Lamprell: Sustaining the structures of the oil industry

Source: Stock Market Digital

Date :26/11/2007 11:08:31

Since its foundation 30 years ago Lamprell has grown to become the leading name in drilling facilities maintenance in the United Arab Emirates.

Written by John O’Hanlon and Produced by Kiron Chavda

Following its flotation on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2006 it is increasing its capacity for refurbishment and new build projects to service a buoyant market

When Steven Lamprell and other members of the Lamprell family went to Dubai in the late 1970s, he was motivated by the shortage of engineering services for oil companies operating in the region and within ten years the company was able to offer full-scale refurbishment of jackup rigs.

Since then it has completed more than 100 rig upgrade and refurbishment projects, establishing itself as a world leader in this area of the oil services industry. Over a 32-year period, Steven Lamprell has presided over the Group's emergence as an increasingly important player in the Arabian Gulf in providing services to the offshore oil industry. He is still actively involved following the public listing of the company, in the role of company President.

In the late 1990s, largely driven by customer demand, Lamprell began to diversify into the new build construction market for the offshore oil and gas sector. Initial projects included the fabrication of calm buoys, mag anchors and calm buoy turntables.

Thereafter Lamprell successfully took on increasingly complex fabrication projects, including the construction of FPSO process modules and major external FPSO mooring turrets.

These later projects, together with Lamprell’s jackup rig refurbishment work, demanded more space and Lamprell decided to expand its operations to a purpose built facility in Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai.

This facility was completed in 2002 and has since been further expanded in response to growing demand. In 2005 it completed its Oilfield Engineering Facility at Jebel Ali, with the capacity to undertake five major land rig upgrade and refurbishment projects at any one time.

Today Lamprell has two further locations in the UAE. The Sharjah facility at Port Khalid, where most of Lamprell’s jackup rig upgrade and refurbishment projects are executed, together with a 50,000 square-metre yard in the Hamriyah Free Zone.

This is a temporary solution to provide the Company with enough capacity to undertake new build projects until its permanent facility now under construction at Hamriyah, is completed in early 2009.With all this experience under its belt, it is not surprising that Lamprell has developed close relations with its clients, the giants of the global hydrocarbon industry, including, currently, SBM, Saipem, Nabors, NDC, Diamond Offshore, Ensco, Noble, Transocean, British Gas, Kvaerner and FPS Ocean.

Repeat business is a very important component of Lamprell’s order book and quality, timely delivery and price are key drivers in keeping these key customers on board.

On the 16th October 2006 Lamprell became a public company and was admitted to...

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