An upsurge in oil and gas exploration in Taranaki is creating spin-offs for MasterTrade and Equipsafety in New Plymouth.

Equipsafety has secured two separate contracts to supply safety equipment to drilling operations in the province, though one tender also involves safety equipment for the crew working on a geothermal exploration in Tokoroa.

And the contracts involve a particularly challenging aspect: keeping ahead of the use of disposable coveralls by oil drilling crews. Drillers use up to three to four pairs of the disposable coveralls each day.

The contract is with Oil Drilling & Exploration, an Australian company exploring for oil and gas at Pohukura, the second largest field in Taranaki after Maui. MasterTrade Manager Scott Brown says the search for oil and gas has accelerated with the run down of Maui and the increased energy sector activity provided "an important opportunity."

"Securing the two contracts was very significant for the branch and to beat some of our major competitors was satisfying," he says.

The Oil Drilling and Exploration contract spanned two years and encompassed the full range of traditional safety equipment, and some less-than-traditional items specific to the oil industry. Included were barrier creams, hand cleaners and afterwork creams to help protect against the chemicals in the synthetic mud used in oil drilling, and sorbent rolls which displace water and soak up oil. Equipsafety will supply safety equipment for at least 400 workers between the Taranaki and Tokoroa drilling operations.

Moreover the branch has won a second contract with Swift Energy NZ Limited for a similar range of safety equipment for the company's energy exploration programme. It plans a minimum of 15 drilling sites this year.

Scott Brown says the branch has a very good success rate and is supporting the work of Equipsafety sales representative Barry Brown with a counter sales person.

"Barry has secured that much work that he needs the support person," Scott says. "The energy sector is a very large part of what we do and our two latest successes build on other significant contracts with the energy sector."

Included two years ago was the supply of instrumentation, electrical and plumbing equipment to Transfield Worley, and the supply of safety equipment to other petrochemical companies on shorter term contracts.

"There are considerable spin-offs from sourcing business from the oil and gas exploration industry," Scott says.

In three and a half years, the New Plymouth branch has grown from six staff to fourteen, with much of the growth attributable to the energy sector, industry and domestic business.