History

The award of the platform for Shell´s Amposta Field in the Spanish sector of the Mediterranean Sea meant the beginning of the offshore activity for Dragados. This first project, considered of a minor size from the actual point of view, consisted on the fabrication of a Production Platform of 950 tonnes, which set the creation of a company, now with more than 35 years experience, which has endured the hardest crisis of the Oil and Gas market.

A yard in Almeria is established for the construction of modules and other components for Oil & Gas Platforms. This yard has, amongst others, a factory designed for the fabrication of structural tubulars to satisfy his needs and third party's for welded structural tubulars.

The activity in the Yard of Puerto Real begins in 1975. This yard was built over ground gained to sea, as a result of land filling from the dredging carried out to construct the new dry dock of Astilleros Españoles S.A. in Puerto Real which was executed by Dragados y Construcciones. Since then and up to date, Dragados Offshore has developed his activities in this yard.

During this period the company is making an effort to get a position in the Oil and Gas sector, executing a large number of projects, among which we can highlight the constructionof the integrated deck Brae "A" with 5.000 tonnes weight for Marathon Oil. Furthermore, in this period seven projects to fabricate offshore structures were developed in a yard in operation in Brasil.

In 1983 the activity of the yard in Almería was integrated into the yard of Puerto Real, being this last one of larger dimensions, offering a greater potential to achieve an optimum centralization of the activities of the company.

One of the most emblematic projects of Dragados Offshore starts in 1986 and concluded two years later. It consisted on the modular fabrication of the expansion of the Mongstad refinery in Norway. This project included the fabrication of more that 150 different modules with an overall weight of 16.000 tonnes.

In 1990 starts the fabrication of the Scott utility module for Amerada Hess, which concluded two years later. Up to that date, this module with dimensions of 45mx25mx25m and a weight of 9.100 tonnes was considered the biggest structure fabricated in the Yard of Puerto Real in one sole piece.

With the award of the contract for the construction of the process modules of the FPSO Captain for Texaco, Dragados Offshore enters into a new business line, opening a door towards one of the branches of the Oil & Gas sector with more activity nowadays.

The fabrication of the Britannia Jacket starts in 1995 to be installed in the British area of the North Sea. This jacket with dimensions of 78mx70mx165m and almost 21.000 tonnes is up to date the heaviest jacket built in the Yard of Puerto Real.

In 1996 starts the fabrication of the Öresund Project, a bridge linking the cities of Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmö (Sweden) which was worlwide considered one of the most prestigious projects in Europe. The scope of work of Dragados Offshore in this project consisted on the fabrication of 49 bridge spans of steel-concrete mixed structured, of 140m long and 25m wide each, with an approximate weight of 5.000 tonnes and a total length of nearly 7 kms. The supply rate of the bridge spans was frenetic, achieving a delivery schedule of 2 spans every 21 days.

This year is marked by two main events. On one side, Dragados Offshore decides to enter into the Mexican market, acting as partner in an EPCIH contract for PEMEX for a process and gas compression complex AKAL GC. This has been, with no doubt, one of the most strategic movements of our company as it implies on one side the quality jump that means the execution of EPCIH projects and on the other side the considerable increase of its activities in a foreign country.

On the other hand, starts the fabrication of the semi-submersible hull Snorre B for Kogas. This project represented a new challenge due to its complexity, mainly caused due to the execution of intensive works in confined spaces and the welding with exotic materials such as titanium.

During year 2001 the mexican strategy of Dragados Offshore is rewarded with the signature with the oil and gas company PEMEX, of three new EPC contracts. The first project, EPC-39, is a utility and living quarter platform with its associated structures. The second project, EPC-60, is a utility platform to assist the existing platforms of the AKAL GC field. The third one, the EPC 78, the most relevant one, is a gas compression and production complex with all structures associated, with an overall weight of almost 20.000 tonnes.

Due to the relevance of these Mexican projects, Dragados Offshore decides at the end of this year to create a subsidiary company in this country called Dragados Offshore de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.

Again a year of great importance for Dragados Offshore. On one hand, the award of two large projects. The first one, the Snohvit LNG Plant for Statoil with a weight of 24.000 tonnes which again establishes a record for the company as it is the heaviest installation built in our yard of Puerto Real The second projects consisted on a process module for the oil and gas company Encana, of aproximately 10.500 tonnes for their Buzzard field in the British sector of the North Sea.

On the other hand, a significant event takes place this year, that is the opening of a Yard for the fabrication of structures in Tampico. This strategic decision allows us to cater for a better service to PEMEX, the par excellence client in the area, and to increase our presence in the Gulf of Mexico.

Also Dragados Offshore opens a commercial office in Houston (Texas), the main Oil and Gas business centre in the world, named as Dragados Offshore USA

The award of a contract for the Production Platform PB-KU-A2 for PEMEX in August 2004 confirms the success of the strategy followed by Dragados Offshore in the Aztec market.

In November 2004, Dragados Offshore receives the Award Prince of Asturias to the Excellence Model (as per EFQM) in the modality of "Industrial Quality" confirming the good management developed by the Company.

Also in November 2004 Dragados Offshore obtains the OHSAS 18001 Certificate of Approval for his Occupational Health and Safety Management System after a favourable result of the audit carried out by Lloyd's Register concerning the system developed and implemented in our activities.

With the objective to establish new sectors of commercial activity, in April 2005 Dragados Offshore subscribes a Collaboration Agreement with a russian company called Krasnye Barricady for the joint development of offshore projects in the Caspian Sea.

In November 2005 Dragados Offshore receives the Andalusian Award to the Excellence (5th Edition) in the modality of "Great Companies". This Award recognises those large andalusian companies that have achieved competitive advantages within the market on the basis of a high excellence management level, and is added to the ones obtained in previous editions of this award, Mention to the Management of Process (4th Edition) and Mention to the Management of Resources (5th Edition).

Another issue to highlight in this period is the enlargement and modernization of the facilities in Puerto Real, duplicating the surface of the yard to increase the production capacity, which would allow us to face projects with more relevance and to assume more work loads.

Mobil Italiana Gas, Qatar Terminal and Edison, throughout Aker Solutions, award Dragados Offshore the LNG Adriatic Project in April 2006, consisting on the construction of a natural gas regasification terminal of 12.000 tonnes on a floating concrete case, which will be installed in the North Adriatic Sea, close to Venece.

The gas terminal is built in our installations of Puerto Real, and is transported by sea in modules, in a total of seven shipments to the south quay of the former shipyard of Crinavis, in the Port of Algeciras, where they were assembled onto the concrete gravity based structure (GBS) that was built there.

The signature of a contract with Bechtel-Jacobs for the assembly of the piperack modules for Motiva Port Arthur Expansion Project in Port Arthur (Texas) is considered the opening to the american market of Dragados Offshore, strengthening in this way its position.

The construction of a new quay in the installations of the yard of Puerto Real is finished in 2008. The North quay has a mooring line of 360 m and a waterdepth of 12 m, which will allow Dragados Offshore to carry out works such as the installation and integration of modules for large FPSO, for which up to date there were no appropriate facilities.

At the end of this year 2008 Dragados Offshore gets the concession of he Algeciras Yard, which counts with the largest graving dock in Europe, opening new opportunities to future projects. Further to works based on GBS or concrete caisson, this dry dock allows the construction of semisubmersible lower hulls, complete semisubmersible platforms, spars and TLP´s.

Dragados Offshore de México results awarded with two new Contracts for PEMEX EXPLORACIÓN Y PRODUCCIÓN (PEP). The projects consist on two Wellhead Platforms called AKAL-TO and AKAL-TE of 3.200 tonnes and 2.100 tonns respectively.

PEMEX EXPLORACIÓN Y PRODUCCIÓN (PEP) awards Dragados Offshore de México with two new projects. The first one, in April, is the HA-LT-01 Living Quarter for 201 people in the Gulf of Mexico. Its installation shall be carried out with the "floatover" system, being the first module to be installed with this system in the mexican sector of the Gulf of Mexico.

The second one, in September, is the electrical energy cogeneration platform PG-ZAAP-C which shall be installed in the Sonda de Campeche, in the Gulf of Mexico.

The cogeneration module has a weight of 5.000 tonnes, and the jacket and pilots an approximate weight of 6.000 tonnes.