Valtor wants to see more of the big world

Valve supplier, Valtor Offshore, in Esbjerg now wants to grow international in the North Sea region as well as in more distant oil nations. Founder urges merger of Esbjerg universities to strengthen level of know-how.

The story behind the birth of Valtor Offshore A/S in 1985 fully illustrates how a number of local Esbjerg-companies developed into regular suppliers to the offshore operators in the Danish North Sea. The founder of the company at that time was working for another Esbjerg-company, Hytor A/S, but it was incomprehensible to him why Italian-made valves for Maersk Oil had to be supplied by a Dutch company.

“Why shouldn’t we do it?” asked the electrician who had experience from working in the North Sea.

The first couple of years Valtor Offshore was primarily involved in import of the Italian valves, but since 1994 Val Controls developed from being a trading company to acting as a trading, engineering and service company supplying a complete range of valves and control systems to platforms primarily in the Danish sector of the North Sea. Total solutions that might amount to some 30-35 million DKK.

Valtor’s list of references comprises of companies like Maersk Oil, DONG Energy, Hess and Norwegian Statoil whose offshore activities recently merged with Hydro. Valtor’s primary markets are Denmark, Norway, Holland, Italy and the Middle East.

The home market is still number one, but within the next five years export is to be increased to 40% in order to meet the expectations of an annual growth of 20%. Plans for the future call for getting established in Norway either via a partnership with a company known in the offshore industry or by total or partial acquisition. Valtor is looking at England and Scotland, too, and as Maersk Oil is operating in Qatar this country may also have an interesting potential for export.

 
“Measured by a European yardstick, however,
we are really not that small, as we are one of
the few medium-sized suppliers within this sector
not owned by one of the major concerns. The market
is characterized by having a few major players and
a multitude of small ones, often representing only
one product range,” explains Managing Director, Peter Toft.

“Measured by a European yardstick, however, we are really not that small, as we are one of the few medium-sized suppliers within this sector not owned by one of the major concerns. The market is characterized by having a few major players and a multitude of small ones, often representing only one pro-duct range,” explains Managing Director, Peter Toft.

He is clearly aware of the strength of Valtor: Reliability! When working in the offshore industry, you must meet deadlines – regardless of economy. And you must be available around the clock. In the age of e-mail logistics have come to play a much more important part than before, so this July Valtor will have completed the construction of a 1,200 square meters warehouse in order to handle production, sales and service of an increasing mount of products in an even more efficient manner.

Closer ties to the industry
The components supplied by Valtor Offshore are used for control, safety, shut-down systems and process control at platforms, and through the years the Italian valves have been supplemented by products from the Far East and from the two Danish companies, Damcos A/S in Næstved, producing hydraulic actuators, and Brdr. Christensen Haner A/S at Haslev supplying plug valves and closely cooperating with Valtor.

“The suppliers have to establish clo-ser ties to each other in order to achieve a long-term development. Characteristic for Norway is the close relationship between the oil companies and their suppliers.”

Another challenge soon to turn up will be to recruit, keep and develop employees to secure the continued existence of Valtor in the years to come.

Let the universities merge!
The founder of Valtor also nurish ambitions on behalf of the offshore town of Esbjerg. He considers setting up Offshore Center Danmark an important step towards adding the know-how necessary for the offshore industry, but he complains that it only to a limited degree has been possible to bridge the gap between two universities, Syddansk Universitet and Aalborg Universitet Esbjerg and establish a formalised cooperation.

“Let the two universities merge as soon as possible, and add Offshore Center Danmark. There is a strong need in the oil and gas industry for developing technologies. Build cheaper, better and more efficient offshore installations in order to make marginal fields commercial. To optimize the process in order to squeeze the last drops of oil from the underground.”

He never gets tired of mentioning the word know-how, and such an asset must be built up in cooperation between clients, suppliers and research institutes. Furthermore, cooperation between companies must be increased in order to train more staff in various aspects of the offshore industry. Peter Toft wants to do his part of the work by increasing the growth of Valtor Offshore and Val Controls as their advanced products have a global potential, and by increasing the international outlook required by most companies in the offshore industry.

When founding Valtor, Peter Toft was assisted by two experienced hands from the offshore industry, Søren Hygom, Dogis a/s, and Jørgen M. Thorup, Hytor A/S. Through the years Valtor has turned out to be profitable enough for Peter Toft to manage without investors from outside.