Global marine and engineering consultancy LOC Group is looking to boost its north-east headcount in an effort to meet demand and secure new opportunities.
At a time of upheaval, depressed activity and unpleasant shocks for businesses in just about every industry, LOC must be one of a small number of companies in a position to grow.
The company has bucked the trend and kept a stream of contract win, new appointment, product launch and expansion announcements flowing onto the newswires.
Since mid-March, LOC has toasted contract wins with Equinor to provide marine warranty surveyor services for the Johan Sverdrup phase two development, a master service agreement with Seafox Qatar for rig moves and marine warranty services (MWS) for drilling operations on Inpex’s Ichthys LNG project.
In the UK North Sea, Independent Oil and Gas picked LOC, or London Offshore Consultants, to provide MWS for phase one of its core project in the southern North Sea.
It also clinched deals to provide MWS for the Jieyang II Offshore Windfarm in China and the Hoa Binh 1 offshore wind farm and Dong Hai 1 wind power plant, both in Vietnam.
Headquartered in London, the company operates 35 offices located in Europe, Africa, Americas, Middle East, Asia and Australia.
It employs about 400 people across these locations, including about a dozen in Westhill, near Aberdeen.
Adrian Torry, managing director of LOC’s Aberdeen division, said having a global network of employees gave the group a competitive advantage, particularly at a time of international travel restrictions.
It means LOC can be nimble and support projects more easily than competitors who may have to transport employees overseas.
LOC’s capacity to support projects right the way through their lifecycles also helps.
Mr Torry said the Aberdeen business had a “good number” of projects on-going both oil and gas and renewables and was looking to “expand” its team.
He joined the business 10 years ago and has worked on major projects, including managing the transport of infrastructure for the Culzean field.
Mr Torry said about 60% of LOC’s revenues came from oil and gas, and while the company won’t want to reduce its output to oil and gas customers, it is steadily increasing its renewables income.
He added that the company was involved in decommissioning, which he expects to be a growing market.