Were it not for a small geological consultancy in Aberdeenshire, the world might be far better informed about the nitrates of the Atacama desert. The South American desert’s loss has been the energy service sector’s gain, however.
Having just completed a geology degree at Aberdeen University, Daren Wallwork was poised to begin a PhD on nitrates when he received an offer he couldn’t refuse.
In the early-90s, jobs in the oil and gas sector were scarce and his university vacation employer, Floyd and Associates, of Alford, could not offer him anything permanent.
What it could provide was a month’s work experience, without pay, on a survey vessel in the North Sea.
Mr Wallwork set sail and that led, ultimately, to a job with Floyd and, in 2004, he led a management buyout.
During the next four years, he grew the company from annual turnover of £1.5million to £10.8million.
The firm – which had become one of the UK’s leading independent project-management consultancies in geohazard assessment, marine site surveys and rig positioning – then attracted the interest of rapidly expanding diversified energy service company Senergy.
It was a hard decision to give up his own business, but he decided to join forces with Aberdeen-based Senergy which shared his “why not?” philosophy.
Mr Wallwork said: “Senergy sees everything as an opportunity with challenges to be overcome, just as I do.
“My management team and I had grown Floyd and Associates to a point where we either needed to invest or to roll into someone else to get to the next level.
“Senergy has enabled me to jump five or 10 years forward in my own company.
“The company is diversifying into different areas and, for example, we are really making inroads with gas storage and are one of the key partners in the Gateway Project (the creation in the East Irish Sea of one of the world’s largest salt-cavern storage facilities).
“We are also part of TAQA’s flagship onshore underground natural gas storage project in the Netherlands.
“We feel we are really starting to gather momentum and leading the charge in the delivery of those sorts of projects.
“Gas storage is key for some of the major clients we are working with. All the major players have a gas-storage element to their strategic views and if we are building in capability and recognised as having technical excellence in that area I think we are putting ourselves in a good position.
“We are taking the skill sets we have developed in the oil and gas industry and translating them into alternative energy services.
“Oil and gas is still just as important to us as the rest of the business and it is our vision to be across the energy service sector, not to the detriment of oil and gas, but we can lead into other sectors with our expertise.
“One of the motivators for the staff is that we pride ourselves in being different and one of the key drivers for my bringing my business into Senergy was the fact they were working across the diversified energy services business; because that was also my vision.”
Looking a decade ahead, he sees Senergy as an international diversified energy service provider of scale which still prides itself in doing things differently; if it needs to be done differently.
Mr Wallwork said: “Just because it has always been done that way doesn’t mean that is the correct approach.
“We are always challenging the way we do things, but it is important that we do it very well.
“We want to be a company which has achieved the philosophy of acting small in a big company: being a ‘big small company’.
“I very much hope there will still be a fun element as well as an entrepreneurial edge and we will be an aspirational company which everyone wants to work for. It is a huge challenge and I am not saying we have all the answers but it is something, as a management team, we realise we need to crack.
“We have all come together from small companies, through our success, and have grown into a large company. The challenge is now how we keep that small-company approach within the bigger environment.”
Senergy, which was founded only in 2005, now has more than 500 employees in 15 locations across four continents and ambitions to increase its £80million turnover almost fourfold in five years.
Mr Wallwork said: “The North Sea remains vital for Senergy, but I see huge opportunities in Norway and Africa in particular.”
Senergy’s youngest director – he is a week short of his 40th birthday – loves his job and admits that perhaps his passion for it sometimes blurs the lines between work and leisure.
The father of two, whose wife is a GP, has varied ways of escaping the pressures of the energy industry.
Mr Wallwork is a lover of classic cars and his pride and joy is his mint-condition Fiesta Yellow 1964 Mini Cooper S, one of only 10 remaining in the country in that colour scheme.
When working at Alford, he was a supporter of the nearby Grampian Transport Museum which he still visits regularly.
Since moving to Perthshire last summer, he has also been able to pursue his desire to do his bit to preserve the environment.
“I have some land with a stream running through it and I am trying to restore the habitat and encourage otters to return. We are building an artificial holt to attract them and to restore the natural ecosystem. I am quite passionate about that sort of thing and a change is as good as a rest. It is nice to immerse yourself in something like that because the way we live our business lives is 100% full on and that sort of activity gives you space to reflect.”
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