Welltec Opens New Factory in Esbjerg
Oil service company Danish Welltec signed an agreement to set up a factory in Esbjerg. The factory will enable Welltec to increase production and ensure the quality of the company’s newest and most advanced products, which are exported globally.
Mayor Johnny Søtrup looks forward to welcoming the company in the EnergyMetropolis. “Together with Esbjerg Business Development Center I have been in dialogue with Welltec since the spring. A delegation from Esbjerg was even at the opening of Welltec’s new U.S. headquarters in Houston in connection with the world’s largest oil and gas conference in Houston.”
Søtrup continued, “The setting up of Welltec in Esbjerg is a natural development for both parties. Of course Welltec has to be present in Esbjerg because this is where present and future business partners are.”
Welltec said it has had great success in developing robots which increase the level of extraction of oil and gas in a highly cost effective way. Innovation has prompted impressive growth in the company, which in 1994 started in a small office in Allerød, Denmark. At the startup of the new facilities, due in 2014, Welltec is expected to employ 25-35 highly specialized employees in Esbjerg in the first phase.
Jørgen Hallundbæk, CEO of Welltec, said, “We are continuously expanding our business with the major operators in the oil and gas industry to create a stronger and more resilient company. It is important for us to be represented in Esbjerg, allowing us to develop our relations with clients further and with partners in the North Sea directly out of Denmark’s energy capital. At the same time, the facility in Esbjerg will be central to the development, manufacturing and delivery of Welltec’s revolutionary technologies for the oil and gas industry”
Welltec’s new facilities in Esbjerg comprise around 6,000sqm of production area and 1,250sqm of office space on a 21,000sqm site on Kjærsing Ringvej, close to the motor way. With the set up in Esbjerg Welltec will have an offshore supply base for operations in the Danish, German and Dutch part of the North Sea and for onshore operations in Central Europe.
Welltec believes its setup in Esbjerg will further strengthen the role of the city as the national energy capital. That was exactly why Mayor Johnny Søtrup was in Houston together with a delegation from Esbjerg Business Development Center and The Port of Esbjerg. The delegation visited Welltec in Houston in their new headquarters for North and South America. Additionally, the delegation was present when Welltec received the oil industry’s technology award for the company’s creation of the ground breaking Well Cutter, which is a safe and efficient alternative to the use of explosives and aggressive chemicals in maintenance and repair work on oil and gas wells.
Chairman of Esbjerg Business Development Center, John Lesbo, said, “In connection with our visit to Houston we participated in the opening of Welltec’s new factory and American headquarters. It was exciting to gain insight into the advanced technology and meet the team behind the Welltec success. Welltec has been on our wish list for a long time and that is why it is very positive that the company now opens a division and builds a new factory in Esbjerg. That will definitely help strengthen Esbjerg’s position as the EnergyMetropolis of Denmark.”