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Diversification into non-energy related fields – including assisting with the design of a ‘giga yacht’ for a Middle Eastern client – is helping a major engineering group in New Plymouth come through the worldwide recession virtually unscathed. By Neil Ritchie.
It now employs about 50 staff, up from 45 a year ago, and the mechanical, process and electrical design team continues winning work in Taranaki, elsewhere in New Zealand and abroad. “During the economic downturn we attracted some key people, which added more depth, more flexibility and strength to the ITL team,” says operations manager Kim Gilkison. Mechanical engineering manager Ryan McDonald says it’s a virtual international village at ITL these days, with staff from Columbia, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, China, Britain, South Africa, Canada, America and Australia, as well as New Zealand. “And we’ve had some kiwis returning from overseas and choosing to live in Taranaki for the lifestyle, et cetera. They have had great experiences offshore and bring back valuable skills and expertise,” she adds. McDonald says recent work for ITL, winner of the large business and supreme business categories at the recent 2009 Taranaki Business Awards, has included Kupe, Karratha, Gabon and beyond. ITL designed a separator and condensate flash drum, and a 200-tonne MEG (mono ethylene glycol) reclamation module, for the recently commissioned $1.3 billion offshore Taranaki Kupe gas-condensate project. It was also involved in the design and supply of gas conditioning skids, filters and heaters for the Karratha Power Station in Western Australia, in association with New Plymouth’s Amtec Engineering. ITL then designed four reciprocating compressors for the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel named Knock Allan off the coast of Gabon, West Africa. But the most far-flung project for ITL right now is the design of gangways, stern doors and anchors of a “giga yacht” for a Middle Eastern client. “The vessel is actually called a super yacht, though it’s not like the vessels being built by Fitzroy Yachts here in New Plymouth, so we call it a ‘giga yacht’. This one is actually a converted naval vessel. “We are doing the designs of some equipment that is being made here and in Auckland - not Asia,” says McDonald. Gilkison adds, “And we’ve been working on that for the past 18 months or so. It’s helped us through the recession, which is largely past now.” More recent work includes winning service contracts with Vector Kapuni – for all engineering services and minor works at the Kapuni gas treatment plant –- and the associated Vector Transmission company – providing engineering support for the more than 3500 kilom of high-pressure gas pipelines around the North Island. Shell NZ and Todd Energy jointly own Kapuni and with the recent increase in drilling activity, Vector will be looking forward to processing more gas through their three gas processing trains at the onshore field in south Taranaki. “They have not been operating all trains for several years but drilling activity there means there should be more gas to process,” says McDonald. For the past 12.5 years, Shell and Todd have split 50 percent of all field production, with the other 50 percent going to Vector, based on a figure of 1010 petajoules. However, Vector has used almost all of that gas and Shell and Todd have called for a redetermination of the original reserves to determine how the remaining gas should be allocated during the final phase of the field’s 40 year-plus economic life. And ITL is looking forward to helping Vector engineer the best possible outcome for the remaining years of life left in New Zealand’s first modern-day gas field, says McDonald. For Vector Transmission, ITL is not involved in pipeline maintenance but all the engineering design inputs, project management and construction management from Whangarei to Wellington. “There is still a fair bit of realignment work happening because of above ground activities, expansions of motorways and other roads,” he says. “Even though most of the transmission network was installed more than 20 years ago, as cities grow and demands change the pipelines need to be realigned and reinforced to suit. “And we are working with Vector Transmission on Contact Energy’s gas peaker plant at Stratford, helping design some above ground facilities and part of the pipeline network.” Another recent coup for ITL was winning the engineering services contract for the small onshore Taranaki Cheal oil field now owned 100 percent by Canadian listed junior company Tag Oil. “It’s great to be back at a facility we designed and project managed,” says Gilkison, referring to the contract for former operator Austral Pacific Energy and Tag relating to the construction of a production station, storage tanks, pipelines and other associated facilities for the field near Ngaere. “We had that plant designed and built within a year and, though we did not have the original services contract, we won it back because of our knowledge of the project and our staff expertise. “All this activity means a more diverse sector and opens up further opportunities for ITL. We certainly anticipate winning more exciting projects in the near future.”
Energy NZ Vol.4 No.2 March-April 2010 |
While some engineering design companies have laid off staff through projects being delayed or cancelled because of the global financial crisis, Independent Technology Ltd (ITL) is going from strength to strength.