The Flow - Jan 2017: The year ahead

Our main focus this month is you, our customers.  As we look back on 2016 and look forward to 2017 and beyond, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your business and for your continued support.

Like many organisations involved in the oil and gas business, we found 2016 to be extremely challenging and, at times, unrelenting in its demands.  That said, 2016 also marked Hydrasun's 40th year in business and we continue to be a strong and resilient company and despite the extent of the prevailing market conditions, we had some great successes in 2016 across a number of areas of our business.

Examples of these include the following:

• Our Integrity, Assurance & Reliability division ended the year on a high with significant long term contract awards worth several £m from a number of major operators for Flexible Hose Management and Small Bore Tubing Integrity Management Services and associated product supply across their UKCS operations.
• Our focus on Innovation and Continuous Development saw the successful launch of Interventor™, Hydrasun’s lightweight and load bearing Subsea Service Intervention line and the award of a multi-million pound contract from a major international operator for the supply of this solution for an Emergency Response application. 
• Our in-house Precision Manufacturing Division fulfilled its biggest order to date for the supply of specialist bespoke fittings for a major project for a key subsea OEM customer. 
• Hydrasun’s Group HSE performance has shown continuous improvement over recent years and in 2016  we significantly achieved over 2 years without a recordable incident - a first for Hydrasun.
• Improved Customer Service was at the heart of our decision to open a new Operational Office & Service Centre in Glasgow to service the needs of our Central Belt customer base as well as enhancing our overall capabilities regarding the manufacture of bespoke Fluid Power & Process Control systems and equipment.  None of these would have been possible without you, our customers.

Looking ahead into 2017 we still expect things to remain challenging however, our focus will continue to be on ensuring and delivering excellence in our overall standards of Customer Service, Safety, Quality and Continuous Improvement and already we have some very exciting developments we will be bringing to market to fulfil customer needs.

These include: 

• The further development of our Integrity, Assurance and Reliability services, including Hydraulic Systems Conditioning Monitoring.
• The further development of the range of bespoke, value added products from our Precision Manufacturing Division.  These include stab plates, specialist subsea connectors and a new, innovative kit of multi-interchangeable fittings and adapters.
• The addition of a new machine that will significantly enhance our manufacturing capabilities and capacity for Umbilicals and well Intervention lines.
• The extension of our Interventor™ family of products to include a small bore version with unique connections suitable for subsea pipeline & downhole applications. 
• The supply of Fluid Transfer products developed specifically for the subsea industry and for a range of well intervention applications. 
• Further diversification of our Integrity Management services, providing support on a new, purpose built vessel undertaking decommissioning work on the Brent field in the UKCS.  

In summary, and whilst we expect 2017 to continue to be challenging, we have also recently seen some “green shoots” of improvement in market conditions and some positive and encouraging signs of increased activity both in the North Sea and Internationally.  We have a clear strategy and plan and we are focused and working hard at getting on with it and continuing to meet our customer’s needs and expectations. 

Thank you again for your business and we look forward to working with you closely in 2017.