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Aker Solutions is building a new multi-purpose service site for its drilling equipment business in Brazil, significantly expanding its capacity to serve the country's fast-growing drilling market. The $100 million development will also include substantial production, assembly and testing capacity, to provide local content to support the country's large drilling rig-building programme. The 335 000m2 facility in Macae on Brazil's east coast is about 8 times bigger than Aker Solutions' current facility in nearby Rio das Ostras, reflecting expected growth in the company's activities in the country.
"Our investments in Brazil demonstrate our ambitions to grow in one of the most exciting offshore markets in the world, and our commitment to contribute to and develop the country's oil and gas industry. Aker Solutions' commitment to local content in Brazil is second to none," says Luis Antonio Araujo, Regional President for Aker Solutions in Brazil.
The new Macae facility will host full drilling riser production and maintenance services. This includes about 20 000 m2 of indoor mechanical workshop space for riser and topside equipment, with full crane and testing capabilities. The total investment is about $100m. The site will have capacity for about 700 employees.
Well positioned
The site will also include a state-of-the-art training centre with capacity for up to four of Aker Solutions' market-leading drilling simulators. The company today has two state-of-the-art dome training simulators in operation, offering customers training support to improve the safety and efficiency of drilling operations.
"We are well positioned to take advantage of the activity in Brazil's oil and gas industry. The new site will enable us to produce and assemble drilling equipment in Brazil, as well as conduct service and performance optimisation work on a steadily growing fleet of deepwater units with Aker Solutions equipment on board," says Gustavo Gonçalves, head of Aker Solutions' drilling technologies business in Brazil.
Local support
Aker Solutions has supported drilling operators locally with equipment, systems and services since the 1990s. Today, more than 35 drills ships and rigs operate in Brazilian waters, using drilling equipment from Aker Solutions. Work to preparing the land has already started and the site is scheduled to be fully operational in early 2014. The site in Macaé, 180 km northeast of Rio de Janeiro, will be Aker Solutions' fourth facility in Brazil, in addition to sites in Rio das Ostras, Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro. The Rio das Ostras site, which currently hosts Aker Solutions drilling riser production and drilling lifecycle services and subsea lifecycle services, will be developed into a full service subsea product base.
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