Xodus Launches New Subsea Capability and Production Assurance Team in Australia

22 February 2013

International energy consultancy Xodus Group has bolstered its rapidly-evolving Australian footprint by adding subsea and production assurance teams to its Perth operation.

The new services, which were announced at the Australia Oil and Gas Exhibition & Conference (AOG), underpin Xodus’ significant growth in the region where it has achieved turnover of AUD 1.5 million since April 2012. During the same period, the Perth-based team has expanded considerably from two people to 27 with aims to have up to 60 staff by the end of 2013.

James Knipe has joined the Perth office from Aberdeen as subsea team lead and hopes to have a team of six in place this year. James is a chartered engineer and has been with Xodus since 2010. He is experienced in conceptual, front end and detailed design projects for subsea, oil and gas and renewable energy developments around the world.

Chris Smith has relocated to Perth from the Xodus London office to lead the production assurance offering. Chris, who has been with the company since its inception in 2006, has strong expertise in process engineering and flow assurance. He will also deliver a technical paper on Emerging and Enabling Flow Assurance Solutions at AOG this week.

Andy Jones, Perth Operations Director at Xodus, said of the company’s growth: "The Australian oil and gas industry is booming and there are significant opportunities for companies with specialist skills. Drawing on the wealth of knowledge Xodus has globally, we are launching the subsea and production assurance teams to service the Australian market, where we already provide process and facilities, technical safety and risk and environmental expertise. This will further reinforce our fast-growing international offering which we can deliver worldwide.

"We welcome James and Chris to the Perth office and look forward to growing the team here further. Having both joined us from the UK to lead the new teams, we continue to bring international design and operating expertise to the Australian market and use this as a gateway for our clients to access our global engineering skills.”

Xodus is exhibiting at AOG at Stand A33. The company will present two papers at the event: ‘Combining CFD and OLGA Modelling Techniques to Provide Advanced Flow Assurance Solutions’ on Wednesday 20 February; and ‘Better Design, Smarter Monitoring: Managing Vibration Induced Fatigue’ on Thursday 21 February.

The company is also sponsoring the exhibition’s smart app which aims to help visitors maximise their time at the annual industry event and can be downloaded from the iTunes store. Bringing together more than 450 exhibitors from across 20 countries, AOG will take place at the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre from 20-22 February 2013.