Subsea Expo: Award Winners Revealed

A host of successes within the subsea sector were celebrated last night (Wednesday 5th February) at Subsea UK’s ninth annual awards ceremony, which celebrates outstanding achievement across the UK.

Sponsored by Forum Subsea Technologies, the dinner, which was attended by over 800 people, closed the opening day of Subsea Expo in spectacular style.

Bibby Offshore was named company of the year. This award, sponsored by Costain Upstream, was presented to the firm in recognition of its continued growth and investment in people. Having successfully secured two multi-million pound Inspection, Repair and Maintenance contracts, Bibby Offshore looks set for a healthy 2014.

ROVOP, Aberdeen-headquartered ROV specialists, secured the new enterprise award, sponsored by Subsea Innovation. Since it was established less than three years ago, the company has experienced remarkable growth with turnover increasing dramatically from circa £30,000 to more than £10million. A strong order book for 2014 and 2015 demonstrates the fast growing demand for ROVOP’s specialist services and ever-expanding fleet of ROVs.

The innovation and technology award, sponsored by Simmons & Co International, went to Viper Subsea. The firm developed a method of combating water penetration which results in system failure and loss of production. The V-Life system is an electrochemical and electro-kinetic mechanism which is applied to the topside end of the umbilical and has since been deployed by a number of operators.

The award for emerging talent, sponsored by Apache North Sea, was picked up by Richard Bell of Apollo Offshore Engineering who was recognised for his work in growing the company’s revenues in the north and south east of England. Richard was instrumental in developing Apollo’s Process and Flow Assurance client base in Aberdeen, with the firm now the trusted engineering partner for many of Aberdeen’s biggest operators and contractors.

The innovation for safety award, sponsored by Chevron North Sea, was presented to Photosynergy for its development of Lightpath, a reliable low power source that can provide guide path illumination for a number of subsea applications with battery back-up to provide a fail-safe system in the event of mains outage.

Expro Group took home the award for exports having grown its revenues to over £150 million in 2013 thanks mainly to its expansion in emerging markets, particularly West Africa.

This year saw the introduction of a new award supported by UKTI which recognises companies who are enhancing their competitiveness and providing tangible economic benefit to the UK from trade development activity. The inaugural new to export award was presented to European Circuits – a provider of integrated electronic assembly solutions.

This year’s outstanding contribution award went to John White of VerdErg, recognising a subsea career that has spanned nearly four decades.

Commenting on White’s award, Neil Gordon chief executive of Subsea UK, said: “John’s recognition tonight is thoroughly deserved. Having co-founded Furness Underwater Engineering in 1979 as one of the first specialist subsea engineering companies, he has become a well-respected figure in the industry.

“John led the design of the Diverless Maintained Cluster field architecture which was adopted by BP in the nineties for the Foinaven and Scheihallion fields, and subsequently the Quadrant 204 development, West of Shetland. Due to his strong leadership he has facilitated the five-fold growth of VerdErg since 2005.”

Gordon added: “The Subsea UK Business Awards have become highly coveted within the industry and the standard of entries this year was higher than ever before, underlining the strength of our sector both at home and abroad in terms of innovation, safety, technology and leadership.”

Ends (06.02.14)

Issued on behalf of Subsea UK by The BIG Partnership. For more information contact Zoe Ogilvie on 01224 253802 or 07973 983 243 or Abigail Westwood on 01224 253804 or 07855 461 940

Full list of winners:

Innovation for Safety
Sponsored by Chevron North Sea
Photosynergy

New Enterprise
Sponsored by Subsea Innovation
ROVOP

Innovation and Technology
Sponsored by Simmons & Co International
Viper Subsea

Global Exports
Expro Group

Emerging Talent
Sponsored by Apache North Sea
Richard Bell, Apollo Offshore Engineering

UKTI New to Exporting Award
European Circuits

Company of the Year
Sponsored by Costain Upstream
Bibby Offshore

Outstanding Contribution
John White, VerdErg