Airborne Oil & Gas Adds New Operations Director

Airborne Oil & Gas (AOG), a manufacturer of Thermoplastic Composite Pipelines (TCP), has added Mark Stokes as a new operations director to its management team.

The appointment is part of the company’s continued investment strategy to increase productivity and capability at its Netherlands based plant in order to deliver larger quantities of TCP to its customers in both onshore and offshore applications.

New operations director, Mark Stokes, has joined the firm from the executive team at BHGE (formerly Wellstream).

During his 18 years with the company, he held various senior positions. He was most recently in charge of the manufacturing facility, having previously held key roles in engineering and project management at its flexible pipe manufacturing facility in Newcastle, UK.

Mark will be based at AOG’s facility in the port town of IJmuiden, located at the mouth of the North Sea Canal to Amsterdam.

Mark said: “AOG has its sights firmly set on future growth and continuing to provide the high-quality service its international clients are accustomed to. My focus will be to build on the successful work delivered to date, by delivering on the productivity & capability expansion plans and ensuring operational rigour is at the forefront of every campaign. We also plan to enhance the existing asset management strategy to ensure the assets and infrastructure remain reliable with minimal down time. This will help to ensure that the production lines run as efficiently as possible allowing AOG to remain competitive.

“I can already see that there is a wealth of experience in the technical and operations teams and a strong pipeline of contracts and qualification programmes. This is a very exciting time to be joining such an innovative and pioneering company.”

AOG CEO, Oliver Kassam added: “Moving to a 365-day operation is a game changer for our business. With Mark at the helm and a bigger team to support our TCP production, we are confident we will increase productivity and meet our new targets of increased output while delivering the same high standard our clients expect. Mark has had significant experience and successes in the unbonded flexible pipe sector and we look forward to growing our capabilities and passing on the efficiencies to our clients.

“This operational change is driven by an increased customer demand for our TCP technology which outperforms flexible and steel pipe alternatives in terms of corrosion resistance and overall installed cost in the key Oil and Gas markets around the globe.

“This significant CAPEX investment to increase our capacity and improve our capabilities further demonstrates the continued support from our shareholders who remain committed to growing and developing the business globally.”