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SECC appoints Dr Paul Armitage as MD

16/10/2013

Dr Paul Armitage has been appointed as the new managing director of UK-based subsea connector company SECC Oil & Gas.

Dr Armitage has a PhD in petroleum engineering and has held senior commercial and engineering roles in the oilfield chemistry and speciality chemical industries. He is the former managing director of OMG Borchers in Germany which develops market-leading technologies for the coatings and composites market.

He says his focus will be to capitalise on SECC’s intellectual property and develop SECC’s portfolio of emergency breakaway connectors as enabling technologies for the well-intervention and other oil and gas markets.

“SECC offers some of the most intelligent and versatile safety solutions in the subsea intervention market and the opportunity to expand our interests in this area is tremendously exciting for me,” says Dr Armitage.

“The role allows me to combine a true understanding of the issues facing operators with my broad commercial and product development experience in order to deliver exactly what our customers need.”

He believes the technology has the potential to fundamentally change the way operators approach intervention:

“The oil industry is now more than ever focused on the development of its subsea infrastructure, and as the number of subsea wells increases so does the need for intervention.  Pretty much any intervention which requires an Emergency Disconnect Package (EDP) provides an opportunity for SECC’s connectors.

“Maturing oil fields that require specific chemical treatments and interventions are of particular interest to us. Our connectors enable these interventions to be carried out extremely successfully using more cost effective “vessels of opportunity” rather than Light Well Intervention vessels.  Whilst cost savings are important, it is vessel availability that is attracting operators to SECC’s  EDP solutions.

SECC’s DNV-qualified emergency breakaways are pressure-balanced and self-sealing.  They provide a dry disconnect and re-connect at working pressure and therefore help operators address some of the industry’s most critical safety needs by protecting against the risk of fluid spill, loss of equipment and injury to personnel.

Since its launch in 2008 SECC Oil & Gas has become a global supplier to the oil and gas industry.  It has supplied various Hot Make Hot Break (HMHB) and Mid Line Weak Link (MLWL) connectors to operators, subsea system providers and EPC contractors alike.