While most of the major O&G players are already present in Brazil, we now see important subsea equipment manufacturers also opening offices in Rio de Janeiro and Macaé.
International subsea equipment manufacturers have noticed that they have very few national companies in position to compete in this specialized market. The manufacturers are confident in having an excellent chance for return on investment, as their equipment has been thoroughly tested and their reliability proven by subsea O&G operators and service providers. Their presence in Brazil can only be seen as a very positive development for the Brazilian subsea equipment market.
The tools and equipments they bring are very specialized and fundamental for the subsea systems development in Brazil, specially for deepwater projects which requiry very robust and dependable tools and equipment. This influx will also force national companies to raise their standards, if they want to compete.
The Brazilian offshore seabed has seen the discovery of two of the world´s three largest subsea O&G reservoirs. With this kind of potential, it is considered by the market that the majority of the global subsea equipment manufacturers will open offices in the country.
The most recent subsea equipment manufacturer to open a subsidiary in Brazil has been CDL Underwater Engineering, whose headquarters is in Aberdeen, Scotland.
CDL Underwater Engineering launched CDL do Brasil Ltda., only a couple of days ago, with a sales office in downtown Rio de Janeiro, which will be followed by a service and repair facility in Macaé, set to open in 2010. CDL specializes in Metrology, Fiber Optics and Ring Laser Gyros, U/W telemetry among other tools and equipments.
In November, MacArtney Underwater Technology Group, based in Denmark, also opened a subsidiary office in Rio de Janeiro. The subsidiary, named, MacArtney Brazil will also offer customers local testing, integration and installation through a planned new workshop, also in Macae. It will provide MacArtney´s global standard moulding, fibre optics, electronic service and engineering.
Also in November, one of the UK’s fastest growing precision engineering companies, Express Engineering, specialized in CNC milling, precision engineering and CNC machining, announced a 50/50 joint venture with a Brazilian partner Brastec Ltda., creating Petrotec Components Ltda., which will begin operations in the first quarter of 2010.
The new company will be based in a 1,000 m² extention to Brastec´s existing plant in São Paulo state. Brastec specializes in engineering solutions, developing and manufacturing high standard heavy equipment for surface and subsea oil and gas, wire and cables and pipe industries.
This is only the beginning, as many other re-known subsea equipment and tool manufacturers are forecast to open subsidiaries in Brazil, specially in the state of Rio de Janeiro, beginning in the first quarter of 2010.
Claudio Paschoa
Photo courtesy MacArtney Underwater Technology Group