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IOS confirms commitment to North-east UK with £5.5 million investment programme

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Oilfield Technology,


Independent Oilfield Services (IOS), Peterhead-based storage and inspection firm, is to invest £5.5 million in the North-east of Scotland over the coming months.

The company has already invested more than £4million in its state-of-the-art storage and inspection facility at Longside Supply Base near Peterhead. In the first phase of this additional investment, the company has bought its current 32-acre site on the former airfield for £2.5 million.

The deal will be followed by further investment of around £3million which will create new jobs for the local region with IOS’s plans for major expansion at the Longside facility.

Established in 2014, IOS has seen steady growth in turnover over the past year and, with a number of new contracts wins secured, is forecasting a further 30% turnover increase over the next 12 months.

The company has leased the Longside site since it started up and was three years into a 10-year lease before taking the decision to buy the land outright in order to support its future growth plans. IOS retains a 15-year option to lease additional sites at Longside with potential to extend the facility to 100 acres.

Located just four miles from the quayside of Peterhead’s deepwater port, the Longside Supply Base incorporates both hard-standing outdoor storage and internal warehouse storage. Current services include OCTG, drillpipe and offshore inspection, equipment rental, transportation and tubular management.

“The decision to buy the site confirms our long-term commitment to the area and our plans for on-going investment in the region,” said Glynn Geddie, Managing Director at IOS. “We are a privately owned company and through private funding we look forward to continued growth in this region.

“We opened the Longside facility in direct response to the shortage of industrial storage space in the North-east and since then we have seen rapid growth in our customer base. Until we opened most equipment and tubulars had to be transported considerable distances by road to reach suitable storage and inspection facilities. Our location, just a short distance from Peterhead port, and our range of facilities and services makes us ideally placed to provide a cost-effective alternative.

“The £49 million Peterhead Port development has increased its capability to service oil & gas clients operating in the UKCS and through the investment in our company we are committed to supporting that by providing the facilities that operators and service companies sailing into Peterhead will need.

“As part of this we have formed an alliance with NorSea Group (UK), operators of Peterhead’s Smith and Merchant quays. The agreement combines their full range of quayside services and logistics expertise with the benefits of conveniently located storage and inspection facilities to provide a full one-stop-shop service for the customer,” said Mr Geddie.

In the past year, IOS has taken on an additional 25 employees, doubling the previous workforce. The expansion plans will create an additional 20 jobs within the coming months.

Included in the expansion plans is a new machine shop which will be operational in January. The three-acre site will be owned by IOS, but the company has agreed a lease deal with Aberdeen-headquartered NXG Oilfield Services Ltd for its use. The machine shop will provide machinery, manufacturing, hard banding and a make-and-break facility.

“We are absolutely committed to the Peterhead area and the role we can play in the local economy,” said Mr Geddie. “Since 2014 we will have invested almost £10 million and created 70 new jobs with seventy percent of our employees coming from the Buchan area. We would anticipate that total rising in line with future company growth.

“We are also proud to support our local community and have signed up a shirt sponsors for Peterhead FC’s first team.”

The company expects to make further announcements about major contract wins and detailed expansion plans for the Longside facility in the near future.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/offshore-and-subsea/11122017/ios-confirms-commitment-to-north-east-uk-with-55-million-investment-programme/

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