Drilling Rig Equipment Firm Hampco and G-Tech to Build New Facility in Katy
It’s a long way from Aberdeen, Scotland to Katy, but the two cities do have things in common. Aberdeen is known as the oil capital of Europe, while Katy is the headquarters of various petroleum industry-related businesses and is about to become home to one more: Hampco, a company that builds drilling rig equipment and which is owned by Scotland native Andy Grieve, who entered the drilling business while living in Aberdeen.
Hampco, which also does consulting, upgrades, maintenance, and other services, only recently began experiencing a rise in its custom-equipment designing and manufacturing services — which brought about the need to build a new facility. “We’ve grown substantially over the last three years,” Grieve says. “After doing a large amount of sub-contracting, the natural next step was to find a site and build a facility large enough to handle the process of designing and building our equipment in-house.” Grieve says the facility may eventually expand in size based on the amount of business it handles.
Following a referral from the Greater Houston Partnership, the Katy Area Economic Development Council has worked over the past year to help Hampco grow and find a suitable site. After a rigorous site search, the company selected 11 acres at 1625 W. Grand Parkway N. for a phase one, 36,000-square-foot, $6 million facility, ultimately creating 50 direct jobs over the next two years. Grieve established a new development company for the project, G-Tech, and the industrial park will be known as the G-Tech Technology Centre.
The Katy Area EDC plans to collaborate with Hampco and G-Tech to facilitate workforce training and recruitment incentives, technical assistance, and potential energy incentives, says Lance LaCour, Katy Area EDC president and CEO.
“We are especially excited, because G-Tech will fuel the location and incubation of future UK-based, technology-oriented energy companies, which is a target industry for the Katy Area EDC,” LaCour says. “It is also fitting that the building and site is named the G-Tech Centre, as it is in close proximity to the Katy Technology Center Campus (53 acres) which contains Pathfinder Technology Center and the new Dyna-Drill Campus that is under construction. Both companies are part of Schlumberger, and when completed, the Katy Technology Center will employ over 700 people.”
About Hampco
Hampco has been a multi-discipline provider of technical services and equipment to the international drilling industry since 1988. Grieve immigrated with his wife and children from Scotland to Katy in 2005. He stays in contact with a number of his fellow Scots in the petroleum industry who have immigrated to the U.S. like him or who plan to do so.
About the Katy Area EDC
Founded in 2003, the Katy Area EDC’s mission is to establish the Katy area as the premiere location for families and businesses through planned economic growth and economic development. Since its inception, the Katy Area EDC has grown to 150 members and assisted in the creation of more than 9,500 jobs and more than $1.13 billion in capital investment.
