Posted 11:42 pm Sunday, June 21, 2009
Off-Beat Business: Tyler-Based VME Process Expanding Worldwide
By BRIAN PEARSON
Business Editor
Sparks fly as Toby Sumrall works his welding torch around a piece of steel bound for duty inside a piece of equipment under construction at VME Process in Tyler.
Business Editor
Sparks fly as Toby Sumrall works his welding torch around a piece of steel bound for duty inside a piece of equipment under construction at VME Process in Tyler.
Tucked away in a warehouse on the south side of town, VME Process churns out custom filtration systems that separate oil, gas, water, dirt and impurities sucked out from deep inside the Earth.
This past week, almost 10,000 miles away, as it has in about a dozen countries worldwide, VME Process planted yet another company flag, this time on Batam Island, Indonesia.
More than 150 people attended a colorful two-day grand-opening event to celebrate a facility that combines all the fabrication facets under one roof.
The project marks what Michael Thomas, a Van High School graduate who serves as the company's chief executive officer, called another step in streamlining oil and gas production.
GLOBAL EXPANSION: The new VME Process facility in Indonesia is seen during its grand opening, last week.
"In short, VME's process equipment is needed to help the energy companies expand the production capacity of oil and gas with the goal of reducing oil and gasoline prices and providing a steady-stream of available energy for years to come," Thomas said this past week in an e-mail from Indonesia.
Beginnings
VME was founded and incorporated in 1985 as the locally focused VME Fabricators, which designed and manufactured small separation products for the oil and petrochemical industries.
The company's reputation and reach quickly spread worldwide, with an expansion into industries such as pulp and paper, gas processing, steam production, water treatment and petroleum refining, according to the company's Web site.
VME Process, as it became known in 2003, creates everything from basic replacement parts to entire systems, known as Floating, Production, Store and Offload, which can be mounted onto supertankers.
Company spokesman Todd Hinkie said the FPSOs usually are mounted on retired supertankers, giving them new lives as roving separation systems. They allow for on-site separation rather than having to bring in the unseparated load for onshore processing.
Water that is separated out of the mix can be treated and released, Hinkie said.
The company's resume today boasts more than 1,250 projects in countries such as Angola, Australia, Brazil, China Nigeria, Canada and Ghana.
"We're a leading supplier of processing solutions throughout the world," Hinkie said.
VME Process in 2004 completed work on its biggest project to that date, a $6 million gas-processing module and production separator skids.
Thomas said the company today has more than 60 people working in Tyler alone and more than 100 worldwide, with offices in Singapore, Shah Alam, Malaysia, and now Batam, Indonesia.
The Tyler offices handle engineering and support work in addition to the fabrication operations at 9915 Hombre Drive.
Expansion
Thomas said his company's focus in recent years has been on the Asia Pacific region.
"We strategically targeted this region since our executive management had experience and contacts there, which opened the door for VME to quickly penetrate the market in process systems," he said. "Batam is part of a free-trade zone with Singapore and had a dedicated and accessible workforce, many of which have experience with fabrication giants like PT McDermott."
Now, VME Process has its sites set on the Gulf of Mexico, Africa and Brazil, he said.
The company earlier this month scored a contract for the supply of nine electric motor-driven reciprocating compressors. The contract was signed with Flotech Services of New Zealand.
Thomas said it is work such as this that underscores the company's vision for the future.
"I believe it is important to focus expanding our low-cost energy resources like oil, natural gas and coal while focusing on cleaner fuels and alternative sources of energy," Thomas said. "The goal should be a low-cost and reliable source of energy for commercial and industrial consumption.
"While we do not have significant resources to divert into alternative energy research, we will be watching for opportunities to commercialize new ideas and try to find innovative solutions to the increasing energy demand."
