XODUS Group, the Aberdeen-based oil and gas consultant, has appointed a new director to drive forward a new global wells and subsurface division.
Having joined the firm from exploration and production company Composite Energy, Steve Jewell, 49, is now on a recruitment drive to fill 12 new posts in 2010 and a total of up to 50 over the next three years.
He was chief operating officer and a founding shareholder at Stirling-based Composite Energy, which he helped grow into a business employing more than 90 people and from seed capital of £300,000 to an estimated value in excess of £50million over five years.
Previously, he held a variety of senior positions over 20 years at Hess Corporation in Aberdeen, London and Norway, including global head of drilling and well technology and acting general manager of North Sea operations.
Mr Jewell, who started his career as a reservoir engineer at Conoco after a degree in electronic engineering at Sheffield University, said: “I wanted a new challenge and was excited by the vision and values of Xodus Group.
“I’m now looking to create a multi-discipline team of production technologists, reservoir engineers and geoscientists who have the desire and drive to be world leaders in their field.”
Xodus chief executive Colin Manson said: “We predict a huge growth in subsurface services and are optimistic about the potential out there.”
The group employs more than 270 people and has other offices in Edinburgh, Orkney, London and Perth, Australia.