Hanoi: Construction of Oslo-listed ODIM's new production facility at Vung Tau in Vietnam is due to begin any time now. The automated handling specialist's new plant, located in a region already home to a range of offshore engineering firms, is due to open in April 2009. It will approximately double the company's existing production capacity and will significantly expand its presence in the rapidly growing Asian offshore market.
The company, which designs and builds a wide range of sophisticated handling systems for various applications including the offshore oil business, says that the world's hunger for energy, a tight oil service market and growing focus on health and safety are all important drivers in its current expansion which has seen 2005 revenues of Nkr347 m ($69.5m) increase more than four-fold to Nkr1,416.8 ($283.8m) last year.
The move by offshore operators into deeper waters is a key focus and ODIM has developed a new handling system for fibre rope which is effectively weightless in sea water and could well replace steel wire which typically weighs more than 100 kg per metre length. This development could extend the depth of offshore oil exploration from today practical maximum of 4,000 metres to as much as 10,000 metres, ODIM says. [22/5/08]
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