Oil and gas video specialist EV has quadrupled its workforce in just over a year. Chief executive Francis Neill spoke to reporter Ross Davidson.
North-east businessman Francis Neill is a firm believer in the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words.
As chief executive of remote-camera and video technology specialist EV, he is in the business of providing clients with images which immediately shed light on complex problems inside pipelines and down well bores.
Mr Neill, 51, said the results were often more enlightening than countless graphs and diagrams.
He added: “Video is an easy thing to understand; we show people pictures which give them a straightforward message.
“As an engineer I have seen enough squiggly lines on graphs in my life to know it is not always straightforward.
“There are still situations where people find it difficult to get pictures when they would help solve a problem, but that is our expertise.”
It is a field that has led the company to rapid growth in recent years.
Established in Norwich just six years ago, EV was initially set up to provide in-car cameras for motor sports such as Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship.
It has since turned its attention to the energy industry and most of its management is now based in Aberdeen.
Last year, growth-capital investor Lime Rock Partners invested £6million in the business.
At the time, EV turned over £1million and employed 15 people. This year, the firm expects turnover to hit £7.5million and has lifted its workforce to 60.
Mr Neill, who joined EV 16 months ago, believes there is still more to come for the company.
He said: “It is still a market in its infancy but there are massive opportunities for geographical growth.
“Every day we are getting inquiries from new parts of the world and right now we cannot meet the demand.”
Mr Neill has previous experience of leading small, high-growth companies, having been chief executive of Aberdeen firm Brinker Technology, but he started his career at US oil service giant Schlumberger. Born in Malta and brought up in Belfast, he graduated as a civil engineer from Bristol University before joining Schlumberger at 22.
Over the next 15 years he travelled across the world with the company, working in locations including Kuwait, Texas and Jordan.
It was in Jordan that he met wife Debbie.
He said he enjoyed his postings across the world but in 1983 had an “unpleasant experience” while working in Turkey.
Mr Neill and a Swiss colleague were driving late at night trying to find a rig in eastern Turkey, which is very different to the western part of the country and gets fewer tourists. It is also close to Iraq and Syria.
He said: “There was a big issue in the area with the Turkish military fighting the Kurdish rebels.
“We managed to stray into a sensitive military area by mistake.
“It turned out not to be a good move; the military stopped us and we spent the night in jail while things were cleared up.”
Mr Neill did not spend long in any one country during his time at Schlumberger but has now settled down in Aberdeen.
He has lived in the north-east for 14 years with his wife and their three children, Tim, 17, and 14-year-old twins Malcolm and Sandrine.
Although he describes working at the helm of EV as a “120% job”, Mr Neill is a member of Aberdeen and Stonehaven Sailing Club and sails a small single-handler boat, Blaze, when time allows.
He still travels regularly in raise EV’s profile across the world.
The company now has 12 offices in locations including America, Canada, Norway, Australia and Asia, and plans to open more in the months and years to come as demand continues to rise.
Mr Neill said oil and gas companies appreciated the importance of technology and were beginning to realise the part video could play in their businesses.
He said: “If you think about how video has changed our day-to-day lives, with YouTube, camera phones and broadband, we are trying to bring that kind of change to the oil and gas industry.
“Videos have changed the way we live but the offshore market has been slow when it comes to technology, and we wanted to change that.
“Technology is playing and will continue to play a crucial role in helping the industry to overcome new challenges and environments.
“At EV, we are also experiencing a growing number of customers taking a proactive approach by implementing our technologies to monitor operations in order to mitigate potential issues and risks.
“This underpins the importance that is being placed on technology for ensuring asset integrity.”
Mr Neill said after identifying a niche market, EV’s aim was to lead the way in offshore camera work.
He added: “Our vision is to be number one in the oilfield services’ camera and video market and if we haven’t achieved this already, we are certainly on our way to it.”