure an even better position in the field of handling equipment, as well as in the subsea sector,” said Mr Ulstein. “We are a solutions-oriented company with a focus on efficient, safe, simple and robust technology.”

“This acquisition strengthens the range of services we can offer the offshore oil and gas industry,” said Cetix’s chief executive Arne Sørbø. “Our organisations are already known to one another, so this is a natural step for us. In particular, we’ve had a fruitful collaboration with Ulmatec Stromek in areas such as LARS for remotely operated vehicles, where we have delivered electric winches that are able to compensate for wave motion.

“With more and more customers wanting to deal with system suppliers, our companies are a good fit. We complement each other well geographically in Norway, and together we will be better positioned to penetrate the international marine and offshore market,” Mr Sørbø told OSJ.

Mr Ulstein said 2011 had been what he called a “medium year” for Ulmatec, but he expects 2012 and 2013 to be better, particularly as the group is launching a number of new products. “The offshore market is in a very good position, and the seismic market is healthy too,” he said, noting that the company’s revenues will continue to come from the offshore and seismic sectors in future. Ulmatec turned over Nkr400 million in 2011 and expects to turnover significantly more in 2012.

The group recently won its largest ever contract in the form of a deal won by Ulmatec Pyro for fuel-fired heaters for 20 PSVs being built by Zhejiang Shipbuilding in China for Bourbon Offshore. The contract followed an order from the same yard earlier in 2011 for 12 similar systems.

“With this latest contract, we will be delivering one fuel-fired heater a month to the yard from April until September 2013,” said Jan Petter Urke, chief executive of Ulmatec Pyro. “In addition to these orders, we secured many other contracts in 2011, from both Norwegian and foreign customers, setting a new record for our annual order intake.” He said he expects the level of new orders to remain high in 2012.

“These contracts also reflect long-term marketing work and the build up of an international network of agents,” Mr Urke explained. “Establishing Ulmatec Asia in Singapore has contributed to very active sales in that region, and we are just starting to reap the benefits of that work.”

Late 2011 also saw Ulmatec Pyro secure contracts to deliver examples of its Pyro tank- heating systems to newbuilds 759 and 778 at STX OSV Aukra and 779 at STX OSV Brattvaag in Norway. Among the vessels to be fitted with the equipment is Solstad Offshore’s anchor handler Normand Mjolne.

“We introduced this solution to the market in the first half of 2011, and have already sold three for a trio of offshore newbuilds and one for retrofit,” said Mr Urke, noting that the industry is “very concerned to achieve environmental and energy efficiency.”

The new system uses waste heat in order to reduce fuel consumption on board, with energy transferred by a thermal fluid system. The traditional method for tank heating has been to generate steam for injection into the tank, consuming fuel in so doing. The new solution combines low operating and installation costs with high energy efficiency and exploits what Ulmatec calls “green energy” from heat recovery in high-temperature cooling systems and/or exhaust gas economisers. The heating elements in the tank consist of a number of small, high-performance heating coils designed for fast and easy mounting and dismantling.

Having opened an office in Singapore, Ulmatec plans to do the same in the US and, in the longer term, in Brazil. It plans to bring more new seismic products to market this year and is looking at the fast-expanding market for ballast water treatment systems, believing as it does that existing technology is unnecessarily complex and expensive. OSJ