Sterling Global Operations grows its oil & natural gas business line; wins $10 million in contracts to clear landmines and remnants of war sites for northern Iraq oil exploration

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., July 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Sterling Global Operations (SGO) has been engaged by the Iraqi government and several international oil companies to find and remove landmines and other explosive remnants of war from throughout Iraq's Kurdistan region to ensure the area is safe for oil exploration and agricultural and commercial development.

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The projects are an example of SGO's expansion of its operations into support of the international oil and gas industry. In Kurdistan, SGO is carrying out surveys; risk assessment; demining; battle area clearance and removal of explosive remnants of war (ERW).

"This is an area of Iraq that has excellent potential for energy and agricultural development," said Andy Gleeson, SGO Iraq Mine Action project manager. "It's territory that has obviously seen extensive fighting over a long period of time. That means it's dangerous to drill without knowing there aren't explosives in the way.

"Also, you can't build new homes, roads, or schools in a place possibly contaminated with landmines and other unexploded ordnance."

The projects, several of them multi-year, have a value of more than of $10 million.

Gleeson said the area to be cleared will total several million square meters.

"You can't just hope these dangerous materials aren't there," he said. "You have to be sure."

Landmines and unexploded ordnance, including cluster bombs, are the items most often found in a project of this type. Surveys and explosives removal will mainly be conducted by Iraqi and Kurdish workers trained and supervised by SGO experts.

"These workers are motivated," he said. "This is their land, their villages and their families. They want to see an end to all of them being threatened by dangerous explosives."

SGO has cleared more than 100 million square meters of land in Iraq, Afghanistan, other world trouble spots, and military ranges.

SGO has long been involved in force protection and humanitarian demining efforts. The northern Iraq project is an example of SGO's corporate strategy to grow its business, said Matt Kaye, SGO's chief executive officer.

"A key component of our company's strategic plan is to broaden our company's work in the field of energy exploration," Kaye said. "There are a great many areas of our world that have potential to supply the increasing demand for energy; however, a concern about explosives in an area brings exploration there to a halt.

"We can help them get things moving."

Sterling Global Operations is an employee-owned stability operations company employing approximately 3,500 professionals worldwide. Headquartered in Lenoir City, Tennessee, U.S.A., the company serves customers with munitions response; intelligence support; logistics; security operations and other services in some of the world's most austere and hostile environments. SGO's website is www.SterlingGO.com.

SOURCE Sterling Global Operations