Competentia Buys Argonauta, Expands in USA

Competentia, an international oil and gas project management and engineering recruitment consultancy, has acquired Houston-headquartered Argonauta Group of companies, in a cash and stock transaction.

Argonauta provides senior consultants to the oil and gas majors, primarily for the drilling and subsea sectors of the industry. In addition, through its subsidiary Argonauta Training Services, it delivers comprehensive courses in all aspects of deepwater operations, drilling and well control.

Since its formation in 2002, Argonauta has established relationships with most of the Houston-based majors and leading service companies and counts Exxon, Chevron and Schlumberger among its main customers.

Competentia Chairman, John Smith, commented: “The acquisition of the Argonauta Group is a major milestone in Competentia delivering on its strategy of building an international network to support the delivery of our customer’s projects. Houston is the centre of the oil and gas industry and this move significantly enhances our US presence. It widens the range of the services that we are able to deliver and brings real expertise in the growth area of deepwater operations.”

“We are looking forward to working with Rick Stewart and his team to internationalise the business and to expand the customer base for the delivery of deepwater operations, drilling and well control training,” Competentia Chairman, John Smith, said.

Rick Stewart, CEO of Argonauta, said: “As part of the Competentia group we will have access to an established platform of support to allow us to deliver on the potential within the Argonauta companies. It will enhance our ability to support our customers across their international projects.”

Press Release, June 19, 2014