WOOD Group has acquired two companies in the US and Venezuela which make and service wellheads and valves for onshore oilfields.
The Aberdeen-based engineering services company will pay about $10m for Church Oil Tools of Houston, Texas, and Bompet of Maracaibo, the main oil port in western Venezuela.
The final figure is dependent upon the earnings of these two companies over the next few years.
Together they will add about $20m (#12m) a year to Wood Group turnover.
Both acquisitions will become part of Wood Group's pressure control division, whose turnover is expected to rise 20% this year, topping $100m (#61m) for the first time ever.
Church Oil Tools, which has operational bases in Louisiana, Venezuela and the North Sea, specialises in manufacturing blow-out preventers.
Bompet is the largest independent manufacturer of wellheads and valves in Venezuela. The oil industry in this South American country is undergoing a renaissance following the government's decision to privatise many of the activities of the state oil company PDVSA.
This held a monopoly on oil exploration and production in Venezuela for more than 20 years.
Following the acquisition of Bompet, Wood Group will have more than 300 employees in Venezuela. Group turnover in the country should rise to more than $50m this year.
Wendell Brooks, the president of Wood Group's pressure control subsidiary, said: ''We see Bompet as our major gateway into South America.'' The company has its eye on major expansion in Brazil and Argentina.
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