FRANCE’s oil and gas services provider, Technip Group will invest another RM200 million to expand a new plant in Johor to meet Asia Pacific’s rising demand for specialised deepwater equipment.
The investment adds to the initial RM500 million announced earlier this year to set up the plant, which is expected to produce flexible pipes when it is ready by 2010.
The expansion will see Asiaflex Products, as the plant in Tanjung Langsat is called, also making subsea umbilical systems, including electrical cables that support communications and power supply by then.
“It make sense to have a facility nearer in this region to serve the emerging deepwater oil and gas market in Asia Pacific, India and Middle East,” Technip Malaysia’s senior vice-president for business development Syed Feizal Syed Mohammad said in an interview with Business Times in Kuala Lumpur.
Technip currently produces umbilical systems from Newcastle in the UK, Houstan in the US, and Lobito in Angola, each serving a specific region.
Kuala Lumpur has long served as the group’s Asia Pacific headquarters. Tanjung Langsat was chosen for the new site as it was nearer to all major oil fields and the port provides good access to deepwater vessels, which is crucial for its operations, Syed Feizal said.
The new plant is expected to hire 350 workers, mostly technicians.
Syed Feizal said Asiaflex has no plans to scale back on hiring despite a worldwide economic slowdown that seems increasingly imminent, and amid crude oil price that has slid below US$65 a barrel.
“If you look at all companies in the oil and gas sector, the planning is always very long term. Overall, the demand for specialised services in the sector will continue to rise,” he said.
The new plant will help boost the French group’s market share in Asia Pacific to 40 per cent by 2012, from 25 per cent currently. – By Chong Pooi Koon |
