16 July 2025 Success Stories
EIC Survive & Thrive 2025
EIC Survive & Thrive IX
75 1
Success Stories July 2025
Story type #collaboration (main category) #diversification
Benefits
Crescent Engineering A success story underpinned by strategic flexibility
▸ Multiple awards received for Carbon Clean at COP 28. ▸ Staff base is three times larger than preproject.
Key findings For young people
▸ Be flexible, solution oriented and build strong relationships.
For industry
Julian Hill General Manager
How is Crescent Engineering thriving? Crescent Engineering has rapidly expanded its business, tripled its workforce and significantly increased its revenues through the successful execution of high-profile projects such as the ADNOC carbon capture skid in partnership with GasTech and Carbon Clean. By prioritising flexibility, collaboration and specialised engineering expertise, the firm has differentiated itself from larger competitors, securing key partnerships and establishing a strong foothold in the sustainable energy sector. The challenge – Founded in 2015, Dubaibased oil and gas process equipment supplier and system integrator Crescent Engineering is now in its centennial year. With 40 employees designing, engineering and manufacturing various process packages spanning gas dehydration, filtration and separation, fuel gas conditioning, heaters, carbon capture, produced and industrial water treatment systems, and vacuum deaerators, the firm has established a reputation for excellence in various sustainable energy solutions. That reputation hasn’t come without hard work, however. While Crescent Engineering’s employees have extensive industry experience, the brand’s relative infancy has provided challenges in gaining the trust of its clients. The company found that the decisions of many customers are largely influenced by commercial factors, making it tricky to establish relationships with key prospects where KPIs are focused on price and margins. The solution – To showcase the value of its offering and prove itself as a valuable partner in the face of stiff competition, Crescent has focused much of its energy on clients seeking partnerships in the postcovid era. Indeed, the firm found that many prospective clients had been frustrated by the rigidity of larger corporate competitors, instead prioritising flexibility to react
quickly to meet dynamic, differentiated and evolving client needs.
▸ Prioritise people, embrace change and embrace change with a clear vision.
That offering is underpinned by Crescent’s “Your story is Our Story” strategy, with the firm aiming to collaborate with key customers seeking solutions that require specialised engineering capabilities. Here, the focus is on listening and co-creating the best solutions with clients – particularly in carbon capture technologies.
For government
Here, efforts to build a strong, collaborative relationship with industrial carbon capture innovator Carbon Clean UK have been pivotal. Having been approached by the company in 2021, Crescent learned that its client had significant experience, having invested considerable time in R&D to develop a groundbreaking new technology that promised to dramatically reduce plant size, operational costs, and delivery times. Recognising clear synergies and a mutually beneficial opportunity, Crescent Engineering partnered with Carbon Clean to help design, manufacture and supply its flagship 10TPD Cyclone Carbon Capture package for installation with ADNOC. Featuring a plug-and-play modular design, it represents a cost-effective and spaceefficient solution that allows small to midsize industrial emitters to stagger their investments in carbon capture. While Carbon Clean was an expert in relation to its technology, the firm needed help in package engineering and other critical processes such as fluid thermodynamics, separation, and heating that were necessary for successful implementation. Consequently, Crescent, along with GasTech Engineering in the US, collaborated closely with the firm to refine the technology, ultimately securing the contract to design, engineer, and supply its first 10-tonne-per-day Carbon Capture skid. Originally planned for installation in the UK, the skid was divided into 11 modules, totalling approximately 200 tonnes. It was designed for easy assembly and disassembly, allowing for transport to various campaign sites worldwide, capable of operating in diverse conditions ranging from 55°C in the UAE to -40°C in Norway. This presented significant challenges, including compliance with varying country standards such as UKCA and CE.
▸ Increase support and investment in innovative technologies and sustainable practices.
Crescent Engineering at a glance: Key products and services: process equipment supply and system integration.
Main industries served:
▸ Oil and gas – 75% ▸ Carbon capture – 15% ▸ Others (non-energy): water treatment – 10% Headquarters: Dubai, UAE Year established: 2015 Number of employees: 40 Revenue: £20m Revenue from exports: 60%
Midway through the project, Crescent’s client also made a pivotal change. Instead of the skid going to the UK, it was to be redirected to an ADNOC site in Abu Dhabi, with COP 28 scheduled for November 2023 in the UAE, heightening the time pressures. Despite these challenges, the project was successfully executed without lost time incidents, with Carbon Clean receiving numerous awards during COP 28 and becoming a central feature on the ADNOC stand at ADIPEC 2023 & 2024. The project has also become one of Crescent’s greatest success stories, helping it to both expand and diversify its business. Indeed, the company’s staff base is three times larger than it was pre-project, with revenues and business opportunities having grown substantially. For Crescent, GasTech, Carbon Clean and ADNOC alike, it’s been an all-round triumph.