Another big splash in the North Sea

In October, nearly 500 guests came to launch the next big thing for Norway’s offshore industry – GE’s new 3,000 m2 Service Center in Dusavik, Stavanger.

“All the way from the North Sea up into the Barents Sea, we’re looking at a very different industry these days,” said Stig Jessen, VetcoGray’s General Manager Northern Europe. “And this new facility offers the much-needed capacity and technology to keep things moving ahead.”

The facility can service the entire VetcoGray product range. It supports customers with aftermarket and field-life management services, including repair, testing and offshore support. It is Norway’s sales and engineering office for surface and subsea wellhead equipment, surface trees, capital drilling equipment, valves, tubulars and connectors. A wide range of engineering and project management services are also provided.

This expansion increases VetcoGray’s physical capacity in Stavanger by 50%, and available workshop hours by 79%. It also integrates into GE’s Oil & Gas network to redistribute projects and increase responsiveness in all areas of specialization. Pod and choke valve repairs, for example, will be transferred from the UK in order to free up manufacturing capacity there. Lean AWO in controls have resulted in a 77% cycle-time reduction (from 435 to just 100 days).