Founded in Norway in the mid 1800s, Aker Solutions has approximately 22,500 employees and 9,500 contract staff across 30 countries. The company expanded into Asia Pacific (APAC) in the early 1990s and today is expanding operations in the region.

Although the company has had a presence in APAC for decades, Dave Hutchinson is relatively new to the region, arriving in Singapore in 2005 as global general manager for the surface trees and wellheads business.

Hutchinson, who grew up in Aberdeen, followed in his father’s footsteps in pursuing a career in oil and gas.

“My father was involved in the oil industry in Aberdeen, which is where I grew up,” Hutchinson said. Seeing his father’s international travel and relative comfort, Hutchinson realized that oil and gas was a good business to be in. “I began my career as a roustabout and roughneck in the early 1980s, working primarily in the UK.”

After rising to assistant driller status by the age of 23 in the early 1990s, Hutchinson made the decision to move across to the “service” game to further develop. He spent four years in the tubular division traveling internationally as casing technician crew chief. This was a valuable experience, but he was keen to pursue a more specialized career.

“In 1996, I took a position as wellhead service engineer. I joined Aker Solutions’ Nigerian wellhead operation in 2001 where I took over as general manager a year later.

A world of opportunity

According to Hutchinson, the sky is the limit for people within Aker who deliver good results, have a good work ethic, and operate in a transparent manner.

“The people who deliver on those parameters will always get new and exciting opportunities, both within Aker Solutions and the rest of the Aker group.”

Hutchinson is living proof that this is true. “In 2005, I was promoted to general manager globally for our surface trees and wellheads business, which involved a move to Singapore. Three years later, I was asked to take over as senior vice president for the company’s subsea service business in Norway. In October 2009, I agreed to my current role as president of the Subsea Asia Pacific business.”

Milestones

“From a subsea perspective we delivered the first deepwater projects in both Malaysia and India. In 2005, we were awarded the contract to deliver a complete subsea system for the Kikeh field located offshore Sabah in East Malaysia in 4,430-ft (1,350-m) water depth.” Aker Solutions delivered a 16-well subsea production system, including subsea trees, manifolds and umbilicals, to Murphy Sabah Oil Co, which operates the field in partnership with Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd.

“In the Bay of Bengal offshore India, we developed two major projects with Reliance Industries Ltd.,” Hutchinson said. The first was the giant D1/D3 gas field development in the Krishna-Godavari D6 (KG-D6) block. The second, which delivered first oil in record-breaking time only two and a half years after the first discovery, was the MA-D6 oil project.

“What was unique about this project is that the Aker group — through Aker Solutions and Aker Floating Production — delivered both a complete subsea production system and FPSO in less than 16 months after being awarded the contracts,” Hutchinson said.

The Kikeh field gave new perspective to the region’s deepwater opportunities. It was a major factor in the company’s decision to establish a brand new manufacturing plant in Malaysia and a key stepping stone for the company’s expansion in the region.

A foothold for the future

According to Hutchinson, there are two very simple but important criteria when any business considers establishing themselves in a new market: growth prospects and a need to be close to customers. “Both are in place for us here in Asia Pacific.”

Aker Solutions has invested in growth. “We invested US $100 million to establish a unique high-tech subsea manufacturing center outside Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia,” Hutchinson said. “This is the world’s only facility where a complete subsea production system can be manufactured in one location. This is hugely beneficial for our customers in Asia Pacific and beyond.

“We also recently invested $18 million to significantly expand and modernize our manufacturing center for surface trees and wellheads,” he said. The center is in Batam, Indonesia, and serves customers from APAC and the rest of the world. This facility is the largest machine shop in Aker Solutions’ portfolio.

“In addition to our manufacturing centers, we have built up an extensive network of service bases, the aim of which is to serve our customers close to where they have their oil fields. We have in the past two years established new service bases in Kakinada, India; Perth, Australia; and Vung Tau, Vietnam.” The company also has upgraded existing sites in Thailand.

Hutchinson expects the subsea business in APAC to grow significantly over the next few decades and is determined to see Aker Solutions at the center of that growth.

“We want to play a part in the region’s growth scenario,” he said. “We know we have the competence and capabilities for both marginal and large developments.”

Human resources

Though the industry is experiencing major skills shortages, finding local talent has not been an issue for Aker Solutions. Hutchinson explained why.

“Firstly, people in Asia Pacific are generally well-educated. Secondly, I’m blessed to work with a company that puts huge emphasis on succession planning and training. In the early stages of a new operation, we spend a lot of time and effort on training our personnel. That has included relocating staff from Asia to Europe to learn the finer details of our business and technologies and then using them as leaders and trainers locally in Asia.” According to Hutchinson, this solution works well.

“As a result, 90% of our employees in Malaysia, which is a fairly new operation, are Malaysian nationals. In Batam, which is a more mature operation, local employees constitute 98% of our work force. The quality of work that is being delivered is excellent and very commercially competitive.”

Tomorrow’s goals

Hutchinson identified two strategic long-term goals in APAC. “The first is to support our customers wherever they go,” he said, explaining that the company’s extensive network of service bases will facilitate in making that happen. “Secondly, we aim to establish our Malaysian manufacturing center as the cornerstone of subsea developments in the region,” he said.

Analysts across the board predict an increase in demand for energy globally, with significant demand growth in APAC. “Oil and gas production will be the key driver to satisfy this demand,” Hutchinson said. “The ‘easy’ oil is no longer there. Future oil and gas will come from deep and ultra-deep waters. That’s where we come in, with our capabilities, manufacturing, and service network set up to meet those deepwater needs and demands.”

With nearly three decades and some amazing experiences under his belt, Hutchinson still has significant personal goals.

“My ambitions in the short and medium term are to tackle my new challenge of profitably growing our Asia Pacific subsea business and create a solid platform for the benefit of Aker and our clients worldwide,” he said.

“Long term, I’d like to continue to find exciting challenges within Aker. While the international aspect provides great and varied career opportunities, the enjoyment of working for a technically and engineering-minded company provides a great deal of satisfaction and for me is more important than being ‘international.’ So I’m extremely fortunate to work for a company that offers both.

“Working with a global company has certainly provided me with some great career opportunities,” Hutchinson said.

BOX

Hays recruits qualified, professional, skilled people for the oil and gas industry. Operating around the globe and interacting with key organizations within the industry gives the company a bird’s eye view of current trends. Over the next several months, Hays Oil & Gas will interview leaders within the industry, people that influence, shape, and command the future of oil and gas. Each article will present an important player within the industry, the company’s strategy moving forward, its current projects, and the influence these activities are having on employment.

Author Matt Underhill completed a Bachelor of Engineering degree with honors at Bath University. He joined Hays in June 1993 and in 2008 was appointed managing director of the oil and gas business globally.