The top honour in last night’s Scottish Offshore Achievement Awards went to a fast-growing company set up less than three years ago.
Oil service firm flexlife collected the overall achievement award, plus the Small Company Great Performance award.
Flexlife director of integrity Stuart Mitchell said later: “This is a remarkable achievement considering there is such tough competition in the oil and gas industry and we’re only about to celebrate our third birthday.
“We have a brilliant team and have worked hard to offer an outstanding service and to develop ground-breaking products with huge cost, personnel and environmental benefits for operators and are delighted with the response we have had.
“Winning this award will give real impetus to the next stage of our growth strategy with additional new technology being brought to market and a focus on increasing internationalisation.”
Flexlife, which has been honoured with a variety of awards since its formation, said earlier this month it had opened its first international base.
The move to establish a hub in Kuala Lumpur is part of the firm’s strategy to expand into key locations for the oil and gas industry.
The flexible-pipe specialist will also open a second international base in Brazil in the first half of this year.
The company’s 30-strong team has completed work for clients including Apache North Sea, Hess, Statoil and Maersk in the North Sea and international locations.
Turnover in the financial year to next month is forecast to be about £5million.
Among other companies honoured last night was Ace Winches, which collected the award for export achievement. Chief executive Alfie Cheyne said: “Winning this award is a great honour, not only for me personally, but for the company as a whole.
“It is a recognition of the hard work, focus and commitment of everyone at Ace Winches since we entered the marine and offshore market.
“We have established a strong hire fleet division which has enabled us to export products and services globally.
“The award is also an appreciation of our efforts within the north-east economy to export our skills and products to the global market.”
Winners received a statuette, created by Scottish sculptor Gordon Lochhead, of Silversculpture.
David Rennie, who next week becomes interim director of oil and gas at Scottish Enterprise, said: “I’d like to congratulate all the winners of this year’s awards.
“Once again, we have been very impressed with the quality of entries across the board. Scotland is a world leader in oil and gas technologies and it is important that we recognise the hard work involved in that success.
“In these challenging times, it is vital that we recognise the continued importance of the oil and gas sector and these awards show continued innovation and success on a global scale. ”
WINNERS
Succeeding Through People, sponsored by Chevron: Champion Technologies.
Safety, sponsored by BP: Aramark.
Internationalisation of Scottish Skills, Sponsored by the Scottish Qualifications Authority: PSN.
Rising Star, sponsored by AMEC Natural Resources: Ryan McPherson, of ITF.
The Innovator, sponsored by the Department of Energy and Climate Change: Brinker Technology.
Small Company Great Performance, sponsored by the Offshore Europe Partnership: Flexlife.
The Idea, sponsored by the Department of Energy and Climate Change and ITF: Corpro Systems.
Export Achievement, sponsored by the Press and Journal: Ace Winches.
Outstanding contribution, sponsored by Shell UK: Mel Fitzgerald, of Subsea 7.
Overall achievement award: Flexlife.