Cluster group expands

The New Zealand Oil & Gas Specialist Technologies group is going from strength to strength, with its members, from Auckland to Bluff, involved in a myriad of energy-related activities, says chairman Arun Chaudhari.

What started a few years ago as a 10-strong team has now swelled to 18 with the recent inclusion of New Plymouth-based Independent Technology Ltd (ITL) and an industry services-based group of Auckland-headquartered Air New Zealand.

Chaudhari is excited by the Air NZ group joining the specialist technologies group.

“When the maintenance of aircraft was outsourced this group had all the necessary experience, equipment and manpower to branch out to do general gas turbine work, not just in the airline industry but also the energy industry, particularly gas-fired power stations that use gas turbines.

“They have joined our group and won some work outside the airline industry. It just shows the diverse nature of the group these days,” says the Port Taranaki manager of the Newton King Tanker Terminal.

Members provide a one-stop shop approach for all “upstream” (oil and gas exploration and production) and “downstream” (petrochemical, refining, oil and gas wholesaling and retailing) companies with their wide range of specialist services. They are presently involved in many things, from the large offshore Maari oil and Kupe gas projects to smaller onshore maintenance programmes.

They interact on a regular basis and with their combined resources are able to showcase the entire group at events like February’s Australasian Oil and Gas Expo in Perth and the forthcoming New Zealand Oil and Gas Expo and Conference due to be held in New Plymouth next September. They are also closely linked with the Energy Taranaki Consortium, which represents a major group of Taranaki engineering companies.  

Although there is a strong Taranaki and New Zealand customer focus, most of the group’s members have also won work in such countries as Australia, Fiji, Malaysia, Brazil, Singapore, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

“There is a lot of intelligence sharing and if one company is awarded a contract, the others get an opportunity to offer their services for that project or to that client. This works very well for the benefit of all the members and for New Zealand,” Chaudhari concludes.

Members featured in this issue of Energy NZ include Port Taranaki, Asia-Pacific service consultancy Beca, remote digital video specialists Digital Insight, and cable manufacturer Olex New Zealand.