Chief Operating Officer appointed as Sigma Offshore plans to expand business at new London office

Sigma Offshore, the international FPSO moorings and marine engineering services company, has appointed a leading industry figure to its executive ranks as the business looks to expand with the launch of a new London office.

Bob Coates, who was previously a director with London Marine Consultants, which is now part of Singapore-based Ezra Holdings, has been named Chief Operating Officer at Sigma Offshore, which has its headquarters in Aberdeen, United Kingdom.

His remit includes responsibility for developing Sigma’s presence in London, where the company aims to recruit a core team of approximately 20 engineers and designers, naval architects and project support personnel, within its first year of operation with further expansion planned in future years as the business matures.

Alistair Dornan, President and Chief Executive Officer at Sigma Offshore, said: “Bob’s appointment signals a step change in focus for Sigma, moving from technology trial and development to hard application in the field. He brings a wealth of experience to Sigma Offshore in the delivery of both external and internal turret mooring systems.

“He will have responsibility for moving Sigma squarely into the delivery and execution of projects, as well as a brief to grow our planned new London office, which is a key part of our wider strategy.”

An experienced senior manager, Bob Coates started his career in 1978 as an apprentice ships draughtsman and later gained bachelor’s degrees in Engineering and Law as a mature student. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the marine and offshore industries from project management to detailed design engineering on floating production systems (FSOs, FPSOs) and fixed structures. He has led projects that have delivered external and internal turret moorings systems, replacement turret mooring systems and front-end engineering and design studies for global businesses.

A member of the Institute of Marine Engineers, Bob said: “Sigma has the resources and level of expertise to provide innovative solutions to clients. The opportunity to work with the team at Sigma and deliver across a range of projects is an exciting one. We are set to make key appointments at our new London office as we look to continue our recent growth in the next 12 months.”

Sigma Offshore is an independent provider of bespoke internal and external mooring and fluid transfer systems, as well as marine-related engineering project solutions to the offshore oil and gas industry. The business also has operations in Oslo, Houston and Singapore.

As well as its mooring and riser solutions, Sigma Offshore delivers extended well testing systems, floating production export system solutions, subsea architecture design, deepwater subsea solutions, consultancy services and project management.

The company has also developed Smart Mooring System (SMS), a bow-mounted turret solution that allows unlimited weathervaning. SMS can be installed during a conversion of a tanker to an FPSO or FSO without the need to dry-dock the ship and without interfering with any work being undertaken on process equipment.

Although developed for FPSOs, the SMS is suitable for a variety of marine applications including floating storage, floating LNG (liquefied natural gas) and CNG (compressed natural gas).

For further information visit www.sigmaoffshore.com

ENDS