ADVERTISING FEATURE DECEMBER 2018
recognised through awards from the OGA and Schlumberger.” He believes Aberdeen’s strategic importance is undiminished, despite the downturn, and said Neptune’s North Sea operational centre is a key component of the company’s growth plan. “The UKCS has significant life remaining, with some areas providing real opportunity for growth for the new wave of independents. Aberdeen is, naturally, the hub of that activity – it remains the oil and gas capital of Europe, and for good reason. “While there has been a significant change to the industry’s circumstances since the boom years, we are now seeing new ways of working and continuous technical innovation leading us into a new era where we can prosper.
additional daily production. Our projects in Norway are strongly linked to Aberdeen and that’s testament to the capabilities of our people in the city who, despite the differences in approach between the regions, deliver crucial work across the median line.” Balancing growth with a focus on short-cycle projects is key to Neptune’s approach – the company is targeting near-field opportunities requiring relatively short development periods, located close to existing hubs In the near-term, its acquisition targets are focussed on operated assets in Norway, the UK Continental Shelf, South-east Asia; and North Africa. “We have 1,800 people in nine countries and in Aberdeen we employ 150. Cygnus consistently operates with around 80 people, most of whom are contractors,” said Pete.
“Aberdeen remains the place to do business. If you consider the skills, the supply chain, it has retained its strength through the technical competence in the workforce and, coming through the downturn, there’s a resilience and strength of character that goes with that.
“Our team’s priority is demonstrating that our track record for safe, efficient operations continues – these are key strengths that we can play to. We have a strong growth portfolio, with high pressure-high temperature (HPHT) work at Seagull and a number of other drilling projects to expand Cygnus.
“When we acquired VNG Norge AS, we added three producing fields to our portfolio, bringing significant
“We are in an excellent position in terms of being able to take on HPHT projects in-house. Looking at our
legacy operations, we’ve delivered 25% of all HPHT projects in the UKCS since 2000, so we have the skills.” “In terms of innovation – the breadth of new ideas being developed by dynamic groups of people across multiple organisations, who are willing to look at ways to work differently, to move on from methodologies which belong in the past – the industry has moved on and we need to keep tapping into that. “Having OGIC and the OGTC means the industry is putting a lens on the successes, showcasing achievements made rather than, historically, simply getting the job done and moving on without any recognition of what was done. What we can’t afford to do is let complacency slip in – we need to keep going.”
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