According to the company’s website press release on April 17, 2023, Sparrows Group (Sparrows), the engineering and maintenance services specialist for the global energy and industrial sectors, has been awarded work in Kuwait for the first time. The two scopes cover maintenance and provision of certificates of conformance for onshore rigs across sites for two clients. Sparrows will be responsible for servicing a range of critical drilling equipment, including mud pumps, iron roughnecks, catwalks and top drives, to ensure the rigs are safe to return to the field.
With Kuwait’s oil and gas industry now reinvigorated following a slump, 100 rigs will join the operational fleet by 3Q23. These rigs, both new and old, require high-quality servicing, which is a significant volume of work to place on existing OEMs. Sparrows has been recognised as an approved non-OEM maintenance provider, becoming the first non-OEM service company to hold the NOC approvals to operate in the country, and showcase its expertise and capabilities.
With few western companies operating in Kuwait, Sparrows’ highly-skilled staff are sharing knowledge and supervising the client’s domestic maintenance teams as they carry out their CAT IV inspections. Sparrows has deployed a team including project managers, drilling equipment supervisors and drilling equipment technicians - including top drive, iron roughneck and BOP hoist specialists - with the numbers onsite increasing to support the growing workload.
On each rig, a quick turnaround of maintenance and servicing is required, with the country eager to kickstart its swelling oil and gas industry. Rigs require recertification every five years, which keeps the door open for Sparrows to remain operating in Kuwait for the foreseeable future.
Stewart Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer at Sparrows, said: “Becoming the first and currently only company to hold the approval as a non-OEM maintenance provider in Kuwait, is a proud honour, and testament to Sparrows’ dedication and focus on quality. This is an exciting time for our drilling services portfolio, as we expand globally, taking our remarkable success in the Middle East and Asia Pacific and replicating it in the UK and in previously inaccessible locations, such as Kuwait.”
