The engineering and technical services firm Furmanite has established a new West Africa operation aimed at assisting businesses working within the burgeoning oil and gas industry to improve efficiency levels.

Coming just weeks after the company announced the incorporation of Furmanite West Africa Limited, it has been confirmed that US-educated and former operations director of Sulzer Pumps Nigeria Bulus Sambo, will take up his position in Lagos, and will be tasked with building good relations with private operators within the sector.

In particular, a head office and training and services centre will be established in Lagos, while a number of local technicians are currently being trained in the UK before being sent back to share their skills across the region.

Among the services to be offered by the Furmanite initiative will be hot tapping and line stopping, composite repair and line pressure seal leaking, all aimed at minimising downtime of both upstream and downsteam operations.

Commenting on the move, Furmanite International managing director Paul Brown told Oil Voice: "Our decision to invest in the region with an on-the-ground presence enables us to offer our 75 years of experience to oil and gas operators in this region, where there is high demand for our services to enable vital maintenance to be undertaken without shutdown, avoid unplanned downtime, and help keep scheduled outages to a minimum, representing high value."