High Arctic Energy Services, an international leader in specialised, underbalanced oilfield drilling and production services, says the GCC countries account for 20 per cent of its global revenues according to a company official.
The Canada-based company recently opened a Dh13 million ($3.5 million) facility in Sharjah’s Hamriyah Free Zone. The facility will primarily be utilised to design, develop and build combination drilling, workover and snubbing rigs.
“Our commitment to the GCC is evident from our investment activity in the region and is a product of our growing business interests,” says Jed Wood, president and CEO of High Arctic.
“We made a strategic decision six years ago to locate our international headquarters in Dubai which has become our launching pad into the markets of Africa, the Central European States and Asia. Hamriyah is a perfect solution for us to grow our business. We plan to double our existing facility by buying and setting up on an adjacent plot of land, and have already shipped our first Rapad rig, worth $10 million, to a client in Thailand.”
During his visit to inaugurate the facility, Wood stated that revenue from the GCC region was expected to reach $24 million by the end of 2006, accounting for 20 per cent of the company’s total global revenues of $120 million.
“Our forecasts project that 50 per cent of our global revenue could be generated from the GCC region in 2009, and the growth markets include Oman, Yemen, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the GCC, Ukraine and Armenia in the CES and East Asia and Papua New Guinea in Australasia.” Wood says. “With renowned expertise in underbalanced drilling, we have been able to service international oil and gas giants such as Aramco, BP, Shell and Nexon.”
Underbalanced drilling refers to the practice of intentionally drilling a well with borehole pressure less than the formation bore pressure, thus allowing formation fluid to more freely flow into the wellbore while managing the hydrocarbons and associated pressures with surface support equipment. Underbalanced drilling has become an increasingly important technology in the Canadian and international oil and natural gas sector especially in maturing production areas.
Benefits of underbalanced drilling methods include an increased speed of drilling, a reduction in fluid invasion into the production formation area, thus minimising damage, rapid indication of hydrocarbons during drilling, optimised production in existing wellbores, reduction or elimination of stimulation costs (ie fracing, acid stimulation), reduction of overall project cost and maximisation of ultimate hydrocarbon recovery.
