UK plays for WA oil and gas

THE lucrative Western Australian offshore oil and gas market has been the catalyst for a competitive push by the UK to establish more than 50 companies throughout the state over the past 10 years.

The attractiveness of the state’s booming oil and gas sector was last week highlighted by 30 exhibits from the UK at the 2010 Australasian Oil and Gas Exhibition in Perth, and a flurry of subsequent enquiries to Perth-based UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) by interested British businesses wanting a piece of the action.

British companies such as MCS Advanced Subsea Engineering and Optimus Safety Management are part of a growing number of businesses backed by UKTI, which facilitates UK oil and gas businesses to access WA’s market, or the Asia Pacific market through a local WA base.

UKTI operates similarly to Austrade but is positioned in embassies, consulates and high commissions throughout 240 posts around the world.

Aberdeen-based OEG Offshore, which was formed in February following the merger of Containental Offshore and Vertec Engineering, is the latest British oil and gas company to venture to the state after partnering with Canning Vale-based Intercon Millar Logistics (IML).

OEG, which employs about 100 staff and exhibited at the Perth oil and gas show, specialises in the design, building and rental of cabins and cargo carrying units for the offshore oil and gas market.

The company has invested $1 million in a fleet of containers and cabins which will be located at IML’s Canning Vale and Jandakot bases.

OEG commercial director Craig Russell said establishing the Perth subsidiary and partnering with IML was part of the company’s plan to have a significant presence in the Australasian marketplace.

“The presence of OEG Offshore and its fleet of cabins and units on the ground will ensure that we are able to respond quickly to demand across Western Australia,” he said.

UKTI’s Perth-based head of post Philip Orchard said OEG was one of many UK and Norwegian businesses looking to invest in WA as oilfields in the North Sea rapidly decline.

“They see the market opening up (in WA) and they want to be involved in it,” he told WA Business News. “They know it will go on for a long time.”

Family-owned IML was formed from the recent alliance between two established transport and logistics companies, M&J Millar Transport and Ridolfo Group’s Intercon Logistics, which have 50 years of experience.

IML is a freight transport, supply chain management and distribution company offering container delivery and wharf services, as well as project logistics and warehousing within Australia.

IML chief executive Anthony Benino said partnering with OEG was part of IML’s ongoing growth strategy, which included the business acquiring premises in Karratha and Dampier in 2009 to underpin its North West services and clients.

Mr Benino said parameters of the “open and informal” partnership were yet to be determined, but IML would act as OEG’s operations and marketing partner in WA.

“The oil and gas and resources sector has been widely reported to be at the beginning of an expansionary phase, which some foresee as lasting for many years to come,” Mr Benino told WA Business News.

“With our North West supply bases in Karratha and the Dampier Port Authority precinct, we are well placed to service this sector with the back-up of our metropolitan facilities and management.”

Mr Benino said this, and IML’s experience managing the project logistics requirements in the resources sector, was a selling point for OEG to partner with the family-owned business.

Vince Ridolfo founded IML in 1957, which then harvested and transported wooden power poles for what was then the State Energy Commission of WA.

The company has since expanded and diversified its services, with a 2001 acquisition of Wesfarmers’ transport logistics division, and the acquisition of M&J Millar Transport in 2008.

The latter acquisition enabled IML to enter project-based work for the mining and resources sector.

“To date we have been involved in the transportation and storage of the Cape Preston desalination plant, cyclone mooring systems, 300-tonne power turbines, project water pipes and precast concrete modules for offshore production facilities,” Mr Benino said.