Tell me about yourself
My name is Roy Henriksen, I am a Design Engineer for IK Group’s Subsea Business Area based in Stavanger, Norway. Outside of work I enjoy keeping fit and have been competing in triathlons since 2015. I started doing triathlons because I was fed up just going to the gym and running occasionally to keep in shape, I needed something more. I still had that competitive fire burning in me since high school and I needed to challenge it and I love it!
Tell me about your background? How did you get into the industry?
I actually studied for 3 years as a Technical Draftsman with a view to go into architecture, but after a few years I decided I would be a better fit in the oil and gas industry.
For the first few years of my career, I worked as a CAD consultant within various projects and fields. However, for the last 25 years I have been working with offshore related projects. In 2004 I started working for Holta & Haaland within the offshore industry, mainly in structural design. Since then I have had a variety of roles within the industry which have helped shape my career, including; design and project engineering, technical draftsman, CNC machining. All of these roles lead me to my current role as a design engineer at IK.
You are a Design Engineer here at IK, what does your role entail?
I am responsible for designing, testing and installation a whole host of tools and solutions.
If I were to explain a typical project timeline, I will start at the beginning of a new project where we will get a call from a client with a problem. At that point, the project team will be assembled and come together in a meeting room to discuss how we are going to approach the solution. Once we come up with a design for the solution that the client has approved, we will then start building the solution in our in-house workshop. The next step is when the solution is ready to go and has completed all relevant testing, we then mobilise it offshore. Finally, we come back home and start all over again with another brand-new project which will bring a host of exciting new challenges!
My main objective as a Design Engineer is to be an individual who firmly believes that learning never stops. I want to continue learning and enhancing my skills to be a better Design Engineer. I always work towards ensuring the company achieves its goals and objectives.
What sort of problems do your clients usual have that you can assist with?
The customer wants to keep their installations up and running and we have to find and provide the best solution to their problem - challenge accepted, as we say! Most regularly the customer has a leak in their system, and they want us to fix it without having to shut down production which, in turn, will save them money and time.
When this happens, the first thing I do is assess which part of the problem need is the most urgent. Anything which doesn’t require immediate attention is then delegated and the urgent issues are dealt with in terms of criticality.
Are there any stand-out projects from your time at IK so far?
There are two projects which come to mind. The first one is when IK had been awarded a contract from a large global energy company for the delivery of a repair clamp for a subsea 3” Methanol line. The line has been found to have a leakage at a 3D elbow. With our bespoke clamp installed, the customer did not have a long down time on their production. This was a fast-track project, which was 3 weeks from start to delivery and the customer was very satisfied with the result of the project.
The second project which I think of is the Greater Plutonio Southern Loop which transports production fluids from the Plutonio and Cobalto fields to the Greater Plutonio FPSO. In May 2019 the LPS1 pipeline failed resulting in an LOPC (An unplanned or uncontrolled release of material from primary containment, including non-toxic and non-flammable materials). A clamp solution was proposed which included two phases; phase one was a set of temporary clamps onto the external coating of the pipeline, and phase two required coating removal to land production clamps onto the bare metal pipeline. The production clamps consisted of a production sealing clamp and a production structural clamp. This whole project was due for completion in the middle of the pandemic which posed some extra problems. We had to travel down to Africa and isolate in quarantine hotels for 3 weeks. Afterwards it was 100 days at sea to get the project completed. This project had a lot of moving parts to think about, but it was very successful and the client was happy with the outcome.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years’ time?
In 10 years, I hope to advance in my role as much as possible. I love this industry and think it is the right place for me long-term. I want to continue working in a collaborative environment where every employee can thrive. One of my main goals is to make a bigger, more positive impact on the company, and I will use my positivity and skills to make this happen. There are a lot of problems that need solving around the world in this industry, and I want to be there helping.
In your opinion, what are the top challenges facing our industry at the moment?
With rising global demand, highly volatile prices and increasingly stringent environmental regulations, the oil and gas industry face three major challenges: reduce costs, optimize the performance of its industrial base assets and improve its environmental footprint.
Learn more about IK Subsea here, or get in touch with Roy directly.