New Base Positions to Capitalise in South China Sea

International oilfield services company Expro officially opened its new operations base in China, on February 2, in the company of key clientele and senior Expro management. The base in the Shekou industrial zone will have a workforce made up of both operational and support employees that will be responsible for servicing operations in the South China Sea.

Having a hub based in Shekou will provide a platform for Expro to capitalise on an emerging and highly lucrative deepwater market that is set for major growth over the next five years. The new premises comprise of an indoor workshop covering 700m, complete with a custom-built pressure test bay and a manufactured clean room to provide a dust free environment for toll dressing. The indoor workshop is serviced by two five-ton overhead gantry cranes. An outdoor yard extends to 500m squared, serviced by a 10-ton overhead gantry crane with access to a 50-ton crane if required.

An office area is complemented with a canteen and washroom/locker room for workshop staff, office accommodation for nine people and a conference suite catering for 12.

The Shekou base has already supported a very successful three well subsea landing string campaign for the CNOOC Yacheng project. This project was performed without any lost time incidents and zero downtime.

Twelve people will take up a permanent role at the base and will be supervised by China operations manager Matthew Milne, who said: “We have managed to build up very experienced teams in China – an onshore support team and offshore subsea and slickline crews. The base is now loading out equipment for both subsea large bore electro-hydraulic (EH) equipment and large bore slickline equipment for the Husky Liwan project.”

The Liwan project is part of CETS; a joint venture between Expro and China Oilfield Services (COSL) to provide well-testing services in the Liwan subsea gas field in the South China Sea.

Expro China country manager Kevin Illingworth attended the official opening ceremony. He said: “This new base positions us perfectly to provide our customers in China with top class service quality offshore and excellent services onshore.

“The South China Sea deepwater market is crucial for our growth strategy going forward and the opening of this base positions us to capitalise on upcoming contracts in the region.

“Expro’s investment to technology innovation and infrastructure coupled with the dedication to ongoing training and personal development means we are well positioned to provide bespoke engineering solutions to a global customer base.”

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