invest north east england

Oil & Gas

Overview

Oil & Gas

Areas of Expertise

• Subsea Technology

  More than 50 companies, some of which are market leaders in technological innovation in the subsea sector, are based in North East England.

  They include firms such as SMD Hydrovision in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, which has supplied customers globally with world-leading remote operating vehicles (ROVs) and seabed trenching machines.

  At the forefront of designing advanced equipment are two Northumberland companies. PDL Group, in Hexham, is involved in subsea platforms and technologies, while IHC Engineering Business in Stocksfield is at the cutting edge of ROVs.

  To ensure the area maintains its leading world position, Subsea NE brings together firms involved in the supply chain and university specialists to accelerate the development of next generation technologies and identify emerging market opportunities.

  One field in which the North East has specialist knowledge, for example, is in the development of subsea pipe technologies.

  Wellstream, a producer of equipment for deep sea drilling, has created a corrosion-resistant FlexSteel pipe system, based on revolutionary technology, able to extract oil at depths of over 2,000 metres. It developed this in its design and manufacturing plant at Walker Riverside, Newcastle.

  At the same location is Duco, another major subsea manufacturer, which produces plastic-based umbilicals for oil and gas fields across the world.

  Other specialist suppliers include BEL Valves, based in Newcastle, a maker of valves and controls for major energy suppliers such as BP, ExxonMobil and Shell. Pespen Integrity, a global provider of engineering and management services also based in Newcastle, has developed inspection and maintenance techniques for subsea facilities.

• Platform Maintenance

  The North East has developed an excellent track record in platform maintenance and has a substantial infrastructure for these activities.

  The Tyne and Tees rivers as well as the port of Hartlepool have, for example, excellent dockyard and other facilities for work on platforms.

  The North East’s prominent position in the industry has attracted major maintenance companies such as Belgian group Fabricom Suez. This has opened a design and engineering office in North Tyneside.

  Dutch owned fabrication firm Heerema operates two docks at Hartlepool. And fellow Dutch group Hertel has offices in Tees Valley where it designs state-of-the-art accommodation units and laboratories for rigs and other vessels.

  Meanwhile, leading UK rig design and manufacturing company RDS has opened an office in Stockton, in Tees Valley.

  One of the most important companies operating in the platform maintenance field is AMEC. It has opened a leading edge design and engineering centre at Wynyard Park, north of Stockton, employing over 300 people.

  In one of Amec’s biggest projects, being carried out through a joint venture with another Dutch firm, NAM, it is modifying and raising the long-term performance of 50 offshore gas platforms and two gas plants for Shell.

• Design Engineering

  There is a high concentration of design engineering firms in the North East. These include both major global companies and locally developed businesses that have grown with the area’s extensive involvement in North Sea oil and gas operations.

  One of the leading multinational firms is Foster Wheeler, which operates project management services from its operation at Riverside Park, Middlesbrough.

  Norwegian firm Aker Solutions has a large office in Stockton offering engineering and construction services, from where it has won an important contract to provide subsea control frameworks to Maersk Oil.

  Among the locally developed companies is Mech-Tool based in Darlington. Mech-Tool designs and manufactures high-integrity explosion protection systems for clients who include ExxonMobil, Shell and PetroCanada.

  Mech-Tool has a quayside facility on the River Tees at Middlesbrough which enables it to assemble large structures that can then be transported directly by sea to offshore locations.

  Seawall Engineering offers engineering services from a new design centre it has created, with the support of a £200,000 grant from One North East, at the New and Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) in Blyth.

  Other firms offering engineering services for oil and gas rigs include Phoenix Beattie, in Ashington, Northumberland, which provides automated fluid handling systems. And Wilton Engineering in Middlesbrough is involved in designing and making high quality fabrications.

• Refining

  Major oil terminals, refining, storage and fuel distribution complexes have an important presence in the North East, and are operated by some of the biggest names in the petrochemical industry.

  A £2 billion state-of-the-art refinery is under construction at Wilton International in Tees Valley by the London-based Sonhoe group.

  This is the largest project of its kind in Western Europe in the past decade. The refinery, scheduled to come on stream in 2014, will have the capacity to process 200,000 barrels of oil a day. This will be turned into low-sulphur diesel, naphtha and kerosene.

  The oil will be sourced from North Sea reserves that have previously been untapped and from other fields around the world. Sonhoe chose to build the plant at Wilton because of the deep-water port facilities on the Tees and its proximity to the North Sea oil wells.

  A unique feature of the refinery is that it has been designed to be self-sufficient in its power and hydrogen needs. By 2015 it will supply around 10% of the shortfall of diesel needed in Europe.

  Among the other major installations in Tees Valley is the ConocoPhillips oil terminal at Seal Sands, at the mouth of the Tees. It receives oil from several UK and Norwegian fields in the North Sea. The plant processes 67,000 barrels of oil a day, storing and exporting natural gases such as ethane, propane and butane.

  Another important part of the North East’s oil and gas infrastructure is the terminal operated by Shell at Jarrow on the mouth of the Tyne.

• Ancillary Services

  The North East’s extensive involvement in the North Sea oil and gas industry has enabled the area to develop a comprehensive range of ancillary service companies.

  A huge range of engineering companies, many with specialist oil and gas industry capabilities, manufacture and service equipment of all kinds – from large platform fabrications to hydraulic pumps, valves and lubricants.

  One of the key locations for ancillary activities is the Offshore Technology Park at Walker Riverside, Newcastle.

  Shepherd Offshore operates a supply base at the park which has deep water berthing, hammerhead cranes for large lifting needs, and facilities for mobilising and demobilising vessels of all kinds.

  The company provides a supply chain management and logistics service from the support base, which is dedicated to handling all types of offshore related materials and other cargoes.

Oil & Gas

Key Facts & Figures

Oil & Gas

Supporting Organisations

Supporting Organisations