Pump it up
  from: Offshore Engineer
  by: Darius Snieckus
  Tuesday, April 29, 2008

A bold plan in 2006 to ‘restructure, refocus and invest’ has given Bjørge’s orderbook a big boost, as Darius Snieckus reports.

By its own acknowledgement, 2006 was a ‘year of change’ for Bjørge, as the Tananger-headquartered offshore industrial products and services specialist moved from being a group made up of nine independent companies into one consolidated organisation. The results of this corporate restructuring – which also took in a ‘refocusing of strategies’ and investment in its production and technology base – have, as chief executive Stig Feyling put it recently, ‘really paid off ’ in 2007. Turnover in the fourth quarter alone was NKr418 million, capping a year which saw operating income climb to NKr1.16 billion, a 39% increase on 2006.

Among the levers pulled in the reorganisation at Bjørge, which offers turnkey solutions for pumps, valves, fiscal metering, instrumentation, automation, monitoring, fire and gas detection and extinguishing systems, as well as advanced surface treatment and maintenance and modifications of cranes and lifting equipment, was last April’s acquisition of Aker Kvaerner Subsea’s topside pumps division. For the buy-up added the larger contractor’s well-regarded Eureka pump line to Bjørge’s existing portfolio of firewater, seawater, oil export, water injection and processing pumps.

Two of the Norwegian continental shelf ’s highest profile fields under development, BP Skarv/Idun and StatoilHydro Gjøa, have since bolstered Bjørge’s aim of becoming a ‘one stop pump shop’ for the offshore industry. For the FPSO for Skarv/Idun, the company won three contracts with a total value of nearly NKr160 million, with Aker Kværner Engineering & Technology and FPSO builder Samsung Heavy Industries having placed orders for fire water, centrifugal and rotational and seawater lift pumps for the vessel. Fabrication is being handled by Bjørge’s newly-opened facility at Sørumsand, and deliveries, which includes a diesel-driven generator set, are spread from 3Q 2008 into 1Q 2009.

On StatoilHydro’s Gjoa semisubmersible production unit, Bjørge is supplying some 100 process and utility pumps under a pair of contracts inked with the operator and main project contractor Aker Kvaerner Stord that are together valued at around NKr100 million. Delivery here is also scheduled for later this year.

There was also a NKr25 million contract win, awarded by Houston-based Mustang Engineering, to supply sea water lift pumps for BP’s Valhall redevelopment project off Norway, with delivery set for the first quarter of next year.

Taken together, says Bjørge sales director Jon Kjetil Jutulstad, these orders have given the company proof that ‘it is possible to launch our Eureka products internationally’ – even if they all end up back on the Norwegian continental shelf. ‘These new orders also corroborate Bjørge’s strong position within complex pump contracts,’ he notes. ‘So we feel we are getting there.’

Eureka moment

The Eureka pumps have a wide range of applications. For firewater, the pumps are driven by either diesel or diesel-electric generators or electric dry-mounted engines, with a capacity of up to 5000m3/h. Among its references are the StatoilHydro Grane platform, where four 43m long CD450-2 units were installed in 2000, powered by a 1850kW motor, that are capable of pumping 2350m³/h, and the BP Clair platform, which in 2002 had installed a pair of 44.5m long ‘deepwell’ CD250-3 units, outfitted with an 800kW motor, that can pump 1050m³/h. There are also Eureka firewater pumps in place on such installations as the Åsgard A and Farwah FPSOs, and Snorre B and Kristin semisubmersibles.

Among the strengths of the NFPA 20 compliant firewater pumps, profers Jutulstad, are their high output/low energy demand design – ‘they have no limitation to capacity and pressures required for pump applications on offshore units today’; low system complexity – ‘few parts and few interfaces’; and self-containment – ‘no external influence can stop the firewater pump in a fire emergency situation’.

With the current boom in FPSO construction in Southeast Asia, Jutulstad is bullish about the coming demand for the Eureka electric-driven distributed cargo pump offloading systems. ‘This is a proven technology with over 1000 deepwell pumps already delivered,’ he underlines. ‘Each pump can have a differential pressure of up to 22 bars and there are no limitations on capacity as they are electrically driven with explosion-proof deck-mounted motors.’ They are ‘very well suited’ to FPSO applications given that among the key selling features of the API 610 standard pumps are their ‘easy maintenance and low opex’, with all crucial parts installed and maintained from topside and design specifications set for 20,000 hours between major inspections.

‘Southeast Asia is a region we see as very much a key market going forward,’ states Jutulstad.

Testament to the rapid growth of Bjørge’s pump division, the number of employees in the unit has leapt from 20 to 70 in under two years. ‘We feel fortunate to have been able to attract experienced engineers to the division,’ he continues, ‘which was very important because we had to hit the ground running with the acquisition from Aker Kvaerner Subsea.

‘It is one thing to build up a division through acquisition, but you need the people too,’ Jutulstad adds.

With more than 2000 ‘Kvaerner pumps’ already at work offshore on the Norwegian continental shelf and more added through recent installation on developments such as Ormen Lange and Ekofisk, the 2007 acquisition has also translated into a large on-the-spot expansion of Bjørge’s topside pump maintenance business – and one that doubles when one counts the population of proprietary pumps in Norwegian onshore refineries. The reality of the demands of this size of maintenance market has prompted Bjørge to open a new testing and service centre in Stavanger.

Looking ahead, with the corporate acquisition now bedding in and the orderbook brimming, Bjørge appears to be facing a wide horizon. ‘Prospects ahead are good, both in the short and long term,’ concludes Jutulstad.

‘We have an order reserve which is 90% more than last year.’OE

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