AMEC acquires specialist in-situ oil sands business

AMEC Plc, the international engineering and project management company, has announced that it is to acquire Bower Damberger Rolseth Engineering Limited (BDR), a specialist in-situ oil sands business, from its owner-managers for £22 million. Based in Calgary, Canada, BDR provides specialist technical engineering services to the fast growing 'in-situ' heavy oil, gas and oil production industries. With 85 employees, it has a particular expertise in thermal recovery of in-situ oil through its Steam Assisted Gravity-Drainage (SAG-D) methods. In-situ deposits are those which lie too far below the surface to be recovered by open-cast mining.

BDR's reputation and capability in the in-situ segment of the market is complementary to AMEC's existing position and expertise in oil sands, where it is the market leader in the provision of upstream engineering services and project management to the surface mining sector. Samir Brikho, Chief Executive stated: "This is an important acquisition for AMEC and one which enhances our position in the fast growing Canadian oil sands market. It also demonstrates further progress with our strategy of geographic and capacity expansion in the energy industries, which was first communicated in December 2006."

Neil Bruce, Chief Operating Officer for AMEC's Natural Resources division, added: "By combining AMEC's leading position in the mineable segment and BDR's strong reputation in in-situ extraction, we are creating a capability that is well positioned in a market with good growth prospects." Stuart Albion, President of BDR stated: "We are delighted to join AMEC and combine our specialist engineering capability with the total EPCM project delivery capability of AMEC and we are looking forward to contributing to the future growth in the oil sands."