Lamprell: Oil and gas award winners

Source: Energy Digital

Date :17/04/2008 06:36:02

COO David Moran tells Exec about Lamprell’s double award winning 2007, its strategic diversification and the increasing demands of public company life.

Written by James Hurley & Produced by Glen White

Golf legend Gary Player once said: “The harder I practice, the luckier I get”. David Moran, Lamprell plc’s Chief Operating Officer, himself a keen golfer, clearly believes that it’s a principle that also applies to business. After all, what Player really meant was ‘the more experience I have, the greater my expertise’. That’s a fairly accurate description of how Lamprell, a leading provider of specialist engineering services to the international oil & gas industry, built the foundations for its continued growth and the rewards for the ongoing diversification it is expecting to enjoy this year.

“Four or five years ago, $20 million was a big contract for us. Now a $200 million contract is our bread and butter,” says Moran. “We’ve built up to that over a period of time - we’ve taken on the risk element of handling larger EPC contracts by becoming highly proficient. The elements of what we do are broadly similar and you become highly proficient through repetition.”

In other words, in different scenarios, the same sorts of skills are required. Lamprell has proven project management proficiency and is very good at managing processes, open work spaces and a large workforce to achieve very aggressive schedule goals. “Our business is all about repetition – doing what we do time and again within the frameworks that the client expects.”

Diversification

This simple philosophy has taken the company a long way in its 30 year lifespan. Steven Lamprell first spotted a shortage of engineering services for oil companies operating in Dubai in the late 1970s. The company that he established was soon offering full-scale refurbishment of jack-up rigs and has now…

April 17, 2008