An Aberdeen-based oil and gas consultant is planning to recruit up to 10 people before the year-end after its design and engineering division enjoyed a strong start to 2013.
Petrex said its design and engineering team, which was launched in July, had won projects worth more than £500,000 in the first quarter of the year, accelerating recruitment plans for the operation.
Petrex – founded as a field-development and subsea project consultant in 2008 – employs six people on the design and engineering side, but expects that figure to increase to 10 before next year.
The company employs 25 people overall, but that could increase to up to 35 by the end of the year thanks to rising demand in the North Sea.
Although Petrex has worked in west Africa in the past, engineering design manager John Hunter said the mature North Sea basin – where the firm has worked with the likes of Ithaca, Marathon and CNR – was still providing plenty of opportunities for the business.
Mr Hunter said that, as new North Sea projects became harder to reach and exploit, Petrex’s role would become more important.
He said: “We look at different types of field, which are often marginal or challenging, and we take the time to consider each one individually from the outset.
“It gives the operator the chance to make them profitable, whereas if they approached them in the traditional way then the developments would just remain marginal.”
Petrex said it expected annual turnover for 2012 to come in at around £6million.