Gulf Importers

Fugro has long ties with Gulf

The survey vessel Fugro Proteus

Holland-based Fugro, recently in the news in connection with the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370, bottom cable seismic work in the Gulf of Mexico and its indirect involvement in an oil discovery in Australia, has had long ties with theGCC region.

Fugro has been providing a full range of its survey, subsea and geotechnical services across the GCC region for the last 40 years, said Mike Dravitzki, regional director, survey and subsea divisions, Middle East, India and the Caspian area.

“We work extensively for most national and international oil companies as well as many EPC contractors, civil contractors and government departments. We have a strong multicultural approach with more than 30 nationalities and over 1,000 staff permanently based in the region,” Dravitzki said.

About Fugro products that enjoy high demand in the region and its contribution to the Gulf’s oil and gas sector, the official listed high-accuracy DGPS positioning, seabed mapping, geotechnical sampling and engineering analysis.

“Fugro recently introduced a new state-of-the-art survey vessel Fugro Proteus into the Middle East market. It is very similar to the two vessels being deployed on the search for MH370, although it has been slightly modified to cope with the extreme temperatures in the Arabian Gulf,” said the official.

The vessel is designed for a variety of survey and inspections duties including light geotechnical work, environmental baseline surveys, monitoring and inspection, and moon pool deployments. Diesel electric propulsion delivers excellent economy at all speeds.

“Our biggest markets are Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. We are currently surveying the Red Sea for the Saudi Arabian government’s General Commission for Survey (GCS) and also for Saudi Aramco. The Red Sea is an area of extensive growth over the next five to 10 years,” said Dravitzki.

Fugro sees considerable business growth in the GCC over the next three years.

“Continued expansion in oil and gas fields, coupled with increased civil infrastructure, will all require significant use of Fugro services,” said Dravitzki.

 

FUGRO OFFERINGS

Fugro provides the people, equipment, expertise and technology that support the exploration, development, production and transportation of the world’s natural resources. The company delivers earth and engineering data services, from project preparation through to data acquisition, processing, analysis and interpretation, reporting and consulting.

 

PROJECTS

With regards to the missing Malaysian aircraft, Fugro is mobilising its vessels Fugro Equator and Fugro Discovery, both fitted with specialist deep tow survey systems for the work, following a contract awarded by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). Since June, the Fugro Equator has been involved in the bathymetric survey of the search area.

Fugro and ATSB expect the Fugro Discovery to begin the deep tow search late September with Fugro Equator joining shortly thereafter. The search is expected to take up to 12 months but will understandably end if the missing aircraft is found beforehand. The Australian Government has allocated Aus $60 million to the ATSB to carry out the search for MH370.

CGG recently announced the award by Pemex of a contract worth close to $200 million for ocean bottom cable (OBC) 3D-4C seismic work. The seismic work is in one of the oil company’s most important producing areas, the Ku Maloob Zaap oil field and the light crude oil fields of the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico.

The acquisition will be conducted by Seabed Geosolutions – the joint venture that CGG and Fugro incorporated in early 2013 to handle all seabed-related seismic acquisitions.

Fugro, through an alliance with Finder Exploration Pty Ltd, has an indirect interest in an Australian oil discovery via a 50 per cent profit-sharing agreement with Finder. The oil discovery was made at the Phoneix South-1 exploration well. Finder is a 20 per cent equity holder in the WA-435-P exploration permit.

As part of this alliance, Fugro provides Perth-based Finder with support for selected Finder exploration activities as part of building up Fugro’s Australian multi-client library activities. In return, Fugro receives a profit share in the projects in which it participates with Finder.