WHILE stock markets plummet, jobs are set to be created in Yorkshire on the back of growth in the Middle East’s oil industry, the Yorkshire Post can reveal. A company based in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, is helping the hunt for oil in places such as Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. The French-based FDS Group, manufacturer and supplier of industrial sealing products, yesterday announced that it had opened a new distribution company for the UK market. The company – New-Seal – has been formed as a result of the purchase, for an undisclosed sum, of the former Beldam Burgmann branch network from the Pexion Group. FDS also owns Flexitallic and Novus Sealing in Cleckheaton, which in total, employ 210 staff and have a combined turnover of £30m a year. Phil Kelshaw, the managing director of Flexitallic and Novus Sealing, will be responsible for all the FDS Group companies in the UK, including New-Seal. Mr Kelshaw said yesterday: “This is the start of an exciting new strategic venture. We are confident that we can improve the delivery of our sealing services to all our UK customers with a mix of Flexitallic and Novus applications and sales experience. “This will be coupled with the continued supply of Beldam Crossley maintenance products through the local service from our new UK branch network. “While our preferred route to market will be via New-Seal, we will continue to supply the market via our network of independent distributors at our current pricing levels “We look forward with great confidence to a successful and growing future” Novus Sealing and Flexitallic sell their sealing gasket products direct to major users, and also through independent distribution companies and gasket cutters in the UK market. He said about 50 per cent of the turnover was for the domestic market. Mr Kelshaw added. “The fact that we will be able to better control the specification selling and applications support from our direct sales and applications engineers, and control the important distribution channel to most of the gasket users will increase our share of the domestic market.” Mr Kelshaw said he expected to create jobs in Cleckheaton and at branches in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Middlesbrough, Ipswich, Cardiff and across the north west. Novus Sealing is planning an extra shift at its gasket sheeting centre of excellence, creating up to eight jobs. This will enable the company to deal with the increased volume of orders for sheet products from September. Mr Kelshaw described the UK market as “very competitive”. He added: “As manufacturers of sealing gaskets for the oil, power, petrochemical and chemical industries we are seeing a very positive recovery from the 2009 recession where our business dipped by 15 per cent. “This is driven by the return of refinery turnaround shutdowns in the UK, the restarting of delayed new projects and excellent export growth, particularly in the Middle East and Asia markets. “We have a Novus joint venture in Ras al Khaimah in the Emirates and we opened a joint venture in Atyrau in Kazakhstan in July. “We are forming a Flexitallic joint venture in Saudi Arabia which is planned to open towards the end of 2011. All of these joint ventures are supported and supplied by Novus Sealing and Flexitallic in the UK.” A group spokesman added: “It is fair to say FDS Group are looking to expand and are always on the lookout for suitable acquisitions. I could not confirm anything specific at this stage.” The new distributor network will cover the offshore oil industry in Aberdeen, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. It will also operate in central Scotland, Teesside, South Wales and the north west. According to analysts, oil prices in London would have to drop below $90 a barrel, adding to a roughly $20 drop from this year’s highs, for oil-producing countries and major companies to begin feeling the pain. The events of the Arab Spring have helped to drive up OPEC’s budget-balancing needs to nearly $100 a barrel. At the same time, a rise in steel and other industrial metals has pushed up the marginal cost for extracting the most expensive crude to roughly $90. “Long-term oil prices remain well underpinned at $85-$90 a barrel by the marginal cost of oil and the Saudi budget,” Bernstein Research said last week. However, some analysts are refusing to rule out the possibility of further short-term selling as economic weakness erodes demand.

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