Mark Williamson
Group Business Correspondent
ECOSSE Subsea Systems has said oil and gas business has slowed following
the fall in the price of crude but work in the renewables sector has been
compensating.
The Aberdeenshire-based firm, which specialises in work like seabed
clearance, said it had already suffered from the effects of the fall in the
oil price since June with delays on a number of oil and gas projects.
“There are a number of contracts valued at about £5 million which we would
have expected to land but so far have not been awarded and I would expect
this situation to continue as long as we have a depressed oil price,” said
managing director, Mike Wilson.
However, the company increased turnover for the year to March.
Privately-owned Ecosse Subsea said it has felt the benefit of
diversification from its traditional oil and gas market into sectors such
as renewables.
The company said its technologies are in high demand for seabed clearance
work, trenching and cable laying projects.
The renewables sector now accounts for 55 per cent of the projects it works on.
In recent months Ecosse Subsea has worked on a £5.4 million contract on the
Baltic 2 windfarm offshore Germany and a multi-million pound cable-lay
contract for a utilities provider in the Humber Estuary.
It has signed a Letter of Intent with ABB to provide seabed clearing and
trenching services on the 100-mile £1.2 billion Caithness-Moray electricity
transmission link project.
ABB is working on the cabling aspect of the undersea link on behalf of SSE.
The cable will carry 1.2 gigawatts of renewable energy generated in
Scotland into the main UK network.
The success of Ecosse Subsea will be studied with interest by oil and gas
services firms. It may encourage hopes that activity in areas like
renewables will offset the effect of the slow down in the North Sea oil and
gas market.
Mr Wilson, said: “The results are extremely encouraging and confirm that
our technologies are equally suited to and easily transferable between the
oil and gas sector, which is where we cut our teeth, and the green energy
market.”
Ecosse Subsea increased turnover by 88 per cent to a record £15.6m in the
year to March 2014, from £8.3m in the previous year helped by its success
in renewables.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose to £3.4m
from £1.02m.
The company employs 70 people offshore and at its headquarters in Banchory,
with numbers increasing to more than 100 when offshore projects are in
progress.
Separately Aberdeen-based ROVOP, which provides subsea Remotely Operated
Vehicles for use in industries like oil and gas and offshore wind, has
established a Western Hemisphere headquarters and support base in Houston
Texas.
The company said it has appointed three veterans of the ROV industry, Scott
Wagner, Brett “Gonzo” Eychner and Wayne Betts, to lead the operation.
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