A PIPELINE decommissioning specialist has opened a base in Scotland – with the intention of focusing on North Sea-based clients.
Decom Engineering (Decom) have opened a new facility near Aberdeen and have challenged the decommissioning and surplus pipeline sectors.
The company has invested more than £250,000 to set up a base at Potterton, Aberdeenshire – strategically located closer to North Sea oil and gas clients.
The 6,000 sq ft facility will be used for equipment testing and storage, and will allow faster deployment of Decom’s assets to clients working in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).
To mark the expansion, Decom have issued a Chopsaw Challenge – promising that their machinery will cut through piping materials which may have defeated other solutions.
The company has already hosted a number of client open days in Aberdeen to showcase the capabilities of its cold cutting saws.
The saws can perform a “clean cut” through 2-24 inch materials, including steel pipes with a range of problematic coatings.
Decom’s technologies have been deployed on projects where oil and gas operators have had to replace or remove ageing subsea infrastructure and redundant assets.
Decom Engineering Chief Executive Officer, Sean Conway, said: “We are delighted to extend our footprint with this new Aberdeen presence, which adds to our existing capability in Holland and our headquarters in Belfast.
“This investment gives us a platform for significant growth in 2022 and beyond by offering more direct and speedier access to existing North Sea clients and a large number of potential new customers who operate in the UKCS and international oil and gas markets.”
Nick McNally, Decom’s Operations Director, said: “We are encouraging companies which have redundant piping infrastructure to get in touch.
“Our chop saws are capable of working in the harshest working conditions on varying pipe diameters and material composition.
“We are confident they are capable of clean-cutting through the most challenging materials, regardless of the coating the pipeline is encased in.”
Sean Conway added: “Even in the initial weeks of opening in Aberdeen we are enjoying a return on investment.
“The ability to store our own equipment closer to clients’ operations and to have it at the ready for faster deployment is a real bonus.”
Visitors to Decom’s Potterton base can also witness first-hand how the firm’s other major business line – Pipe Coating Removal (PRC) – can offer substantial cost savings.
Pipelines which have been removed from the seabed would typically have a coating material which has to be removed if the pipeline is to be repurposed for use in other construction projects.
The company claims its PRC system is the fastest and greenest process on the market.
The cold process is capable of removing multiple coating types from decommissioned or surplus pipelines.
The pipelines can then be repurposed and deployed in a number of sectors which returns value to the client while decreasing the carbon footprint compared to using new steel.
