History of Wagenborg Foxdrill
In 1967, Vos Boormaatschappij Foxdrill was established in
Oldenzaal as a subsidiary of Vos Bouwbedrijf.
The company mainly worked for the NAM, which owned a number of
drilling rigs in those days. In 1969, Foxdrill bought its own
drilling rig and started drilling for oil and gas in Libya. The
client was satisfied and Foxdrill decided to deploy a second
drilling rig.
As a result of the revolution in Libya, Foxdrill was unable to
continue its work. With a ship owned by Wagenborg, Foxdrill managed
to return one complete drilling rig and pieces of the second rig to
the Netherlands. After that Foxdrill rented the drilling rig to NAM
and Shell.
At the start of the 1970s, the Dutch state issued fewer and
fewer drilling licences. Foxdrill sold its drilling rig to Deutag
and focused on services for the oil and gas industry, such as
assembling and disassembling drilling rigs, both onshore and
offshore. At the end of the 1980´s this activity reached its peak
with the assembly of a 82-metre high drilling rig
in southern Germany, Windischeschenbach.
In 1984, Foxdrill was the first company to use hydraulic
pile-driving equipment from IHC. This equipment is used to install
onshore and offshore conductors for the oil and gas industry.
During the following years, this activity expanded rapidly and a
second office was opened in Great Yarmouth, UK, whilst the
activities were carried out worldwide. At that time the largest
project was for Shell - 6 conductors with a length of 420 metres
each.
In 1996, Wagenborg Foxdrill started a new activity with the
derrick packages - building new drilling rigs in sections that are
finally assembled and installed on a drilling ship or platform.
The parent company was changing rapidly too and changed its name
to Vos Group. In order to strengthen Foxdrill even further, Vos
Group purchased a number of companies. In 1999, Foxdrill moved from
Oldenzaal to Hengelo.
In 2000, Foxdrill was sold to Royal Wagenborg. Wagenborg had
started the division Wagenborg Offshore in 1998, which provides a
range of services to the oil and gas industry. As a result of the
overlap in the activities of Foxdrill and Wagenborg Offshore, the
activities of Foxdrill were incorporated in Wagenborg Offshore as
of 1st of January 2005. Wagenborg Foxdrill was the new
name.
The collaboration between Wagenborg Foxdrill and Wagenborg
Kazakhstan, the other operating company within Wagenborg Offshore
began to bear fruit immediately. Wagenborg Foxdrill awarded two
five-year contracts for the installation of conductors in the
Caspian Sea - the rental of two S-90 pile-driving installations to
Weatherford and Agip in the Kazakh part of the Caspian Sea and the
rental of two S-150 pile-driving installations to Weatherford and
BP in the Azerbaijani part of the Caspian Sea. The work is carried
out in close co-operation with the colleagues of Wagenborg
Kazakhstan.
Come tomorrow, today will be history. Therefore we continue to
expand our services, with a current focus on the Russian
market.