Aker Solutions has acquired the well intervention technology business from X3M International which will greatly improve Aker Solutions own service portfolio and increase its presence in the Middle East market.
Aker Solutions is acquiring the well intervention technology business from X3M International, whose main owners are the Middle East-based Catalyst Private Equity Fund and X3M's original founders. Transaction value is approximately US$8mn.The transaction is expected to be completed early November 2011.
"We are buying plug products and hiring the plug-setting services from third parties. Through this acquisition we will expand our product portfolio and be able to offer our customers a more complete - and thereby more competitive - service offering," says Wolfgang Puennel, head of well intervention services in Aker Solutions.
X3M has a solid portfolio of proprietary technologies. The plugs and packers for HPHT (high pressure-high temperature) and sour gas, have a potential to capture a significant market share in the coming years. The tools have been used successfully in gas wells with extremely high concentrations of H2S and CO2. X3M is also developing a new metal to metal seal technology that could prove to be a future industry game-changer in certain areas.
"We are acquiring an exciting product portfolio. However, we are planning to invest to rapidly expand and further improve on our technology position within this segment," says Puennel.
X3M is well established in the Middle East, with operations in Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE. Aker Solutions already has well service set-ups in Saudi-Arabia and Oman, which will merge its operations with X3M's.
"We have the potential to grow our business significantly by introducing X3M's plug products to our service portfolio in the North Sea. Equally, we will seek to capitalise on X3M's position in the Middle East to gain a stronger foothold there. All in all this acquisition offers a complementary technological and geographical footprint," says Puennel.
Well intervention services are operations carried out in an oil or gas well, with the objective of maximising production and increasing the recovery rate of oil and gas.
