Official opening of expanded Aagotnes subsea base
Aker Solutions has officially opened its expanded service and maintenance base at Aagotnes outside Bergen, Norway. The expansion will enable the company to further improve its onshore and offshore service support for subsea customers operating off the coast of Norway.
A new workshop for maintenance of subsea equipment and a new office block, which includes state-of-the-art support systems, has been set up on the existing base - adding 2400 square metres of buildings. In addition, a 600 square metre storage tent has been set up, and the staff canteen has been expanded.
In sum, NOK 50 million has been invested into the base through this latest expansion, which started at the end of 2007.
"Our customer base and installed base of subsea equipment has been steadily increasing since we set the base up in 1994. We know the North Sea subsea market will remain solid over the coming decade and this investment will enable us to offer even better support to our customers," says Dave Hutchinson, senior vice president for Subsea Lifecycle Services, Aker Solutions.
The Aagotnes base provides life-of-field support for subsea equipment, including offshore installation and intervention support; onshore maintenance, refurbishment and upgrades of subsea trees, control systems and intervention work-over systems; and maintenance, repairs and recertification of tools. It also provides storage facilities, engineering services and technical support.
Today, the Aagotnes base employs approximately 400 people. Manpower-wise it is Aker Solutions' biggest subsea service base worldwide. Although its main area of operations is the North Sea, the 110-strong offshore crew is providing installation and maintenance support for Aker Solutions' subsea projects worldwide.
"We have a highly experienced team at Aagotnes. They play an important role in enhancing the performance of our customers' installed subsea equipment and supporting emerging subsea regions such as Africa and Asia with onshore and offshore support. This latest investment is part of our long-term growth strategy for our presence on the Norwegian continental shelf - a part of the world which will see an increased focus on life-of-field service support in the years ahead," concludes Hutchinson.
