Armada's grand plans

O&G talks to Aykut Selcuk about how services provided by Armada Offshore will help Russian oil and gas industry to unlock its potential.

Can we start with what ARMADA OFFSHORE does?
Aykut Selcuk. ARMADA OFFSHORE works alongside with Oil and Energy Ministry in Turkey, and we do all the technical evaluation and recommendation regarding the opening of new areas, development plans, and production plans. We also specialize on engineering, project planning and management.

What's your main focus at the moment?
Our main focus is to increase recovery from the fields in production. Today 54% of discovered oil left in the ground. We do a lot of work to find ways to increase recovery and we push companies to find new prediction methods.

There is a lot of technology available but it's difficult to have it tested in the fields. This year we will focus on getting companies to run pilots to increase recovery. I don't think there's another area in the world than Russia where there is such a potential to increase the efficiency of production recovery. And that's a very key business for us as well. ARMADA OFFSHORE does its best with customers around the world who are willing to outsource some of their operations.

What about technology?
ARMADA OFFSHORE has running several research programs going on in which the authority put in some money and we cooperate with the industry, so the technology can be shared with everyone. We've had a lot of good developments from those projects but sadly the government has reduced the sum of money available for projects, so we hope the companies will take up the slack.

But the structure of companies we deal with creates a challenge. We have TPIC (Turkish Petroleum International Company), which is definitely the biggest player, we have the international companies, which are concentrating on the fields they already run, and then we have a lot of new players.

In what areas can ARMADA OFFSHORE add value in Russia?
I would say in engineering, project planning and management. To support this effort, we are going to open a new office in Moscow utilizing a large number of Russian engineers. ARMADA OFFSHORE is very strong in offshore engineering and engineering for large offshore platforms.

We're also very strong in project management - the management of construction, logistics and planning. That's an area where there's potential for significant improvement in Russia, and it's an area where we will utilize our experience to provide production enhancement.

Russia is similar to the North Sea in that the North Sea was a new technology frontier for offshore installations which at the time were in 300 to 400 feet of water. The North Sea was also developed alongside several cities that were in a position to service that new frontier. So this suggests that there will be some very exciting things happening here. After all, we have very significant knowledge and experience now in offshore, which we can apply in the Russian market.

Aykut Selcuk - Managing Director, ARMADA OFFSHORE. Aykut was born in 1980, in Turkey. After finishing his bachelor's degree in Journalism, he moved to USA to finish his second college degree in Computer Engineering. When newly acquiring offshore technologies got his attention he got involved in offshore fields. Since then, he is working for ARMADA OFFSHORE as Managing Director and carrying its business to better futures.