The company had the support of the UK Trade & Investment to supply components to Brazilian oil and gas group Petrobras
Poole-based Heatric has secured an £80m contract to supply components to Brazilian oil and gas group Petrobras. It will supply printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHEs) which will be used on floating, production, storage and offloading units offshore from Brazil.
Heatric, which is part of UK Trade & Investment’s (UKTI) high value opportunities (HVO) programme, won the contract after Petrobras visited its Dorset headquarters during a UKTI Brazil conference. Heatric used this as a starting point to develop a relationship with the Brazilian company, culminating in the award of this contract.
The UKTI team in Rio provided the company with market advice. International Trade Advisor (ITA) colleagues in the UK offered multi-market support to feed into the company’s wider internationalisation strategy.
Nick Johnston, director of sales at Heatric, said: “UKTI continues to identify opportunities for us to raise our profile and connect with relevant local stakeholders. They knew who we needed to speak to in Brazil and made sure we got face-to-face time with them.”
Heatric was formed in Australia in 1985 and relocated to Poole after it was acquired by defence and aerospace giant Meggitt in 1990. It employs more than 350 staff in Dorset and also has sales offices in Houston, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore and Sydney.
STRATEGY
Heatric registered on Petrobras’ suppliers list, Petronect, a system which is now online and in English. Heatric also found local partners to assemble the heat exchangers in Brazil so as to provide local content. This was in line with the regulations laid out by the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency, ANP.
Petrobras plan to double their production from 2 to 4 million barrels of oil per day by 2020. Petrobras’ investments in the ‘pre-salt’ oil fields off the coast of Brazil offer significant and potentially lucrative opportunities for UK companies who have developed cutting-edge goods and services in areas of deepwater reserves.
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