Mechanical engineering group, EnerMech, has invested £20 million ($31.5M) in a new Process, Pipeline and Umbilical Services division and appointed one of the industries leading pipeline experts to head up the unit.

Les Graves joins the EnerMech board as director and brings with him more than 30 years experience in pipeline construction, precommissioning activities and well and process services. Mr Graves has previously held senior posts with BJ Services, Norson Services, Copipe/PSL and McKenna &Sullivan/Nowsco.

He will work in tandem with EnerMech business development director John Wingfield and the EnerMech management team which developed an impressive track record in supplying PPU services with their former company, PSL Energy Services, which was sold in 2007.

EnerMech managing director, Doug Duguid, said: “Until now a restrictive covenant prevented us from entering this sector but now it is full steam ahead. The £20 million investment signals our intent that we will be a major player in providing process, pipeline and umbilical support in all the geographic regions in which we currently operate.

“Our clients gave us a consistent message that the market had too many companies providing a mediocre service, not based on sound technical principles, and secondly, service quality was not in line with what they considered value for money. We will plug that gap in the market for a specialist Pipelines, Process and Umbilical company which can provide excellent service quality at a reasonable cost.

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“We have unrivalled technical experience and sector knowledge and this has been strengthened with the appointment of Les Graves who is one of the industry’s leading pipeline pre-commissioning specialists, and a raft of other top level staff appointments.”

Adding a PPU offering completes EnerMech’s business lines and the new division will sit alongside existing services of equipment rental, rigging and lifting, hydraulics, crane services, training, valves and pumping equipment.

Les Graves said: “I am relishing the opportunity to offer solutions for our clients’ pipeline and umbilical pre-commissioning requirements across the world by providing excellent people and cutting edge value adding technologies. The EnerMech team is first class, the commitment is second to none and the can-do culture within the company is a breath of fresh air.”

The scale of investment for an organically grown business is unprecedented in this service sector and includes an initial £2.7 million spent on onsite machining and hydraulic bolting and tensioning equipment. Investment in other equipment to establish what will be the most modern fleet in the world, includes nitrogen convertors (ATEX, DNV, Zoned), nitrogen liquid storage tanks, fluid pumping equipment, subsea flooding and testing packages, air compressors and nitrogen membrane units.

EnerMech will focus on two distinct markets – platform and installation shutdowns on the process side and precommissioning services on pipelines/umbilicals.

EnerMech now offers a range of Process Services including: nitrogen purging; nitrogen/helium leak testing; controlled bolting; total flange management; onsite machining, hydro testing; flushing/retro jetting; camera inspection; oil flushing; chemical cleaning; pipe freezing and integrated services.

Pipeline Services will cover cleaning, flooding and hydro testing, dewatering, drying, abandonment and data logging, while Umbilical Services includes pressure testing, cleaning, flushing and electrical testing including fibre optic cables.

(GK)