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Ambitious Sigma Offshore appoints two new Vice-Presidents at ONS event

The Aberdeen-based company, provider of a pioneering mooring and fluid transfer system for oil and gas production vessels, has appointed John Donovan as Vice-President Development Engineering and Mike Fisher as Vice-President Strategic Procurement.

Sigma Offshore, which has offices in Oslo, Singapore and Houston, exhibited at ONS 2010 in Stavanger, Norway (August 24-27) at stand 1018 in Hall J. ONS is one of the largest energy exhibitions and conferences in the world.

Sigma Offshore has developed Smart Mooring System (SMS) - a cost-efficient and timesaving solution for FPSOs (Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels). The company has targeted markets around the world including the North Sea, South America, North Africa, West Africa and South-East Asia - including Australian waters.

John and Mike were able to highlight the benefits of SMS to ONS delegates visiting the Sigma Offshore stand in the Scottish Pavilion.

Alistair Dornan, Sigma President and Chief Executive Officer, welcomed the appointment of two Vice-Presidents with more than 60 years' combined experience in the engineering sector.

Speaking from his company's stand at ONS, Mr Dornan said: "The arrival of John and Mike underline Sigma Offshore's commitment to building a team capable of delivering a truly international service to clients. Both are respected within the industry and their expertise will be a real asset to the company."

John Donovan joins from oil and gas consultancy Altra Energy where he was Offshore Structures Manager. Australian John, who gained a Bachelor of Engineering in Naval Architecture from Sydney's University of New South Wales, worked in marine industry for nearly 20 years, where part of his role included designing high-speed car and passenger ferries. John has been in the energy sector for the past 10 years, working for Det Norske Veritas (DNV), a leading provider of services for managing risk, and Poseidon International. He will be based at Sigma's Salvesen Tower HQ near Aberdeen Harbour.

John said: "I'm looking forward to working with the rest of the Sigma team to move the company forward. There are exciting developments for the company in the coming months."

Mike Fisher has nearly 35 years' energy industry expertise, the last 16 with global company Bluewater managing procurement and contracts aspects of major FPSO & SPM (Single point Mooring) projects. Mike will split his time between Holland and Aberdeen where he will implement procurement and tendering processes and strategies for Sigma.

Mike said: "I firmly believe Sigma will go from strength to strength once the market realises the full potential of SMS."

The company will also highlight the benefits of its cost-effective Smart Mooring System at a presentation at the China FPSO Summit in Shanghai on September 16-17, while Sigma will be exhibiting and making a presentation at the 11th FPSO Asia Congress in Singapore on September 28-29.

The bow-mounted turret of SMS allows unlimited weathervaning. SMS can be installed during a conversion of a tanker to an FPSO or FSO without the need to dry-dock the ship and without interfering with any work being undertaken on process equipment.

The company believes the system, which largely uses proven technology in a more efficient way, could save clients in excess of 30% on installed cost. Earlier this year Sigma received £4m ($6m) of further investment from global oil and gas services company National Oilwell Varco (NOV), Scottish Enterprise's Scottish Venture Fund (SVF) and venture capital firm, Energy Ventures.
Although developed for FPSOs, the SMS is suitable for a variety of marine applications including floating storage, floating LNG (liquefied natural gas) and CNG (compressed natural gas).

A bespoke SMS can cost from £10m (US$15.5m) to £30m (US$46.5m) or more depending on the complexity and location of the project, while competitive mooring systems can cost £25m ($38.8m) to £50m ($77.6m).

Sigma Offshore - an independent provider of turrets, moorings and marine related engineering services - opened offices in Houston and Norway at the end of last year. As well as its mooring and riser solutions, Sigma Offshore delivers extended well testing systems, floating production export system solutions, subsea architecture design, deepwater subsea solutions, consultancy services and project management.