Greatship (India) Limited

Greatship (India) Limited believes that technology, leadership and excellence in execution hold the key to expanding its offshore support business. Jane Alverca reports.

A subsidiary of the Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited, Greatship (India) Limited (GIL) commenced operations in 2006 and has quickly achieved a position as a leading offshore service provider to operators in the energy exploration and production business. The company operates a fleet of jack-up rigs and marine offshore support vessels including subsea activities, which provide support to the offshore oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) activities of its clients.

Headquartered in Mumbai, India, Greatship Group is headed by chairman Bharat K Sheth and managing director Ravi K Sheth, who together have three decades of experience in the shipping industry. Currently, a substantial part of the Group operations worktakes place offshore India, and also in South East Asia where the oil industry is booming, fuelled by a supportive government and growing domestic demand on the part of an energy-hungry population. The farsightedness of the management to only acquire technologically superior assets with the highest priority for safety and environmental protection has resulted in the Greatship Group being a partner of choice for providing services in offshore E&P activities.

GIL intends to use its domestic success as a springboard to achieve a much bigger impact on the global stage. The company has already established a network of offices that take in Australia and Singapore with an operational reach that has extended to projects in South East Asia, Mexico, South Africa, the North Sea, Brazil and the Middle East.

GIL separates its business into three distinct business verticals: Drilling Services, Offshore Logistics and Subsea Solutions, which can be used singly or as an integrated package. The quality of the overall service offering is illustrated by the high level of accreditation achieved: GIL holds the ISO 9001:2008, ISO14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007.

“With our young and technologically advanced, state-of–the-art fleet, we are confident of making great strides in the Indian and global marketplace,” reiterates Rajiv Saxena, GIL’s associate vice president (Marketing).

Drilling services are provided by GIL or through its wholly owned subsidiary, Greatship Global Energy Services (GGES), which was incorporated in 2006. GGES owns two modern K-FELS Mod V B 350 foot IC jack-up rigs. Both of these rigs—Greatdrill Chetna and Greatdrill Chitra—which were delivered in 2009, are state-of-the-art cyber based rigs, built to incorporate the very latest drilling technology, equipment and systems. They are suitable for deployment in 350 foot water depth, equipped with 15000 PSI BOP stack and are capable of drilling HPHT wells up to drilling depths of 30,000 feet in most parts of the world.

Continuing with its expansion plan, Greatship will take delivery of its third state-of-the-art 350 foot IC jack-up rig of Letourneau Super 116 E design, which is currently under construction with Lamprell Energy and due for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Offshore logistics services are provided by a fleet of modern vessels which incorporate the best technology to be found anywhere in the world. This is a key facet of GIL’s strategy to achieve pre-eminence in the sector. Leveraging technology as a competitive advantage begins with the procurement of quality vessels and equipment; and GIL has sought out the best shipbuilding yards in the world as partners in its supply chain.

GIL and its subsidiaries currently own and operate four PSVs, seven AHTSVs, three MPSSVs and three ROVSVs. A further seven vessels are awaiting delivery to ensure that the fleet remains at the cutting edge of the industry. A young fleet which is maintained in pristine condition is a pre-requisite for GIL to achieve its mission to be the ‘Partner of Choice’. Over the next 18 months, the company will take possession of two MSVs built in India, three ROVSVs from Sri Lanka and two 150 TBP AHTSVs from Singapore.

Built in Norway, Indonesia, Singapore, India and Sri Lanka, all vessels are constructed to the highest standards of safety and performance and conform to all IMO regulations. These vessels perform in some of the harshest operating environments in the world and they play a critical role in operational safety and the effective functioning of exploration and production projects. The Greatship Group has the distinction of owning one of the youngest fleet in India and South Asia.

Vessels are tasked with transporting a wide range of materials and equipment, as well as personnel to and from offshore oil and gas installations. Some of the vessels also feature anchor handling and towing capabilities and are used in transportation, relocation and positioning of offshore drilling rigs.

Vessels used in this area of work include the UT755 designed platform support vessels which have deck space of more than 600 square metres, along with highly flexible positioning and fire fighting capabilities which add to the versatility of the vessels.

The anchor handling tug supply vessels include the MOSS 501 and KCM/Q441 (D) design, which features an 80 ton bollard pull as well as Conan-Wu designed vessels with a 150 ton bollard pull. With a deck space ranging from 400 to 600 square metres, these DP II, FiFi I anchor handlers have the flexibility to also provide supply services, which is a significant value add to clients. Similarly, the under-construction 150 ton bollard pull AHTSV will be capable of performing offshore construction activities such as piling, trenching and well abandonment.

Earlier this year, GIL took possession of Greatship Rashi, a platform/ROV support vessel, from Colombo Dockyard, Sri Lanka. The vessel has been specially fitted out for supporting two work class ROVs. It has a 35 ton deep sea winch and A-frame and a 10 ton offshore crane; and has been built according to the new SPS Code 2008 along with the Environmental Protection and Crew Comfort notations of Lloyd’s Register of Shipping.

Greatship Subsea Solutions Singapore Pte Limited (GSS) and Greatship Subsea Solutions Australia Pty Limited (GSA) are more recent subsidiaries which were created in 2010 to provide a truly integrated service offering. GSS and GSA focus on providing innovative, fit-for-purpose, cost-effective subsea solutions. The companies aim to carry out life-of-field subsea support tasks including construction and decommissioning support, IMR, and geotechnical, geophysical and well construction services. Along with ROVs, survey equipment and subsea engineering, the companies also have access to a fleet of DP2 multi-role subsea support vessels.

GIL believes that technologically superior assets which would caterto current as well as future oil and gas markets with a focus on safety and quality of services would be the winning combination.The last three years have seen a three-fold increase in the Group’s turnover which is testament to Greatship’s performance—and the industry seems to agree. Now, theongoing pressure on energy supplies across the worldand thedemand for quality service providers can only furtherincreaseGreatship’s market share. www.greatshipglobal.com