
- Trinidad & Tobago | 4 May 2013

Can you please give us a brief history of ESAU Oilfield Services?
Sure, our parents founded the company in 1976 based on their experience in the oil and gas sector. Initially, the company started in the basement of our house with less than five employees, and it was like most family-run businesses, with my mother doing the accounting, my father handling sales, and us children taking care of packing the shelves. However, after my siblings returned from university, we acquired one of our main competitors to create a strategic alliance with manufacturers, and our growth really took off when BP began its gas development platforms in 2001. Today, we have 46 employees, and we only supply approved manufacturers from approved countries of origin, importing from the US, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, Austria, and Italy.
How has ESAU evolved in parallel with the growth of the oil and gas sector since its inception in the 1970s?
In the 1970s, Trinidad and Tobago was just entering the world stage in the sector, and our company was relatively small. The 1980s brought a tremendous oil boom, which subsided around 1986 and was followed by a further dip between 1991 and 1993. However, both of these dips provided us with the opportunity to create a more sustainable business. We expanded significantly in the 1990s, acquired one of our competitors, and focused more on project work to meet new demand. Gas was discovered relatively recently in Trinidad, in 1999-2000, and we saw the best growth in 2000. The period from 2001 to 2008 was beyond phenomenal, with almost everyone experiencing doubling between 2006 and 2008. In this period, Trinidad constructed four platforms. However, a slowdown was bound to happen, and we have been experiencing it over the last two years.
You have already begun establishing a presence in Colombia. What other opportunities are you looking at outside of Trinidad?
In 2008, we began to look at Latin America, in part as a result of predictions that Trinidad and Tobago’s oil would run out by around 2015. After a few initial failures in Colombia, we finally found a good local partner and have now established ourselves with Pacific Rubiales and all of the major companies there. We have also established a joint venture in Houston, which has allowed us to increase our credibility and supply network.
Could you tell us about your current projects and ESAU’s role in the value chain of the oil and gas sector?
ESAU is involved in projects with EOG Resources, British Gas, and Worley Parsons. BP’s Juniper project was just recently approved, and we hope to be able to work on this in the near future. Since 2003, the trend has changed, with large international companies like BP outsourcing the EPC to Worley Parsons and other similar companies, and we supply to the EPC companies. We are one of the preferred suppliers locally, largely as a result of our stock levels, products, manufacturers, and delivery time. We also help train their engineers, making us a one-stop shop for EPC contracts. We have a niche market in the subsea sector and provided all of the necessary materials for BP’s developing gas projects.