Power conversion specialist Converteam has announced its readiness to commence manufacture of its variable frequency drilling drives and medium voltage switchboards at its production facility in Betim close to Belo Horizonte in Brazil.
Preparations, which have been ongoing over a period of several months, have necessitated long term knowledge sharing between Converteam’s UK drilling equipment specialists and their Brazilian counterparts.
Converteam, in operation in Brazil for thirty years, already has extensive manufacturing and application experience in power conversion systems including switchboards and variable frequency drive solutions for the metals and material handling businesses.
In the offshore domain Converteam in Brazil is already engaged in the manufacture of their MV7000 propulsion thruster drives and medium voltage switchboards for international offshore projects. The move to now produce drilling drives is seen as a natural and logical extension of these existing skills and capabilities.
Speaking during the recent Brazil Offshore exhibition and conference in Macaé Converteam’s Business Director Paul English observed: “O ur strategic objective is to better serve the Brazilian offshore sector with high quality, cost effective, locally manufactured/supported equipment and systems whenever possible. We’ve been designing and manufacturing advanced drilling systems in the UK for around forty years and naturally we wanted to bring that expertise closer to one of the world’s fastest developing offshore markets.
He added “The variable frequency drilling drive is a critical component in any offshore drilling unit. Our latest drive features responsive, high accuracy speed and torque control and excellent dynamic characteristics across the speed range – it makes a significant contribution to improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the offshore drilling operation.”
Brazil is expected to become one of the major crude oil suppliers in the next decade and with most of Brazil’s production coming from offshore fields, the drilling spend is expected to increase significantly. According to GBI Research , Brazil alone is expected to attract offshore drilling spend of more than $80 billion in the period from 2009 to 2015.
[mappress] Source: Converteam, August 29, 2011;