News
Press Release – November 2008
Xodus Doubles in Size for Third Year in a Row
At the end of its third financial year, Aberdeen-based Xodus Group is reporting a £14 million turnover and a global workforce of just under 190 – a 100% increase on 2007.
The fast-rising Aberdeen-headquartered oil and gas consultancy is predicting reaching £25 million in 2009 with major growth coming from international oil and gas business driven through its London office and from its rapidly expanding renewable energy division.
It is also anticipated that staff numbers across the Xodus Group will increase to 300 in the next 12 months. To support the growth Xodus has just opened negotiations to secure 17,000 square feet of office accommodation in Aberdeen. The new offices will be capable of allowing for the granite city workforce to grow to over 200.
Managing Director Colin Manson says: “We continue to exceed even our most ambitious targets right across the business. Adding to our capabilities with the environmental, renewable energy and technical, safety, risk and reliability divisions has given us greater depth in terms of our integrated offering.
“We have steadily developed the Xodus brand and built a formidable reputation for being one of, if not the, leading consultancy for oil and gas field development.
“Our focus is on further consolidating our integrated approach across these five areas and driving international growth from our key hubs in Aberdeen, London and Perth, Australia.”
The London office, opened in early 2008, is already working on three field development studies in addition to a clutch of major international contracts. Whereas the Perth Australia office has now delivered projects on some world-class field developments such as Sunrise, Angel and Macedon.
“We have also been awarded a contract to provide a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIA) for Woodside Energy’s Sunrise project. This is the largest contract in Xodus Group history and is a major coup for our new environmental division in Perth,” adds Manson.
One of five finalists in the recent Scottish Bank of Scotland Corporate £35 million Entrepreneur Challenge, Xodus is a multi-discipline consultancy specialising in the independent delivery of a range of integrated consultancy services that support the upstream oil and gas sector and the emerging renewable energy markets.
–
Press Release – October 2008
Environmental Business Boost for Xodus
Xodus AURORA, the Xodus Group’s rapidly growing environmental division has secured six new contracts worth in excess of £200,000 in the past 12 months, strengthening the Aberdeen company’s position as a leading provider of environmental and engineering services to the emerging marine renewables industry.
Orkney-based Xodus AURORA and the wider Xodus Group expects business to double in 2009 following last week’s announcement that the waters of the Pentland Firth are set to become the epicenter of Scotland’s future in renewable energy.
The company has already been approached by a number of new developers to provide specialist consultancy services for proposed developments in the area.
Considered to be one of the best tidal energy hotspots in the world, the Pentland Firth could be used to generate more than 700MW of energy by 2020 following the announcement that the seabed is to be opened up to applications for commercial-scale marine energy development.
While the area has the potential to become a world-class centre of excellence for wave and tidal power development and research, all projects will be subject to a comprehensive environmental impact assessment (EIA) process and developers will have to show that their proposed development will not have any significant adverse impact on the surrounding area.
Xodus AURORA has extensive experience of undertaking all aspects of the EIA process and is recognised as a provider of high quality, robust assessments to support onshore planning permission applications and offshore environmental consent applications.
Moreover, the subsea and installation engineering capabilities of Xodus makes the company ideally placed to provide fully integrated environmental and engineering support to demonstration and commercial scale projects.
“The cornerstone to our success is ensuring EIA is an integral process to project design and operation, and that client project teams are fully integrated in environmental issues identification and the EIA process,” said Liz Foubister, principal environmental consultant at Xodus AURORA.
“Our integrated approach means we can offer a holistic support service. This allows us to provide the client with the best solution for their operational requirements whilst ensuring compliance with environmental legislation and reducing environmental impact.”
From their purpose-built premises in Stromness, the environmental division has experience of working on large, high profile contracts in both the UK and overseas and a client portfolio that includes a wide range of oil and gas and renewable energy companies including ScottishPower Renewables, Aquamarine Power, AWS Ocean Energy, BP, Chevron, CNR International, ConocoPhillips and Venture Production.
–
Press Release – September 2008
Clutch of Contract Wins for Xodus Subsea
Securing £2.5 million worth of new contracts in the last six months, the Subsea division of the Xodus Group is booming.
It is less than a year since Xodus took the plunge and made the big move to London. In that time the Group has doubled its workforce and out grown its current premises. If ever there was a testament to the success of this expansion, this is it.
Proving that a presence in London is really paying off, Xodus has moved out of its start-up premises near St Paul’s cathedral and is heading for Fleet Street to offices that can accommodate an ever expanding team and allow for continued future expansion.
According to Richard Heard, director of Xodus, this has given the Group, in particular the Subsea division, enormous scope to capitalise on opportunities in overseas markets.
“London is the natural home of business, and this is no exception for the oil and gas industry,” he said.
“We decided to expand into London to take advantage of the benefits of its superb global connectivity and prime networking environment.
“The sheer range and number of oil and gas companies in London, both upstream and downstream, major and independent, as well as consultants, contractors, vendors, and professional services, make London an unrivalled networking hot-spot.
“Our expansion was ultimately designed to give us access to overseas markets and already this is proving valuable. We have recently won work in Indonesia for example, and we are already in talks with a number of London-based clients looking to apply the integrated Xodus approach to large international field development projects.
“We also continue to attract top class people into the Xodus London team giving us the local capability we need to deliver our integrated consultancy model.”
Cementing its position as a leading oil and gas consultancy, London is set to become a major operational centre for the Xodus Group.
–
Press Release – July 2008
Xodus and Jason White launch local Rugby Summer Camp
To mark the launch of this year’s Total Rugby Summer Camp, the Aberdeen Youth Rugby Association (AYRA) enlisted the help of Xodus and their latest recruit, international rugby player, Jason White.
Jason White teamed up with fast-growing oil and gas consultancy Xodus at the beginning of the year in a one of a kind sponsorship and now the high profile team are doing all they can to support local rugby initiatives and promote the links between sports leadership and business leadership.
The AYRA association, established two years ago, sets out to promote primary and secondary school rugby within Aberdeen and this year’s Total Rugby Summer Camp looks set to attract quite a line-out.
The Total Rugby Summer Camp is supported by Aberdeen City Council – Big Lottery Fund, the Scottish Rugby Union, local Rugby clubs, and Aberdeen businesses including ASM and TSMarine.
Open to eight to 16 year old boys and girls, the summer camp will be taking place from Monday, August 4 to Friday, August 8 at Woodside Sports Complex. Sessions will be led by local coaches and throughout the week pro rugby players will be dropping in to pass on some valuable tips. In addition, those taking part will also have the chance to have their photo taken with the Calcutta Cup trophy.
Scottish rugby internationalist and British Lion, Jason White said: “For a great rugby experience and the chance to benefit from quality coaching, the Total Rugby Summer Camp is a must. I grew up spending my summer holidays taking part in similar camps and it really does pay off but most of all, its great fun! Playing games, doing drills, practicing skills, taking part in quizzes and competing for daily awards makes it a great week for budding young rugby stars.”
–
Press Release – June 2008
New Appointments bring unrivalled engineering expertise to Xodus
Aberdeen headquartered oil and gas consultancy, Xodus Group has made two key appointments, cementing the company’s position as a leading provider of engineering services for the global oil and gas industry.
John Greene, has been appointed senior process control specialist for the Xodus Oil and Gas division. Working in the oil and gas industry for almost 30 years, he has vast experience in process control, initially working on some of the earliest microprocessor-based control systems. John has worked in the UK and overseas, latterly as process control specialist for Performance Improvements (PI) Ltd.
Xodus Oil and Gas director, Steve Swindell said:
“With the current high energy prices and the drive for cleaner production, there is a great demand for process control expertise to troubleshoot and stabilise production problems.
“The expertise and sheer gravitas that John will bring to Xodus is second to none and John’s experience and skill set is invaluable.
“Essentially we are front-end design specialists but we want to be able to comprehensively support our clients to optimise their existing assets and with John’s expertise we will be able to offer an unrivalled service.
“Taking the lead on control engineering activity for Xodus, John will be able to offer clients solutions to increase production, reduce flaring, and deliver cleaner produced water among a range of other financially measurable benefits.”
In addition, Xodus has appointed Frank Masson, a reputable subsea veteran as principal design engineer for the Xodus Subsea division. Mr Masson also brings almost 30 years of subsea and oil industry experience with him, most recently having held the position of lead designer for Andrew Palmer Associates for 14 years.
Graeme Rogerson, Xodus’ Subsea manager in Aberdeen added: “Frank is one of the best designers in the subsea sector and his reputation, expertise, knowledge and skills will significantly enhance the Xodus Subsea division’s expertise in the design and delivery of subsea systems.
“We currently support clients through the complete subsea development process and Frank’s knowledge and experience at all stages of the delivery cycle adds enormous depth to our capability in this area.
“Our clients can come to us safe in the knowledge that the design of their subsea system will meet all their functional, installation and operational needs. The additional dimension that Frank brings is his extensive knowledge of existing North Sea assets. When an operator is studying how to develop his marginal subsea tie-back, detailed knowledge of existing infrastructure is vital in knowing where to look for an optimised solution.”
–
Press Release – May 2008
Xodus Boosts Marine Renewables Capability with New Specialist Service
Xodus Group, announced today at the UK’s largest renewable energy show – All Energy 08 – that it has added to its growing business with the launch of a new marine renewables service for the offshore industry. To ensure the future security of the increasing demand for electricity and address the need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, Xodus Group has established an integrated service to actively support the development of renewable energy sources.
The fast growing international oil and gas consultancy will transfer a number of its skills from the oil and gas sector over to the renewables industry. In particular Xodus will draw on its environmental expertise from Xodus AURORA and engineering skills from Xodus Subsea, providing an integrated approach to capitalize on the marine renewables market place.
Colin Manson, Xodus managing director, said: “Branching out into the marine renewables industry is a key strategic move for Xodus Group. With interest in sustainable tidal, wave and offshore wind energy increasing, it is vital to make sure measures are built into the marine engineering design process.
“Our skill base is unique in the oil and gas industry and is 100% transferrable into the marine renewables industry. Combine this with the Scottish Governments target for the production of 50% of electricity demand in Scotland to come from renewable sources by 2020, and a concerted drive from energy companies to look towards the renewables sector, it is increasingly important to diversify into this market.
Driven by environmental division Xodus AURORA, the new marine renewable service will be led by Xodus’ principal environmental consultant Liz Foubister, who joined Xodus last year following the successful acquisition of Orkney based Aurora Environmental Ltd. Driving the initiative from the groups Orkney base is strategically important as Orkney has increasingly become a true centre of excellence for the marine renewables industry.
Speaking about the new service, Liz Foubister said: “By drawing on the wide ranging experience and skills across our company divisions we can marry the expertise of our environmental consultants and engineers to provide a truly unique and integrated service.
“Although this is a new initiative for Xodus, we have already had some fantastic success following the award of a contract to provide environmental support for Scottish Power Renewables.
“We are also working with five of the developers creating sea-based technologies that will be tested at EMEC, the European Marine Energy Centre, and only last week AWS Ocean Energy Ltd, in Alness awarded us a contract for the detailed structural design of the full-scale prototype of the Archimedes Waveswing™ wave energy converter. This will be installed at the EMEC test site in Orkney in 2009, with the duration of the contract expected to last approximately eight months.
Adding to this, Colin Manson said: “This award from AWS is hugely important for Xodus Group. It cements our unique position in offering an integrated, environmental and engineering solution to the marine renewables industry.
“This new venture is a demonstration of our commitment to the environment and ensures that Xodus is now able to bring an unparalleled and integrated approach to fill a gap in the market.”
–
Press Release – April 2008
New Product Helps Oil & Gas Companies Improve Environmental Performance and Avoid Breaching Legislation
Xodus AURORA, the environmental division of fast-growing oil and gas engineering consultancy Xodus Group, is launching a new product to help oil and gas companies comply with ever-increasing environmental legislation and avoid facing hefty fines for any breaches of legislation. PonTRAX is a web-based application designed by Xodus AURORA to prepare and manage the applications for PON15s which are Government requirements regarding chemical use and discharge offshore.
The tool has already sparked serious interest from the oil and gas industry and Xodus is working with a growing number of major companies to tailor the product to their particular needs. A combined total of over 80 years’ experience as well as a wealth of lessons learned by operators in the UKCS have gone into the system design to make it a secure, user-friendly tool that saves significant time and effort by eliminating numerous manual tasks as well as reducing the opportunity for errors in the PON15 application process.
Zoe Cairns of Xodus AURORA explains: “For many years, PON15 has been a real burden on the industry as it is time-consuming and difficult to keep track of when the permits expire and which chemicals are on the permit. But now PonTRAX can dramatically assist operators and contractors in meeting PON15 requirements.
“PonTRAX is a complete PON15 management tool. It gives operators an auditable system for managing PON15 preparation and submissions, ensuring the necessary variations and updates are managed, logging chemical use and discharge against permits, monitoring permit compliance and managing submission of EEMS reports.”
Working for Aker Kvaerner, Xodus is developing PonTRAX to enhance the management of PON15 applications on BP’s Foinaven and Shiehallion fields.
Corina Henderson, HSEQ advisor at Aker Kvaerner, says: “We are very pleased with PonTRAX and have found it invaluable in managing PON15 requirements. We are already seeing the time-saving, efficiency benefits of using the system.”
–
Press Release – February 2008
Scotland Rugby Captain joins Xodus Line-Out
Scottish rugby captain Jason White has teamed up with fast-growing oil and gas engineering consultancy Xodus in a first-of-its kind partnership.
The high profile player, recognised as one of the big-hitters in the game around the world, will be closely aligned with Aberdeen-headquartered Xodus for a year. During this time he will become a regular visitor to Xodus where he will be available to meet clients and staff, imparting his knowledge of the game, motivation and team-building tips and maybe even some dressing room secrets.
Xodus hopes that the association will also raise their profile. Director Colin Manson said: “Jason has become one of the highest profile players in the game. Dynamic, charismatic, a great tackler with determination, motivation and creativity in the Scottish back row – Jason embodies some of Xodus’ key values and we hope that our association with him will benefit both parties. This is much more than simply a sports’ sponsorship. It is a true partnership in which both parties benefit. Jason gets an in-sight into our business and we are able to link sports leadership to business leadership for our staff in an innovative and, we think, more meaningful way rather than the usual outward bound courses and team-building days.
“Rugby is a great sport and popular among staff and clients and we are delighted to have someone of Jason’s calibre on our team.”
Commenting on the partnership, Jason said: “I am delighted to be teaming up with Xodus and getting to know both staff and clients over the coming months. I have found Xodus to be a very forward thinking proactive company who are prepared to push boundaries to achieve excellence in their field. I hope this is the start of a long and prosperous association.”
Educated in Aberdeen at Cults Academy and George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, Jason first started playing rugby union for Aberdeen Wanderers. He quickly rose through the ranks of the Scotland Under-18 and Under-21 squads.
He was named the new captain of the Scotland national team by Scotland coach Frank Hadden after an injury to Jon Petrie. Jason led Scotland for the first time in the test against Argentina in 2005. He also led them in the famous win against France on February 4, 2006 at Murrayfield when he earned his 50th Scottish cap.
On the 21st April 2006, Jason was named The Famous Grouse Scotland Player of the Season 2005-06. On the 10th May 2006, he received the Guinness Premiership Player’s Player of the Year Award after receiving the same accolade in his native Scotland. In recognition of both his skills and sportsmanship, his founding influence Aberdeen Wanderers RFC renamed their pavilion in his honour in April 2006.
–
Press Release – February 2008
Xodus Unveils New Global Headquarters
Fast-growing oil and gas development consultancy Xodus has capped a rapid period of investment and growth with the completion of a £200,000 expansion project at their Aberdeen headquarters. Staff numbers in the city rose from 40 to 90 in 2007, prompting Xodus to double their existing office space at 58 Carden Place by taking on the vacant property next to it and carrying out significant refurbishment throughout.
Architecture and space planning practice Space Solutions designed and managed the project which included the creation of a brand new reception area, meeting rooms, break-out facilities for employees and the refurbishment of the existing board room. An internal link between the two buildings has also been incorporated. Work, which started last June, was carried out on a phased basis to allow the continuing occupation of the office which has increased in space from 3,875sq ft to 7,750sq ft. Completion of the project marks the end of a successful year for the Xodus which saw the company open its first overseas office in Perth, Australia, as well as a base in London.
Xodus director Colin Manson said: “We have experienced an incredible couple of months in terms of growth and have smashed our targets by hitting the £10million mark in what was only our second year of business. As part of this growth strategy, it was vital we renovated our Carden Place headquarters with the aim of creating an attractive city centre environment which will be our global headquarters for the next 10 years.
“We are committed to building a successful, long-term business in Aberdeen and this investment is testimony to that commitment. The refurbishment enhances our efficiency and provides staff with a fully modernised environment, designed to improve the quality of day-to-day working.”
Steve Judge, managing director of Space Solutions, said: “We’ve worked with Xodus from the outset to understand its business needs and ensure those are fully addressed by the new design. The challenge for us was to minimise the downtime in key areas such as the reception and board room while fast-tracking the need to occupy the new office space at Number 60.
“Xodus has been keen to embrace new ideas and ensure it is making the best possible use of its physical resources to support its business objectives and staff.”
–
Press Release – February 2008
Xodus Launches Environmental Division in Australia with Strategic Appointment
Xodus Group has landed a major coup by attracting one of the industry’s leading environmentalists to head up its new environmental division in Australia. The Perth office of the rapidly-growing oil and gas engineering consultancy has appointed Francis Baronie to establish Xodus’ environmental capabilities and grow a robust environmental business.
Prior to joining Xodus, Francis was HSEC manager with BHP Billiton Petroleum. Successful involvement in large projects for operators such as Woodside and BHP Billiton Petroleum has established Mr Baronie as a renowned player in the industry. More recently he led environmental teams for the Enfield, Vincent, Stybarrow and Pyrenees FPSOS which are located offshore the Ningaloo Marine Park in North-Western Australia, one of the areas’ premier marine environments. This appointment comes hot on the heels of the group reporting a 50% increase in environmental business in the UK, seven months after it was established following the acquisition of Orkney-based Aurora Environmental.
Francis Baronie believes that there is high demand for a high quality, value adding environmental service. He says: “The current economic conditions in Western Australia with a huge pipeline of large energy projects are very promising for us and I am looking forward to growing a robust environmental business here in Perth.
“I want to establish a division that complements the Xodus approach to business. In the first instance, we intend to focus on integrating environmental considerations into the earliest stages of projects, where we can add most value.”
With extensive experience of working on large oil and gas projects in Western Australia, Mr Baronie is ideally placed to demonstrate that if environmental capabilities are part of the conceptual and design stages then the project can genuinely reduce risks and be more effective.
“Key to delivering this, of course, is building the right team,” adds Mr Baronie. “Our recruitment efforts will target senior people in environmental engineering and impact assessment. While people skilled in these areas are in demand around the world, I am confident that Xodus’ dynamic character and culture will attract high quality people.”
Back to top