Circle Group has today announced the acquisition of certain intellectual property and assets held by Drillco AS, a subsidiary of Habu Holding AS. The IP and assets are related to the Casing Landing Assembly (CLA) product, which is marketed by Circle Group subsidiary WellPartner AS. WellPartner delivers technical expertise and high quality equipment and services to the subsea drilling, completion and intervention market, with 50 employees and revenues expected to reach about NOK 150 million for 2015. WellPartner was acquired by Circle Group in January 2015. The company is currently at a growth stage increasing the scale of the operations and market penetration for its products. The company mainly serves the NCS offshore oil & gas market with significant subsea presence.
The CLA technology is considered an important segment for WellPartner in developing its overall product and service capability and offering, and has the potential to grow significantly over the next years. The CLA tool is used in connection with subsea wellhead and casing hanger installation from semi-submersible drilling rigs. The tool allows the wellhead/casing hanger to be installed at the seabed prior to installation of the cement head. The tool has to date been used by BP, Lundin and Total on more than 30 operations on the NCS, and has proved to save rig time (5-10 hours per well), improve HSE (removal of riding belt operations) and reduce the probability of being stuck with the casing at a very critical time.
Until now, the CLA operations of WellPartner have been based on an agreement with Drillco where WellPartner had exclusive rights for marketing, sales, distribution and operations. This business model was considered sub-optimal in view of our overall game plan and growth strategy, and we are excited about the opportunities represented by this acquisition says CEO of Circle Group, Rolf Leknes.
