Ashington marine engineers land £277k West African deal

Ashington-based marine engineering firm, FES International has landed a £277k order to supply components an Angolan offshore project.

Firm will supply units for the Kizomba Satellites Phase 2 development, located about 95 miles off the Angolan shore, West Africa.

International oil firm, Exxon Mobil, began work at the Khizomba Satellites five years ago, and the Kizomba fields have an estimated production potential of 250 million barrels.

FES’s components will be used to connect floating storage units, negating the need for divers or remote vehicles to make the subsea installation.

The item is known as a “Diverless Bend Stiffener Connector (DBSC),” and FES supply them around the world.

Ian Latimer, co-founder and technical director at FES International said: “This is a significant contract win for us and is a project we are proud to be involved in. It’s the latest in a long line of DBSC deals – a product for which there is increasing demand.

“The latching mechanisms on these DBSCs are fully ROV and diverless, offering safer and more reliable connections and have been designed to cope with extremely high loads. They really are a cost-effective solution hence being chosen for major projects like Kizomba.”

This is the latest in a string of contract wins for FES International, following expansion into new premises last year.