Mechanical engineering group, EnerMech, has been accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) to mentor the next generation of chartered and incorporated engineers.

The Aberdeen company's EnerMech Academy has been sanctioned by IMechE to run a Monitored Professional Development Scheme (MPDS) which encourages the progression of young engineers.

At the same time EnerMech's Technical Director Phil Bentley, a Chartered Engineer for 16 years, has been awarded Fellowship status by the institution. Mr Bentley started off his engineering career on graduating from the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and since achieving Chartered status in 1989 he has held a number of senior engineering and management roles in the energy industry.

Companies which adopt the MPDS are making a commitment to the development of young engineers who have the potential to achieve professional registration as a Chartered or Incorporated Engineer.

Phil Bentley said: "Achieving Chartered Engineer status indicates that engineer is a committed individual who is capable of the highest levels of engineering ability. The EnerMech MPDS invests in young engineers, bringing out the best in them and encourages them towards continual learning and progression."

Under the MPDS, more experienced EnerMech engineers mentor their younger colleagues and offer support while working through the incorporated and chartered engineer process.

Mr Bentley added: "This is a highly regarded accreditation, which is recognised globally in the engineering world and sends out a message that at EnerMech we are very serious about our engineering credentials. It is also an important factor when looking to recruit young professionals as they know EnerMech will support them throughout their engineering career."

Roy Begg, Cranes & Lifting Account Manager, had recently been accredited as an Incorporated Engineer and will mentor other candidates as he works towards achieving Chartership.

He added: "Being accredited by IMechE recognises a certain level of experience and ability and the more you put in to this the more you get out. EnerMech supports people willing who commit to professional development as it benefits the business in the long-term."

Mechanical engineering group EnerMech has provided the Robert Gordon University (RGU) Foundation with a £10,000 ACCESS RGU scholarship to support under-represented students studying engineering.

The EnerMech Scholarship will contribute to the student's maintenance costs throughout their undergraduate degree whilst also supporting the Study Skills and Access Unit at RGU.

The first recipient of the award is Adebowale Odukoya (19), known as Ade, a first year mechanical engineering student from Possilpark in Glasgow.

Ade was selected from a shortlist of three candidates following a rigorous process based on stringent academic and personal criteria. In addition to financial support, Ade will also receive mentoring and paid work experience from EnerMech throughout her four year degree.

Aberdeen-headquartered EnerMech provides mechanical services to the international energy sector, employing 2400 staff in 20 countries.

EnerMech Technical Director, Phil Bentley, said: "We are delighted to support RGU with this scholarship and were impressed with the quality of candidates who made the shortlist. We look forward to supporting Ade through her engineering degree and hope that our sponsorship encourages her and other graduates into the energy industry."

Ade said: "Winning the EnerMech scholarship is a dream come true. It is a privilege and I am grateful for the support that the scholarship had given me both financially and academically. The mentorship opportunity made available to me, where I can shadow and learn from the best in the field of engineering, is invaluable to me.

"Looking to the future I am confident that with the aid of the scholarship I will be able to reach my full potential as a mechanical engineer – to acquire knowledge, build skills, contribute to development of new technology and to empower others."

Co-ordinator of the Study Skills and Access Unit at RGU, James Dunphy, added:
"RGU works hard to ensure that all students can achieve their full potential and this new scholarship shows the commitment EnerMech has to helping us in this goal.

"The EnerMech Scholarship attracted a great deal of interest from talented individuals and we are delighted to be working with EnerMech to support Ade as she undertakes her studies."

ACCESS RGU is the university's widening participation initiative, coordinated by the Wider Access and Outreach Team, based within the Study Skills and Access Unit.

Working in partnership across the university and with external partners, the team promotes the greater uptake of higher education among groups that are traditionally under-represented at university.

EnerMech's Dragon's Glen team, the Deen Team, received a Special Commendation Award at a ceremony hosted by Scottish Children's Charity, Children 1st at Edinburgh Castle last night.

The team consisting of Guy Ingerson, Catriona Chisholm, Sophie McBride, Hannah Darnell, Rebecca Gordon, Rachel Young, Steven Halliday, Lewis Galligan, Mihail Popa and Martin Clyne, hosted a number of fundraising events including an alternative Burns supper, bake sale and pledge a pound campaign, which raised over £3,900 for the charity.

Now in its 3rd year, the challenge (based on the popular TV programme, Dragon's Den) includes a formal pitch to the "Dragons" in a bid to be awarded £500 of seed funding. Over the course of six months, teams are tasked with using this initial funding to raise money for Children 1st, with the aim to raise the largest sum and show a high level of entrepreneurial skill and team work along the way. The 2015 event saw nine teams from across Scotland raise over £30,000.

Founded in 1884, Children 1st (previously known as the RSSPCC) is one of Scotland's oldest charities and provides support to children and young people who have suffered from abuse and neglect. The money raised by the EnerMech team will be dedicated to supporting children in the local Aberdeen area.

EnerMech's Corporate Development Director, Ingrid Stewart, said: "This is the second year in a row that EnerMech has entered a team in this challenge and I am delighted that the team were recognised with this award. The Dragon's Glen initiative is an excellent one and in addition to raising money for a very worthy charity, the participants have the opportunity to learn new business skills which support their continued career and personal development."

Mechanical engineering group EnerMech has been awarded multi-million dollar contracts for the air drying and nitrogen purging of all six gas storage tanks at Queensland's Curtis Island LNG developments in Australia.

Three LNG process plants are currently under construction, with Train 1 commissioning phases now complete at one of the plants and well underway at the other two.

The three plants, located off the coast of Gladstone on Curtis Island, are part of AUD$ 70 billion upstream and downstream facilities projects which will provide 8% of the world's global LNG production and annually produce 24.5 million metric tons of LNG converted from coal seam gas.

EnerMech has been engaged by Bechtel to provide pre-engineering, supervision, labour and equipment for the air drying and nitrogen purging of the LNG storage tanks on the three projects, namely Queensland Curtis LNG, Australia Pacific LNG and GLNG.

Tank capacities range between 140,000 m3 and 160,000 m3 of LNG - which is stored at -161degrees Celsius - and is roughly the equivalent volume of 56 Olympic-size swimming pools per tank.

In addition to the air drying and nitrogen purging, EnerMech has now been engaged by Bechtel to undertake pre-commissioning work across the three Curtis Island projects, with services including lube oil flushing, chemical cleaning, nitrogen purging and pressure testing, high pressure water jetting, painting and blasting, rope access, valve testing and repair, and blowing and drying.

EnerMech Australia's general manager, Niall Conlon, hailed the contract wins as a significant milestone in strengthening the company's reputation in Australia and providing an entry for the potential of EnerMech to execute similar scopes globally.

He said: "EnerMech's credentials for working on large-scale LNG projects in Australia is well established and we hope to replicate this success on other global LNG projects which are under construction.

"Our long-standing reputation in pipeline and process pre-commissioning work was a strong factor in initially engaging with Bechtel and winning the contract for the first two tanks, which led on to successfully tendering for the other contracts.

"Having local expertise available, together with a modern equipment fleet, was a strong advantage and our technical know-how in piston flow processes to achieve less than 5% oxygen content in the tank post-purging was key to securing the work.

"It is EnerMech's unique ability to provide a one-stop-shop for multiple pre-commissioning services, and as a single entity we can source multiple projects, leading to time and cost savings, together with increased reliability of service delivery."

EnerMech has Australia's largest fleet of nitrogen equipment, including both liquid and membrane technology, which provides flexibility for all types of nitrogen purging and pressure testing work, regardless of the remoteness of the location.

EnerMech chief executive officer, Doug Duguid, said: "The Australian LNG market is a major focus as we grow our international footprint and the significant investment of $AUD 35 million we have made in the last three years in facilities, manpower and equipment, gives us a competitive advantage over other providers."

UK-headquartered EnerMech employs approximately 525 staff in Australia, operating from seven bases located in Brisbane, Chinchilla, Gladstone, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sale.

EnerMech has teamed up with subsea cable and connector specialist Hydro Group to launch a new bundled hydraulic hose product.

The combined expertise of both companies has been pooled to offer lay-up and over-sheathing of hydraulic hoses which are used in umbilical, topside and well intervention projects in the oil and gas industry.

The bundled hoses, which are available in ¼" to 2" size, integrate hydraulic components with electrical and fibre optic cables, resulting in a more compact and easier to handle assembly.

Gary McRobb, EnerMech's UK Business Development Manager Hydraulic Products, said: "Innovation and offering integrated solutions for our global clients is a central tenet of everything we do at EnerMech. Working with Hydro Cables Systems we are able to provide full engineering support, sourcing and supplying hoses, including high specification hoses such as HCR (High Collapse Resistance). We can also supply fully fitted, flushed and pressure-tested umbilicals which can also be deployed onto a reeler at the customer's request."

Aberdeen-based Hydro Group designs and manufactures underwater cables and connectors for subsea, underwater, topside and onshore applications.

Graham Wilkie, Sales Director at Hydro Group said: "Building on three decades of proven capability and industry experience at Hydro Group we know collaboration, diversification and innovation are key to surviving in challenging markets. Knowledge sharing with EnerMech has resulted in an important market offering which brings together expertise from both companies.

"The new hose bundles offer significant benefits to installers and users for flying lead, workover umbilicals, well intervention, Topside and BOP control and injection systems.

"The bundles also allow greater versatility when faced with awkward routing or high dynamic usage and may incorporate strength members such as aramid braiding, steel wire central ropes and aramid central ropes to the customer's specification."

EnerMech has marked the opening of a Hydraulic Product & Services division to service the African energy, power and mining sectors with a successful Open Day at its Cape Town base in Paarden Eiland.

The experienced team is headed up by Hydraulics Manager for Africa, Faiek Fredericks, and adds to EnerMech's integrated services offering which includes Cranes & Lifting, Valves, Process, Pipeline & Umbilicals (PPU), Industrial Services, Equipment Rental and Specialist Training Services.

EnerMech employs more than 90 people in Africa and has a presence in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, DR Congo and Angola.
The company has recently expanded its Paarden Eiland facility, which acts as a hub for all African operations, to include new hydraulics, valves and cranes maintenance and servicing workshops.
"What is unique to our operations here in Cape Town is our hydraulics shop where customers can walk in and not only source hydraulic hose, fittings and equipment from reputable suppliers – but they can have components made up virtually while they wait," explained Faiek Fredericks.

A specially created system (EnerMech Live) allows customers to have enhanced visibility of integrity data through web connectivity, as well as offering superior criticality assessments leading to optimised inspection programmes.
"Backed by these resources we have the ability to design and supply turnkey systems, in addition to providing an extensive range of complementary services that will make us the market leader in this region," adds Fredericks.
EnerMech has a 40 year heritage in providing hydraulics services to the international energy sector and it believes the African market will welcome its integrated approach to supplying allied services and expertise which place an emphasis on delivery while introducing time and costs savings.

EnerMech's first entry to the African market came with the 2012 acquisition of Cape Town-based Water Weights SA, which introduced crane load testing into EnerMech's services portfolio. This was followed in 2014 by the acquisition of Control Valve Technology which provides servicing, refurbishment and sales of control and safety valves across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The company has also established a strong track record in Africa for its PPU division, having delivered several successful projects in Congo, Nigeria and South Africa.
EnerMech has committed to a three-year £20 million investment programme to establish a strong infrastructure in Africa and significant capital expenditure has gone in to sourcing equipment and recruiting experienced personnel to develop the company's seven business lines and building in-country capability across a number of important African energy hubs.

Fredericks added: "Most of the services we offer are related to each other and clients can benefit from having one committed and experienced provider supplying all of these services, rather than dealing with several companies who can offer only one of their requirements.

"We provide a complete service which is growing exponentially in popularity due to our global reputation, uncompromising focus on safety, quality, professionalism and fast turnaround time of parts and engineering services."

EnerMech has completed a slew bearing replacement on the North Crane on BP Azerbaijan Exploration's Chirag 1 platform in Baku.

The project from design, build, testing and installation was completed within four weeks and was valued at more than £500,000.

Working closely with BP Baku's structural team, EnerMech designed a crane-specific jacking frame, shipping in a face-flanging machine from Singapore for fabrication of the approved frame. Following a successful FAT test at EnerMech's Baku yard, all equipment and materials was shipped offshore to meet the tight completion schedule.

The first challenge was to align the four jacking frame legs with the pedestal of the crane. Four jacking pads were welded directly onto the pedestal and the underside of the crane chassis and a habitat was built around the frame so that welding could begin.

After the successful completion and MPI of the welds, the final assembly of the jacking frame was constructed with 4x75Te hydraulic jacks placed in to the jacking frame legs. The Jacking structure was overload tested to ensure the integrity of the welds and bolts. Once this was successfully completed the 56 Te crane chassis was lifting to a height of 500mm.

The pedestal face and the underside of the crane chassis were checked by lasers for flatness and with readings confirmed as within the acceptable tolerances for the new slew bearing, no machining was required.

The new slew bearing was pulled onto the pedestal of the crane, ensuring that the "soft spot" of the bearing was positioned 90 degrees to the load path of the crane. In a reverse procedure of the jacking operation, the crane chassis was slowly lowered down onto the new bearing, new slew bolts were inserted and torqued to the OEM specifications.

EnerMech Cranes & Lifting Director, John Morrison, said: "After the final commissioning checks, the crane was proof load tested and returned to service. This scope of work was completed safely, on time and on budget, and was a real success for a project of this complexity.

"Our long-standing relationship with BP in providing cranes and lifting services in Baku, combined with our experience of completing similar projects in other regions, ensured both teams delivered a well-engineered and executed project."

BP's Offshore Installation Manager on Chirag 1, Niyaza Amirbayov described the project as "truly a One Team work" between EnerMech and BP staff, while CDWG Area Operations Manager, Orkhan Guliyev said good preparation and attention to detail led to "great safe delivery of massive scope."

EnerMech has teamed up with Robert Gordon University (RGU) to develop key staff in to leading project managers.

The mechanical engineering group has been working with RGU to devise a tailored project management course which specifically addresses the needs of the company's international training academy.

Twenty two staff from across all of the company's seven geographic regions will complete the bespoke 12 month course, which provides a clear understanding of project management and leads to the award of a Graduate Certificate.

Split in to three project management focussed modules – Operations, Change, and Commercial & Strategic - the course is delivered through online tuition and with participants attending three one-week blocks at the Aberdeen-based university.

The high quality and in-depth course is designed to provide EnerMech staff with a recognised qualification to support their role in the workplace and assist professional development.

The Head of EnerMech Academy, Andy Buckworth, said: "RGU have been very supportive in helping us formulate a programme of job-specific academic study which is customised to be relevant to our day-to-day operations at EnerMech. It supports each individual's professional development and increases each person's confidence in both their professional and private lives.

"The company has invested more than £100,000 in establishing the course which is aimed at the managers and leaders of the future who will ensure EnerMech's continued growth and success.

"We have recognised for some time that we could significantly improve the way we manage projects large and small and this course is part of step-change in being more professional in how we execute projects. It not only benefits individual staff and the company as whole, but enhances our reputation with clients as a more efficient organisation which is committed to on-going staff development."

The course is being delivered by academics at RGU's Aberdeen Business School (ABS) which is one of the leading providers of professional business education and is the only UK institution with dual accreditation for a MSc in Project Management by both Association for Project Management (APM) and Project Management Institute (PMI).

Susan Lawrie, RGU's EnerMech Course Leader, said: "We have been working with EnerMech to help develop, standardise and deliver its project management training, equipping key staff with the necessary level of expertise in this area to meet the company's current and future operational requirements.

"Our relationship with EnerMech is an example of our work with industry in responding to the specific needs of employers, where we collaborate with clients to design, develop and deliver learning programmes that meet individual organisational demands, from talent development to business improvement.

Professor Ken Russell, Associate Dean for Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and Corporate Programmes at ABS, added: "The current economic climate presents a great opportunity to invest in targeted staff development, such as project management, to address pressures for cost reduction and add genuine value through improving the effectiveness of business practices."

Fifteen members of the EnerMech team in Houston are taking on a two-day fundraising bike ride in aid of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Captained by Process, Pipeline and Umbilical Services project manager Jason Harvey, the group will join over 13,000 cyclists following a 180-mile route across part of Texas to the city of Austin on the 18th and 19th of April this year.

This is the second year EnerMech has participated in the event.

The fundraising goal for the event as a whole is $21million and you can help support our team by heading to www.nationalmssociety.org, selecting the option to donate by supporting an event participant and searching for the 'EnerMech Mechanical Services' team.

Oil and gas services group EnerMech has strengthened its management team with the appointment of two directors to the executive board.

International Contracts Director Alan McLean and Group Legal and Compliance Counsel Suzanne Park have joined the 11 member management team headed up by Chief Executive Officer Doug Duguid.

EnerMech's executive team now has an almost 30% female representation, with Suzanne joining other directors Shirley Smith (HR) and Ingrid Stewart (Corporate Development) on the board.

As International Contracts Director Alan McLean has a global commercial role monitoring the company's performance on key contracts and has held a number of senior managerial roles, including Director of Hydraulics, one of seven business lines provided by EnerMech to the oil, gas and power industries.

He joined EnerMech in 2010 after a 16 year career at Norson Power, where he was part of the management team which backed the EnerMech acquisition of the respected hydraulics engineering business.

Lawyer Suzanne Park has more than 15 years international oil and gas experience in senior positions with Wood Group, Technip, Vetco and GE, and since joining EnerMech she has focussed on improving contracting and compliance policies and procedures to meet the changing requirements of a fast-growth international company.

EnerMech Chief Executive Officer, Doug Duguid, said: "We have identified the management and execution of international contract work and legal compliance as two extremely important areas of our business which required a high level of commitment and expertise.

"Alan and Suzanne's appointments addresses that requirement and both bring different but equally impressive strengths and qualities to the EnerMech executive management team.

"Improved performance monitoring of our international contracts will bring greater efficiencies for EnerMech and clients alike, and should result in better delivery of projects leading to greater client satisfaction.

"Suzanne's appointment reinforces our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of business behaviour in our dealings with our colleagues, customers, suppliers and the communities in which we work.

"This core value is one that has served us well since the company was formed in 2008 and as we grow and mature as a business, our focus on compliance and ability to demonstrate to our customers, suppliers, investors and banking partners that we take this very seriously is increasingly important."