After leaving home for a life at sea as a teenager, Mark Preece knows the value of spreading his wings and getting around the world.
Having visited much of the planet during his years as a Merchant Navy seaman, the Reef Subsea chief executive now wants the subsea service business to do the same.
But the 54-year-old, who joined Reef soon after it was formed in 2010, knows that strength overseas starts with experience at home.
The Norwegian business is focused on oil and gas and offshore wind projects in the North Sea, and Mr Preece said building the presence in Aberdeen was a key part of this.
Reef employs 50 people in Europe’s energy capital after boosting numbers at the end of 2011 by buying the subsea business of fellow Granite City firm Rotech. Some £300,000 has been invested in Reef’s new offices in the city to accommodate the current workforce and the company plans to create a further 10 jobs in Aberdeen this year.
Mr Preece said finding the new offices in Altens took time but it was worth it.
He added: “We always knew we wanted to combine our existing Reef Subsea businesses and put them under the same roof.
“They are complementary businesses and I think there is a lot of value in combining all the entities.
“The Aberdeen property market is not an easy market, so it has taken us a while to find what we need, but we finally have a new location.
“It gives us a fresh start for the next stage of the journey.”
Mr Preece said there was scope for further work out of Aberdeen for all three of Reef’s business divisions: dredging and excavation; inspection, maintenance and repair, and power and umbilicals.
He added: “We want to increase the focus on Aberdeen and the contribution the office makes to the overall business.
“Aberdeen is where things are happening at the moment; we have a lot of clients here and do a lot of work for the tier-one subsea contractors like Subsea 7 and Technip.
“The clients are here and the pool of talent we wish to attract and retain is here, so Aberdeen will always be a cornerstone of Reef Subsea.”
Mr Preece has been tasked by Reef’s owners – offshore-vessel operator GC Rieber Shipping and private-equity investor HitecVision – with growing the business at home and abroad, but as someone used to responsibility the prospect does not faze him.
He was brought up in Cornwall before joining the Merchant Navy at 17 and spending the next 17 years at sea.
“I had the desire to travel and have responsibility at a young age,” said the Reef boss, adding: “The Merchant Navy seemed to tick those boxes.
“I have seen a huge amount of the world – being a mariner and in the oil and gas industry has given me opportunities and windows on life that I don’t think any other industry would have been able to provide.”
The last five years of Mr Preece’s seafaring life was spent serving the oil and gas industry as a ship captain, and he said that experience set him up for a move into the sector.
He added: “It meant I had a good understanding of the projects being delivered and that, ultimately, it is the guys offshore who deliver the projects.
“I don’t like the attitude that all the smart stuff is done onshore and all the guys offshore have to do is get their hands dirty; I know from experience it’s not that easy.”
After coming back ashore Mr Preece worked for companies including Brown & Root and Technip, and joined Reef after spells with Stolt, Acergy and Subsea 7.
He said: “I like big companies and had some very happy years working for them but I wanted to get into a business at an early stage.”
Mr Preece, who still sails but now lives in London, with wife Sheila, said he travelled regularly but was more focused on Reef moving overseas.
He added: “We have covered the ground pretty quickly so far.
“We have gone from virtually nothing to having offices in Aberdeen, Bergen and Mandal in Norway, Singapore and Houston.
“We will always be a North Sea-based business but we want to continue to spread our footprint and take our experience and apply it elsewhere.
“We recently won our first contract in Africa, so one of our vessels is now operating off west Africa.
“If the wind is behind you, it is going to help and the wind is certainly behind us at the moment.”
