ClerkMaxwell managing director John Wilson takes an upbeat view of the prospects for both his company and the North Sea oil and gas industry.
The firm, set up only 17 months ago, is an independent consultancy that provides engineering and management services in the oil and gas sector.
It is named after Edinburgh-born James Clerk Maxwell, a 19th-century professor of physics at Marischal College in Aberdeen regarded as one of the world’s greatest scientists and acknowledged as an inspiration to Albert Einstein.
Mr Wilson, 44, anticipates that opportunities will emerge in the second quarter of 2010.
ClerkMaxwell expects to win contracts with other operators just a few months after landing projects at home and abroad with five operators. Contracts are typically worth from £200,000 to several million pounds depending on their length.
The Aberdeen-based company has plans to recruit at least 60 people in the next year for projects in the North Sea and globally and is aiming for a turnover of £6-7million in the current year.
It has already increased office space at its Salvesen Tower headquarters in Aberdeen to cope with the projected growth.
ClerkMaxwell employs 40 people, 25% of them directly and the rest contractors, with a range of technical and development skills encompassing both topside and subsea disciplines. This growth from a handful of people at its launch has been achieved despite the challenging economic climate.
Mr Wilson said that, following this year’s recruitment programme, he would hope to have 30-40% of the company’s payroll employed directly, with the balance made up of contractors.
He believes the level of expertise among its senior team and staff, and the company’s approach to meeting client needs, has been pivotal to ClerkMaxwell’s success.
The model places greater emphasis on operational and detailed design knowledge at the front end of projects with the aim of avoiding the painful experience of them running late and over budget. Mr Wilson said: “There’s a much brighter outlook this year than last. There are more tenders at the moment. That was the difficulty at times last year; there simply weren’t the projects to chase.
“I believe Aberdeen will pick up in the second quarter. There are certainly more contracts to be won and there will be a backlog of work shelved due to the uncertainty of the past 12 months.
“The recession has not had as big an impact on us as it may have on others due to the fact that we identified a gap in the market where projects could be delivered through smarter ways of working.
“Sourcing experienced staff hasn’t been a problem because I think people could see we’d set ourselves up to be a different type of consultancy; one that was going to be competitive and solve projects with deadlines, project delivery and budgets very much in mind.
“The efficient management of brownfield projects and enhanced oil recovery projects will be the key to prospering in the North Sea and beyond. Exporting our talent and skills will also be factors for improving prosperity in the north-east and the rest of the country.
“ClerkMaxwell has already delivered projects abroad, in Vietnam for example.”
Mr Wilson, who was born at Stourbridge in the West Midlands and is an honours graduate in chemical engineering of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, has more than 20 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry and is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.
ClerkMaxwell is owned by its four directors – Mr Wilson, project director Sean Close, technical director Satnam Shoker and subsea and pipelines director Guy Cook – and one private investor.