Fabricom Oil & Gas, one of the leading offshore maintenance and service contractors, and its technology partner AMEC have won the Energy Institute's 2006 innovation award for their Offshore Access System (OAS), which will help improve offshore oil and gas operations around the world.

The award, sponsored by ExxonMobil, was presented by Robert Olsen, UK Chairman of ExxonMobil International. Commenting on the award, Olsen described the OAS as 'innovative, cost-effective with major applications for the oil and gas industry.'

Northern Ireland Electricity and Shell were the runners up in the Energy Institute's 2006 innovation award category. This is the second major industry award for OAS, after it picked up the award for Safety at the 2006 IChemE Awards.

The OAS is a specialist piece of equipment that gives maintenance staff easy access to 'normally unmanned installations' (NUI) located offshore. Traditionally, helicopters have been hired to take operatives on to such facilities, which is expensive and often limited by poor flying conditions. In the Southern North Sea, some 75% of helicopter flights are used for NUI shuttling and the number of these facilities requiring servicing is steadily growing. The OAS meets the need for a more reliable, safe and more cost-effective way of carrying out this vital oil and gas production activity. 

It uses advanced heave-compensated technology to connect a moving vessel with a rigid offshore platform in wave heights of up to 2.5 metres. The OAS connection procedure takes a few minutes after which the crew can walk over the gangway from the ship to the installation. Disconnection takes seconds and, in case of emergency, is carried out automatically and safely by the OAS control system, which maintains the bridge at a constant height.

The system, installed on the Smit Kamara tug boat, underwent extensive sea trials and evaluation before being accepted into service by Shell in its Southern North Sea operations in May 2006.

The OAS is proving to be of great interest to operators in the North Sea, Persian Gulf, Gulf of Mexico, Nile Delta and Kazakhstan, several of whom are interested in a smaller, light-weight unit that is being developed for use on crew boats operating in less challenging waters than the North Sea.

Fabricom Oil & Gas provides project management, maintenance support service, design engineering and fabrication to the Oil & Gas sector both on & offshore. Fabricom Oil & Gas is a subsidiary of GTI.

Together with the companies Axima, Elyo, ENDEL, INEO, Tractebel Engineering and Fabricom GTI, GTI is part of SUEZ Energy Services.

SUEZ Energy Services, European leader in installation and technical services, develops value added solutions for its clients in the industry, the building services and the infrastructure as for design, realization and maintenance of technical installations along with energy management and long-term multi-technical management. SUEZ Energy Services employs 66,000 people and achieved revenues of € 10.3 billion in 2005. SUEZ Energy Services is one of the four business lines of the international industrial group SUEZ. SUEZ's stocks are  listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Energy Institute has a membership of almost 12,000 individuals and 350 organisations and provides an independent focal point for the energy community, bringing together industry, academia and government. The Energy Institute?s purpose is to promote the safe, environmentally responsible and efficient supply and use of energy in all its forms and applications. In fulfilling its purpose the EI can address a wide range of topics in detail, covering upstream and downstream hydrocarbons and other primary fuels and renewables, through power generation, transmission and distribution to sustainable development, demand side management and energy efficiency.

More information for the press is available from:
GTI nv
Leen Geschiere, Concern Marketing and Communications
Kosterijland 50, 3981 AJ  Bunnik, the Netherlands; PO Box 210, 3980 CE  Bunnik, the Netherlands
Tel. No.: +31 (0)30 656 94 00; mobile: +31 (0)6 20 24 61 53; fax: +31 (0)30 656 94 15;
e-mail: info@gti-group.com; Internet: www.gti-group.com
Futher information about the Offshore Access System can be found on www.oas.nl