Gulf Exporters

Technomak setting up for surge

Technomak and Hamriyah Free Zone officials after the signing ceremony for a new Technomak plant

Having succeeded in getting approval from oil and gas majors such as Adma-Opco and Maersk, Technomak Energy International, an integrated fabrication and erection company with a sales reach well beyond the GCC region, is aggressively expanding its facilities and hiring more people to meet the growing demands.

The company is building a $75 million state-of-the-art plant on a new 1.1 million sq ft plot at the Hamriyah Free Zone where it has its current facilities stretched across 1.3 million sq ft.

Established in 2004 in Hamriyah Free Zone, Sharjah, Technomak was formed to serve the growing needs of the offshore and onshore oil and gas, power and water, minerals and metal industries around the globe. The company has been certified for ISO 9001:2008 by Det Norske Veritas (DNV).

“We are going to double our manufacturing capacity by taking up larger facilities to accommodate the company’s growth,” said Mohammed Haneefa, managing director of Technomak after signing a contract with Saud Salim Al Mazrouei, director of  Hamriyah Free Zone Authority (HFZA) and Sharjah Airport Free Zone (SAIF Zone).

“Continuous investment by Technomak in the Hamriyah Free Zone shows their confidence and edge in production, safety and quality. We are happy to see the growth of existing companies and this development is reassuring,” said Al Mazrouei.

Technomak is well-known in the oil and gas, power and water, offshore and marine and metallurgy industries as a leading player in the fields of structural work, piping, pressure vessels, skids and offshore structures such as top sides and jackets.

“This new investment will help to strengthen Technomak’s position and expand its offering to the oil and gas, power and water, offshore and marine and metallurgy industries worldwide. Currently we have a market reach from the Americas to the Far East and we want to double our capacity by 2017,” said Haneefa.

The new and larger purpose-built facility will feature a dedicated fabrication area for materials including duplex stainless steel, copper nickel alloy and carbon steel as well as a pipe mill, a pressure vessel manufacturing unit and fully automated structural steel processing units. The venture is expected to create at least 800 jobs.

 

A jacket fabricated by Technomak

A jacket fabricated by Technomak

ACHIEVEMENTS

Discussing recent gains, Haxer Ali, CEO, Technomak chief executive, said: “The biggest recent achievement for us was the approval from oil and gas giants Adma-Opco and Mearsk which resulted in Technomak bagging some major projects such as top sides and jackets for SARB3.” SARB or Satah Al-Razboot offshore oil field is located 200 km northwest of Abu Dhabi.

“To cater to these major projects we are aggressively expanding our facilities. In addition we are currently on a hiring spree to fill vacancies of more than 600 specialised employees to handle the increasing inflow of projects. Also our spending on Capex has almost doubled to meet the industrial demands. We are also increasing our investment in automation to keep the prices competitive in the aggressive market.”

With offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and India, the Technomak group of companies has 1,100 employees in the UAE alone. This year the group is targeting revenues of $68 million.

“We have a market reach from Canada to the Far East. Our focus is on the Middle East, Africa and India for this year. Our new yard with a dedicated load out jetty is giving us the opportunity to work on major modular projects which include construction of process platforms as a single-unit and associated sub-sea structures before shipping them to different parts of the globe,” said Ali.

Ali further said: “Last year, the market was still facing some side effects of the last recession. But still towards the end of year a lot of positive development came into the sector which helped us gain good traction. This year there still remains some level of uncertainty in the markets due to many issues including political, the oil price drop and the liquidity crunch, but Technomak as a group is well positioned for the year despite fluctuations in the market.

“We achieved almost 83 per cent of our target for 2015 by February. This is attributed to the confidence of our customers. Some of our key customers are: Alstom, Adma, Zadco, Petrofac, Mearsk Oil, South Oil Iraq, ONGC, ECL, the Fives group, Clydebergemann, Machhi Boilers, Emal and Hindalco.”

Some of Technomak’s projects include the Adma-Petrofac jackets and top sides, ONGC cluster 7 subsea mooring systems, electro static precipitators for Saudi Arabia, evaporators for Libya, anode paste plant modules for Canada, FPSO top sides for the Far East and RO plants components for Abu Dhabi.

Commenting on the company’s plans he said: “We are currently diversified into various sectors and have started working on e-houses, skids and modules, which will add value to our customers through better quality, safety and controls.

“In the last 10 years we have been growing in a positive manner and are confident of doubling growth in the next three years by entering into more niche markets.

“The GCC is still on the growth path and investments in the industrial sector and diversified markets are moving in a positive way. Oil and gas and infrastructure will remain the main focus and Saudi, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait will remain strong in the years to come.”