A new Houston-based subsea company, Underwater Integrity Solutions (UIS), was launched at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) on 4 May. The independent company will focuse on underwater integrity, production assurance and life extension for subsea fields.
HitecVision, the leading European private equity oil and gas investor, has committed US$150 millionof equity to finance the build-up of the company. UIS has been established by five well-known subsea industry leaders with over 140 years’ combined global experience. UIS will acquire businesses, and form strategic partnerships, to build an independent and global company solely focused on integrity and production assurance with the aim of maximizing the operators’ financial return on their subsea assets over their operational life.
Bill Boyle, UIS CEO said: “UIS is launching at a time when the trend for operations in deeper water and in more hostile environments is continuing. There are about 5000 operational subsea wells around the world with almost 7000 predicted by 2020. Subsea global annual operating expenditure is currently around $10 billion and expected to grow strongly over the course of the next few years. Today,there is a need to significantly reduce subsea operating costsand increase efficiency and hence value from subsea fields. Against that background, the UIS vision is to become a leading provider of independent underwater integrity and production assurance solutions. Our independence, global presence and sole focus on subsea integrity and assurance will be our competitive edge, differentiating UIS from what is currently being offered in the marketplace.”
UIS boasts aleadership team on both sides of the Atlantic, comprising, in Houston, Bill Boyle, chief financial officer Mark Websterand chief operating officer Guido Bressani, and in Aberdeen, chief commercial officer Neill Kelly, and chief technology officer, Geoff Fisher.
Rolf Magne Larsen, who recently retired from Statoil, is chairman of the board of UIS, which also includes Quinn Fanning, chief financial officer of Tidewater Inc, Lasse Andresen of ForgeRock and Tor Espedal, senior partner of HitecVision.