Press and Journal: Date: 16.02.08

Bosses at north-east oilwell technology company Caledus have said they are ready to take the business to a higher level after landing a £400,000-plus deal to develop and test a product for American energy giant ExxonMobil.

Caledus co-founder and chief executive Paul Howlett said the firm was expanding its activities in design engineering, operations and manufacturing.

The company, which has its head office in Rubislaw Terrace, Aberdeen, was already anticipating growth following the launch last year of a larger size for its SlimWell well-construction technology.

Mr Howlett is even more excited about the firm's prospects following the ExxonMobil deal, which could lead to a heavy-duty version of Caledus's SwivelMaster technology being used in complex drilling operations on Russia's Sakhalin Island.

He said: "We are delighted to be working alongside an oil major such as ExxonMobil," adding that it was a mark of Caledus's growing reputation for the firm to be asked by the Houston-based oil group to assist in wells of such complexity.

Caledus was established in 2003 with just four staff.

The workforce has since grown to more than 40 and others are to be recruited over the next three months.

In August 2004, Caledus paid £412,000 to Hydril UK for the intellectual property and inventory of drilling-tool business Rototec.

Inverbervie-based Johnshaven Precision Engineering was acquired the following year to help Caledus to accelerate product development.

Aberdeen-based Brunel Oilfield Services UK was snapped up by Caledus in November 2006.