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UNDER THE WAVES
CEO STEINAR RIISE AT NORWEGIAN START-UP COMPANY OCEAN INSTALLER HAS HIS LONG-TERM SIGHTS
ON A BIG SHAREOF THE INTERNATIONAL OFFSHORE SURF MARKET, EYEING A TURNOVER
OF USD 500 MILLION WITHIN FIVE YEARS.
TEXT AND PHOTOS: KAIA MEANS
There is no lack of ambition among
the people behind the start-up of
Ocean Installer. Their sights are
set on growing from a turnover of zero to
USD 500 million in just five years. At present,
the company has 60 employees and
has just signed its first contract, a technical
study for ConocoPhillips. It also has a ship
lined up for a five-year contract starting
in May – Solstad Offshore’s MS Normand
Clipper.
Ocean Installer
Ocean Installer aims to cover the full
engineering, procurement, construction
and installation (EPCI) value chain for the
offshore industry. Being a start-up company,
it wanted to establish best practice
processes and procedures. DNV assisted
Ocean Installer in aligning objectives,
strategies and actual way of operating
through:
formulating the strategy with
a visionand values
developing an integrated
management system
aligning the design of processes
and procedures with relevant ISO
and OHSAS standards
establishing a risk management
framework
establishing business frameworks
for effective software selection
and development.
At the head of its team sits a person who
has been part of a story of similar growth
in the subsea, umbilical, riser and flowline
(SURF) market before.
“I’m a visionary person,” admits CEO
Steinar Riise. “I see possibilities instead of
problems in most things. I have been very
conscious about always having good people
working close to me, so we as a strong team
can make things happen.”
His career started as a project engineer
in Brown & Root, based in Stavanger.
There have since been many takeovers
and mergers in the subsea market, and
Mr Riise spent most of his previous career
with Subsea 7. As Subsea 7 Norway’s
Commercial Director from 2005 to 2008, he
had only one assigned task, merely to triple
the annual revenue over a three-year span.
DRAMATIC LIFT
“That’s a significant lift for any company.
The whole organisation had to be lifted to
a new level. We made our targets, so I was
satisfied,” he says. He has been involved
in all aspects of SURF, both technical and
commercial. When the merger of Subsea 7
and Acergy was announced, several people
on the Subsea 7 team decided the market
needed a new player.
The idea took shape in January 2011
with the backing of Hitech Vision who
invested through the HitecVision Asset
Solution fund. Mr Riise emphasises that
many highly experienced people in the
business have already been hired by Ocean
Installer and that the Normand Clipper
is a well-known ship in the industry.
“The subsea industry is like a small
family. Everybody knows everybody. The
Normand Clipper was renovated in 2005
and her capability is well known,” he says.
The company is in an intensive hiring
period now, including in Aberdeen, and
plans to have 150–200 employees by the
end of 2012.
TRENDSETTER
“ We are going to be a trendsetter, building
our business on known technology
and experienced personnel. They have
ideas for improving systems that would be
very tough to implement in a large, heavy
organisation. With us, they can just do it.”
At first, Ocean Installer will be looking
only to the North Sea market, but by 2014
it will be expanding its view to include the
global market, with Australia and Mexico
first in line. Brazil and West Africa are also
seen as potential markets. The company
will order a new Construction Support
Vessel (CSV) with delivery in late 2013.
As one of the largest of its kind, this vessel
will support the global SURF market.
Mr Riise believes that one of Ocean
Installer’s main strengths is that its new
and small organisation will be highly flexible,
with straight lines from the customer
to the top decision-makers.
“Customers will know that they’re not
just a number in a row; they will enjoy all
our attention. In addition, employees will
36 – no 01 2012