Said to be amongst the most promising publicly listed companies in Sinagpore, Equatoriale Services Pte is a subsidiary of the Swiber Group procuring critical items from internationally recognized manufacturers and dealing with most offshore classifications while guaranteeing the highest level of quality to the work that it delivers.
The go-to company for engineering, procurement, construction and installation needs, ESPL also specializes in the design and installation of mooring systems for floating vessels including FSO, FPSO and tankers, excelling in the design, construction and installation of SPM (single point mooring) bouys, turret mooring systems and spread-moored systems.
We spoke with Guillaume Darmayan Business Development Manager at ESPL and he explained that the company owes part of its success to the management team who, amongst themselves, have over 35 years of offshore experience in the oil and gas industry as well as a strong foundation and grounding within the Swiber Group.
“We are a business unit of Swiber group leading all of the mooring systems projects and are fully supported by the other businesses within the group,” he says, “The CEO who founded Equatoirale is one of the founders of Swiber, and brought over forty years of experience in the offshore business to the business.”
The company is recognized within the region for providing bespoke, tailor made solutions that are delivered with an unfailingly high level of expertise and according to Guillaume the company are now looking at international expansion, not only as a means to further their own reach but to further develop themselves by ensuring exposure into new problems, new contracts and new possibilities.
“Equatoriale Services has worked diligently over the years to build itself a reputation as the go-to EPCI contractor for offshore mooring solutions,” he says, “When we were founded in 2003 by Jean Pers, CEO the aim was always to continue to grow and develop.”
And they are set for the challenge, while ESPL do focus on Single Point Mooring Buoys, FPSO Turret Systems, spread mooring they have always had the capacity and ingenuity to offer solutions to meet the bespoke requirements of their clients.
Nothing is straight forward, as an example SPM Buoys are moored to the seabed by way of multiple mooring lines and the buoy contains a bearing system that allows moored vessels to rotate fully around the mooring point; now this is a clear choice for Tanker offloading solutions of FPSO mooring for the oil and gas sector yet the design, manufacturer and installation of the project needs to take into account oceanography, vessel type, weather patterns and the protection and topography of the ocean floor.
It’s a speciality and this is one of the reasons why Equatoriale Services has built up such expertise in the offshore mooring market. They are not Jack of All Trades, they are specific and carefully focussed on the developing the solutions within one key area. An area that is fundamental for the efficient working of the offshore industry and the safety of the people involved, “Swiber knows what it’s companies are best at and allows them to develop,” Guillaume says, “At Equatoriale we maintain a core team of experts and operate independently whilst still having access to the various entities of Swiber when the need arises.”
The simple fact is that when you need to install an offshore asset, you want to work with a recognized name and a reputable company. ESPL,even though it is a small set up with only a few guys you have the flexibility of a highly specialized set up under the Swiber group.
Lets not forget that Swiber Group itself is world-recognized and publicly listed on the main SGX stock exchange. Their track record includes over 60 offshore platforms and 2000km of subsea pipeline installed around the world.
BESPOKE PROBLEM SOLVING
Since inception, ESPL has been focussed on the South East Asian Market and has an established presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam where the company has worked tirelessly to maintain the relationships with its clients and suppliers in these areas by being an “above average” business.
“Keeping clients is about long term partnerships where we understand our client’s unique needs and therefor are able to best deliver solutions which suit these needs and their schedules. Transparency and good communication are also important, as well as loyalty through good and bad weather,” he says.
Equatoriale Service’s culture is one that fosters a flexible attitude and they approach each project not as a business merely providing a service, but as a partner looking to help their client grow and improve, “This approach has given us a competitive edge over some larger companies because we are just more there for our clients,”
In an ideal world, quality is worth waiting for. But in the real world Equatoriale Services know that they have to achieve the highest standard of quality, higher than very next competitors, in a time period that is conducive for the client. Big projects rely on all the components of that project coming together in a timely and coordinated period and while ESPL’s clients can rely on them to achieve this, they are always looking at improving their efficiency of people and machinery to get shave off time required.
Another competitive advantage for them and an asset to any industry leading company are their employees. With all the employees, including the CEO, having their roots in engineering side of Swiber and subsequently bringing a wide range of expertise with them, the focus for the company has been very much technical and business. This has allowed it to flourish and has continued to Equatoriale’s reputation for quality products and services.
“That’s one of the usual feedbacks from our clients. as we come from an installation and engineering background, all properity designs of our offshore mooring solutions that we have offered have been installation focused and maintenance free. All the designs are don with a view of looking after the project from A-Z. we are able to do everything thanks to our background. He says.
PROJECTS
Guillaume explains that their projects are usually quite varied, offering a range of different requirements and solutions needed.
“We have two SPM buoys EPCI one for a FSO contractor in Singapore and another one for an independent oil and gas company in Thailand. This one for the contractor is recurrent, they’ve always come back to us and we have quite a long term relationship with them.”
They also have 2 SPM Buoy refurbishment projects; one is completed and is leased to a major player in Malaysia and the second is the upgrading in-situ, of the entire piping system of a buoy is ongoing for a US based oil and gas company.
“We have also been approached by one of our regular clients to design and supply 9 custom made chain-stoppers for their FPSO spread mooring within a timeframe of 4 months!”
THEIR EXPANSION
The main focus is definitely on their expansion and the accrument of foreign contracts to help this growth. A few years ago, Swiber had penetrated the Gulf of Mexico market and very recently moved to West Africa.
This is useful as it would have been nearly impossible for a small set up like Equatoriale to move into these markets independently but with Swiber’s established network and worldwide presence, they were able to expend in those areas along with the group.
“We now try to move and become a worldwide contractor,” he explains
