Improved oil prices have provided a shot in the arm for oilfield operations and maintenance specialist Ipedex, with major projects now in full swing for both PDO and Occidental Oman, as well as a number of other production sharing Operators in the Sultanate, according to Resident Manager Benoit Debray.

PDO's ongoing effort to increase sustainable crude oil output has led to the development of a number of fields in the Sultanate, and Ipedex has been involved with commissioning activity for the past five years starting in PDO's southern Oman operations.

Ipedex provides technical services such as the secondment of technical specialists, commissioning of newly-built facilities, assistance to start-up operations, preparation of operating manuals and procedures, preparation of maintenance plans with maintenance engineering studies, training of personnel on various process facilities and new technologies and assessment of operational personnel.

Through a continual consultation process based on the Ipedex experience of commissioning activities within the PDO southern areas, Ipedex proposed a tailor-made commissioning service, adopting a strategy based on good engineering practice and enabling PDO Asset Teams to meet their individual business objectives.

For more recent projects, Ipedex is now able to draw on its experience of PDO's commissioning activities, and is therefore able to provide a more flexible approach to the Asset teams by having one or more disciplined, experienced commissioning engineers covering the core skill requirement of a project at any one time.

''Ipedex has the back up capabilities and the experience of parent companies Total, Technip and IFP (of France), through which we can provide a competitive edge to our clients,'' explained Debray.

The PDO commissioning call-off contract was awarded to Ipedex in December 1999. The first mobilisations were launched early last year with the Athel project (in the new Al Noor oilfield located between Nimr and MaÿØÿà