CIE Well Control Calls in Administrators

CIE Well Control has gone into administration resulting in loss of 21 jobs.

The Aberdeen-based subsea and surface engineering company has appointed KPMG UK restructuring head Blair Nimmo and Scottish restructuring director Geoff Jacobs as joint administrators.

CIE shares the same fate with several other oil-related business, after demand for its services started declining and oil and gas operators began cutting costs in the wake of the oil-price slump.

“With the reduction in the volume of work available, margins were continually squeezed as competitors forced pricing downwards. This resulted in cash resources being depleted and ultimately required the directors to seek the appointment of administrators, KPMG said in a statement.

As already mentioned, a total of 21 staff have been made redundant from the company, which was working on a number of ongoing projects for clients but did not have sufficient resources to complete the contracts. Two employees have been retained to help the administrators wind up the business and market its assets.

Blair Nimmo, at KPMG, said: ”Our appointment is yet another example of a business in the sector which has been negatively impacted by the low oil price and the consequent reduction in upstream activity resulting in cash flow challenges.

“We are currently working with retained staff to realise all assets, and will provide all employees affected by redundancies with appropriate guidance and support.

“We will be contacting the company’s customers and will do everything we can to seek a buyer who may be able to protect the company. We would encourage any party who has an interest in acquiring the company’s business and its assets to contact us as soon as possible. CIE has a strong reputation in its markets together with an asset base which will be of interest to a number of parties, principally comprising its forward order book with a blue chip client base and a variety of machinery in addition to Intellectual Property.”