It’s Full Steam Ahead as Hydratight Expands Offices

Hydratight has powered through the downturn in the second half the end of 2008 with several new office openings in support of company expansion across the world.

The company has opened new centres in Angola and Kuwait; December saw a new facility at Long Beach in California; while February has the official opening of the new facility at Stavanger in Norway and a new "superfacility" in Orange, Texas, USA.

Hydratight's previous LONG BEACH centre was a "starter" office to assess the market; the new building is 3.5 miles further south of Los Angeles in the heart of the California refinery district, close to several power generation plants and a wind turbine facility.

Shop manager Paul Marriner, from the UK, has been with the company for five years and has experience drawn from many years in the machining industry.

Hydratight's new STAVANGER centre opens officially in February, after several months of preparation.

Though this is Hydratight's first office in Norway, the company has had a presence through an agent for two decades.

The new offices, 15 minutes from the centre of Stavanger at Randaberg, close to many other oil and gas companies, will allow Hydratight to better demonstrate its specialisms in machining, mechanical connections and related engineering services as well as bolting and jointing.

The opening of the local office, with local people, means Hydratight can meet the challenge of operating in this exciting and growing market from inside, rather than from a distance.

To help Hydratight achieve its dramatic Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region expansion, the company recently opened two new operations centres in ANGOLA and KUWAIT.

Angola is currently ploughing over 12 billion Euros into the industry in pursuit of the title of Africa's biggest oil producer, ahead of Nigeria. A base in Angola was an obvious next step. Sylvain Pile, previously technical manager for France, has been on site in Luanda since November and the facility is expected to open in March/April with an initial eight personnel.

Hydratight geographical coverage in the EMEA has been expanded further with a Kuwait City base under the sponsorship of local Agent Al-Julaiah Petroleum Services WLL Co. This follows the company's acquisition of a five-year bolting and in-situ machining contract. The centre is in the heart of the South Shuaibah industrial area, with all the major local industries only a short drive away. The offices have given Hydratight the opportunity to expand further.

Coming in February, the new Hydratight Superfacility (almost 9,000sq ft) in ORANGE, Texas will be a major service base for the Gulf of Mexico region, and is a relocation of existing centres at Beaumont, Lafayette and Sulphur.

The new facility will stock far more equipment than the previous facilities - a full range of RSL torquing equipment, tensioning and pipe-cutting gear for rental - and will be the base for 50 field technicians, on call round the clock to handle all kinds of bolting, machining, weld-testing or stud-designation projects.

"Orange allows us to offer one location in the Golden Triangle with a full complement of tooling and on-site technicians to better serve our customer base," said Gulf region sales manager, Kathleen Baker.

"We are now closer to our rental clients and can respond to any emergency, around the clock."

And there is more to come in the first half of 2009, as a new centre in MEXICO approaches its opening date.

OFFICE ADDRESSES/CONTACT DETAILS:

USA - LONG BEACH
1930 East Carson Street
Suite #102, Long Beach,
CA 91023, USA
Tel: +1 (310) 549-4100 ; Fax: +1 (310) 549-4102 Email: longbeach@hydratight.com

USA - ORANGE
Hydratight
9672 1 -1 0 West,
Orange, Texas 77632, USA

KUWAIT - SAFAT
Al_Julaiah Petroleum Service
PO Box 173
Safat 13002
Kuwait
Tel: +965 326 3811
Fax: +965 326 3815
Email: kuwait@hydratight.com

ANGOLA - LUANDA
Hydratight Angola Ltda
Avenida Comandante Kima Kyenda, 309
Luanda,
Angola
Email: angola@hydratight.com

NORWAY - STAVANGER
Hydratight Norge AS
Randabergveien 300 B
4070 Randaberg
Norway.
Tel: +47 51 73 35 35
Fax: +47 51 73 35 34
Email: norway@hydratight.com