Emerging companies find opportunities in oil, gas

Local players are making their mark on the multi-billion dollar oil and gas industry.

IF there was a common theme at last week’s Australian Oil & Gas Exhibition at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre it was growth.

Western Australia is a leading player when it comes to expansion in the industry with investment worth more than $85 billion in LNG developments underway, and more planned.

Facilitating this growth is the emergence of several WA-based services companies, which have found a niche competing against multinational organisations, while overcoming Australia’s skills shortage and the rising value of the local currency.

AME Offshore Solutions, a Perth-based engineering and project management company formed in 2002, has confronted challenges common to the modern-day oil and gas industry.

Director Saul Wende said the difficulty an engineering company such as AME had competing with overseas groups was increasing as Australia’s economy surged.

He said the industry had reached a point where the strength of the Australian dollar made it cheaper to source engineering services from the UK or US. 

“This does make it difficult to provide competitive services locally when you’re dealing with international clients,” Mr Wende said.

AME has still experienced the high level of growth common around the industry and intends to continue investing heavily in the business to support this.

The company has focused on providing clients with reactive services, something overseas companies cannot do as well as those based in WA.

“If you are trying to provide local services that are cost-effective, it is difficult to compete,” Mr Wende said. 

“However, we offset that by being reactive and providing quality work to clients.”

The company has grown to employ 25 people and has introduced a graduates program to help combat the skills shortage for engineers in WA.

Unlike the experience of AME, a stronger dollar has worked in the favour of hazardous lighting supplier Dialight ILS Australia.

The company, which competes against many international players, has been able to purchase its goods from the UK and US at cheaper rates as the currency has strengthened.

Dialight has become well established working with oil and gas clients, having supplied goods for projects such as Gorgon in the state’s north-west.

Outside of major clients such as Chevron and Woodside, managing director Malcolm Lee said Dialight was starting to draw the attention of a different group of industry players – contractors.

“We’ve had success on the Gorgon project,” Mr Lee told WA Business News. “Companies that have been involved in that project are now coming to us to solve their lighting problems near coastal parts of Barrow Island.”

Dialight has also experienced the type of growth typical of the oil and gas industry, and in recent years has expanded its hazardous lighting department from two employees to seven. 

To prosper in this competitive environment, Mr Lee said Dialight had been persistent with potential clients.

He said basing the company’s head office in Perth to enable quick reaction to client needs had helped to achieve this.

Dialight has found a point of difference from its international competitors by focusing on LED fittings, whereas most competitors invest heavily in traditional products.

“We’re probably the only manufacturer in the world that produces LED light fittings for hazardous areas,” Mr Lee said.

Damione Wright, managing director of safety glove specialists Performance On Hand, said a challenge for his business was convincing companies of the benefits its range provided over cheaper models.

He said there had been a long-standing, albeit changing perception, in the industry that a one-size-fits-all glove would cover the safety requirements of companies.

“It has happened very quickly for the companies to recognise the problems associated with wearing a one-size-fits-all glove,” Mr Wright said.

Performance On Hand has worked to educate clients on the superior safety features of its gloves and the improved productivity that results from their use.

“We are now focusing on the type of productivity that doesn’t ignore the safety component for a moment – productivity is a function of safety,” Mr Wright said.

“In providing our product to end users such as Woodside or BHP we focus on productivity along with the safety aspect.”

Mr Wright also views competition as a positive for the business, saying it had helped to educate the industry on the benefits of new safety gloves.

“There are new entrants coming on board, particularly in the Australian marketplace, and they are helping us do our job,” Mr Wright said.

“They have also started to realise the value in the technical task specific role; we just have to stay ahead of the curve and I believe we are doing that.”

Performance On Hand has more than doubled its employee base as turnover has significantly increased through its association with the industry.

Geo Oceans, an emerging marine science consultancy specialising in diverless marine habitat mapping and monitoring technology, has provided its services to many of Australia’s largest oil and gas projects since it was founded by Ben Brayford in November 2010.

The company works alongside some of the world’s leading consultancies to bid for work and has been successful across three Australian states with clients such as Chevron, Inpex, Total and Apache.

Commercial manager Nick Veitch said Geo Oceans had the ability to bid for these projects due to efficient technology and methods, which even on large projects only required small teams for field operations.

“We’ve developed an innovative and efficient way of doing things and it is working very well,” he said.

“This gives us a competitive advantage but when it comes to large projects or clients they like to see the backing and stability of a large organisation.”

To lift its standing as an emerging consultancy, Mr Veitch said Geo Oceans had focused on specialising in its niche of diverless marine habitat survey and technology.

These specialist capabilities are then subcontracted to large consultancies that contract to multinational clients.

“Geo Oceans has a niche of providing specialised diverless technology and services, and we add value to the large consultancies we work with by strengthening their capabilities in this area,” Mr Veitch said.

“So far we have found that we are able to scale our operations quite efficiently and effectively to suit the needs of our projects, however we do plan to expand our permanent team once we secure more long-term projects.”

The company, which has completed 14 projects with its new technology, currently has four directors in two states.