The new facility has seen an investment of BRL22 million and will primarily cater to the Brazilian market, but will also be able to deliver to other regions of the world. The facility, which has a workshop that covers a space of 2,450sqm, will offer clients services ranging from engineering and manufacturing, to maintenance and technical support.
Aker Solutions already has a manufacturing facility for subsea trees and other subsea equipment in Curitiba, Brazil, as well as a subsea aftermarket base in Rio das Ostras.
The first operations at the Rio das Ostras drilling riser facility started up in January 2008. Current projects being undertaken at the facility are designed to supply deepwater marine drilling riser systems to Brazil-based Queiroz Galvao Oil and Gas.
Raymond Carlsen, executive vice president of Aker Solutions, said: The global rig market is extremely buoyant, and the amount of contracted new build drilling units is likely to remain at a stable high level over the next five to seven years, at least. The recent announcement from Petrobras, who has extremely ambitious plans within this area, confirms that the timing of our Rio das Ostras investment was right.
