OE15: Reasons for optimism in a down market

Proserv CEO David Lamont is keeping his head held high during these depressing market conditions. The executive says he remains optimistic about the North Sea, especially because of the downturn. 

In fact, during SPE Offshore Europe, he described it as good for the region. “It’s bringing about change that would have taken quite a while to introduce,” he told a press event.

Lamont, like many executives speaking at the conference this year, believes the industry must take advantage of this downturn to make fundamental changes, saying that increased collaboration and ending over-engineering will help change the industry for the better.

“We must embrace and rekindle the pioneering spirit that made the North Sea great in the past to ensure the North Sea industry doesn’t fade out prematurely, but really flourishes in its latter years,” Lamont said.

“Despite talk in recent years of the urgent need to act and collaborate, even before the oil price crash, the industry as a whole still has a long way to go. Everyone knows what needs to be done but the inertia in the industry is of great concern. The time is now to put a stop to this and make dynamic changes to the way we act and behave. Changing our approach to how we think and do business will see the industry thrive, rather than simply survive.”

Just days before SPE Offshore Europe kicked off, Lamont’s Proserv acquired Aberdeen-based subsea acoustic positioning firm Nautronix.  At the press event, Lamont remarked that he had been taken with the company for the last two years, saying, “I liked the cut of their jib.”

Proserv aims to help its customers make the most of what they have by replacing obsolete technology at minimal cost, by retrofitting into existing hardware. Lamont compared old internet modems, with their squawks and squeaks to older generation subsea electronics components that are no longer able to be serviced. In most cases whole control modules would have to be replaced.

“Replacing only the electronics allows for the external interfaces to remain intact,” Lamont said. “In addition, it gives operators a truly ‘maintenance free’ subsea production control system and uninterrupted production, with state of the art system capability to allow the use of advanced system monitoring and data gathering.”

 

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