As a supplier of liquid and gaseous helium to the diving and medical industries, Global Gases has made service a high priority. Energy Digital discovers how the company is taking those services global
Written by Ellie Duncan & Produced by Oliver Bishop
Over the last few years, Global Gases really has done what its name suggests and gone global. The company was founded in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai, in 2002 by Deepak Mehta, and it still operates from this base today. “He founded the business based around the supply of liquid helium and gaseous helium into the medical and diving gas communities and that still represents the core of our activities,” says General Manager Andy Stevenson. Since that time, he continues, Global Gases has extended its reach to Singapore, Cape Town in South Africa, and as far afield as Perth in Australia. “We also have a slightly different manufacturing plant in Kuala Lumpur,” he adds.
The company’s global presence is essential in the delivery of liquid and gaseous helium. As Stevenson explains, most of its business is geared towards one or two primary markets: one is oil and gas exploration offshore. “As far as the gaseous helium is concerned, we provide diving companies who are operating globally. They tend to be based in four or five locations around the world,” he says. “The diving companies require gas on ships that go offshore for months at a time.
“They come to us for the gas, so, in that sense, the supply chain is very short.”
SERVING THE MEDICAL SECTOR
The other industry in which Global Gases operates is the medical sector. “The demand for medical equipment and the support of medical equipment, which is what we sell our liquid helium into, is continuing to grow all the time,” adds Stevenson. The liquid helium that the company supplies is specifically for use in MRI machines. “Most MRIs are based upon a super conducting magnet,” he explains. “They’re extremely powerful because most of them operate at very low temperatures.” Liquid helium is ideally suited for use in cold conditions because it is one of the coldest practical materials, with a boiling point of just four degrees kelvin.
“The super conducting magnets have a liquid helium bath around them which keeps them as cold as possible,” he says. “The liquid helium is extremely volatile and, over a period of time, the liquid turns into gas and boils off.” As a result, such machines require refilling with liquid helium between two and three times a year. He acknowledges that this area of the business requires a high level of customer service and is much more supply chain oriented. Shipping the material to its point of use requires speed and efficiency.
Such demand for its products prompted Global Gases to invest in additional facilities around the world – or fill facilities, as they are known in the industry. “When we say fill facilities, it basically means delivering gas from large containers into cylinders and cylinder packs. What we’re really investing in is gas storage systems so we can store the gas in bulk quantities before we fill the cylinders,” Stevenson explains in layman’s terms. “Then we have the fill equipment itself, which is a combination of pipework and filling connections.
“We’re always investing a lot in the cylinders; that’s probably the single biggest investment we make year in, year out.”
Another significant investment has been in the manufacturing facility in Kuala Lumpur, which specialises in producing quads. A standard gas cylinder stands at four to five feet tall, according to Stevenson. “Well, a quad is anywhere up to 64 cylinders, placed in a fixed framework and then connected through a manifold – a bunch of connecting pipework. It’s a means of carrying around large quantities of gas in one single arrangement and that’s typically a unit of currency that is used in the offshore industry.”
EXPONENTIAL GROWTH
He admits that the growth of Global Gases has been exponential of late and attributes this to Mehta’s leadership. “What Deepak has done with the business today is to grow it very effectively based upon using more local labour; people that he has recruited from within India and the Gulf region. What Deepak was keen to recruit me into the company for was to start bringing some knowledge and experience of the way business is done in Europe,” he explains.
Despite the impact of the global economic climate, Global Gases has positioned itself in two fairly buoyant markets. “We’re working in sectors which are still growing, despite the general malaise in the rest of the economy,” says Stevenson. In fact, annual turnover is now in excess of $20 million, putting the company in a position where it can continue to invest and expand. He speculates that another 10 to 12 people may be employed by Global Gases in the course of the next 12 months. “If our plans for additional facilities come to fruition, then we’re going to need those people for sure.
“We’re looking at a number of other geographies where we see a rising demand for these offshore diving gases,” says Stevenson, looking to the not too distant future. “There are at least three or four further locations where we see the demand going up and we are likely, or intending, to put additional filling facilities on the ground.”
The company may yet venture into several other niche businesses within the industries in which it currently operates. For Stevenson, it all comes back to the service-led ethos that Global Gases prides itself on.
“We do value the service that we offer,” he adds. “Our business’ reputation is driven by the very high level of service that we offer our customers and that’s at the core of everything we’re doing as we move things forward.”
FACTS AT A GLANCE
COMPANY NAME: Global Gases
GENERAL MANAGER: Andy Stevenson
OPERATIONS: Supplies liquid helium and gaseous helium to the medical and diving industries
ESTABLISHED: 2002
EMPLOYEES: 50-60
REVENUE: $20 million
www.globalgases.com
View Digital Corporate Profile of Globalgases in Energy Digital February 2010