PGS to create more jobs through Kerr-McGee contract

15-12-00 The Norwegian North Sea ship business PGS is to shake up its Aberdeen operation, creating more jobs at the company, where more than 1,300 are currently employed. The well-regarded UK offshore industry name, Atlantic Power, is being dumped in favour of a new corporate structure and the current payroll will be expanded by 60, as the company has just taken on a fresh contract to run a new vessel for oil company client Kerr-McGee.
Atlantic Power was founded on a shoestring by Scottish entrepreneur and former Ayrshire miner John Milligan to supply personnel to the oil industry in the early 1980s. By the mid-1990s he was turning over some £ 90 mm, employing about 1,000 specialists, and the company was running North Sea installations on behalf of oil companies. Milligan sold out to PGS in 1997.
Now, PGS (Petroleum Geo-Services) is creating a new subsidiary, PGS Production, to push forward its oil production operations. This will have two divisions. Managed vessels will be run by PGS Production Services, which is more or less the former Atlantic Power, but reconstituted. Ships directly owned by the group will be run through PGS Floating Production, which is essentially the former Norwegian subsidiary Golar-Nor remodelled.
It was not clear what real advantage PGS will gain from the changes as the group was already running its production ship interests through two sister companies. In the UK, Golar-Nor had the company ships Petrojarl Foinaven (working for BP west of Shetland) and Petrojarl I in its care anyway, managing them from an office at Dyce (Aberdeen). Likewise, Atlantic Power was already managing production ship operations for Kerr-McGee, plus other UK oil/gas installations belonging to the American company Aberdeen city centre headquarters. It currently has people aboard.

Besides working for Kerr-McGee, Atlantic Power also holds contracts with ExxonMobil covering its Beryl field, Texaco's Galley field and a number of Liverpool Bay platforms belonging to BHP of Australia. The contracts are being transferred to PGS Production Services.