Frazer-Nash Consultancy
Gary Lock, Group Business Manager - Energy
About you
Tell us a bit about your organisation (who are you, where do you operate)
We help organisations deliver innovative systems, engineering and technology solutions to make lives safe, secure, sustainable, and affordable. We have 10 offices throughout the UK and 4 offices in Southern Australia.
What is keeping you busy currently? What large projects are you working on?
In offshore Energy; Decommissioning is our biggest work stream. This is complemented by Anchoring systems, Riser Technology, Pipe Flow Assessments and Corrosion Protection. Our core capabilities in structural analysis, fluid dynamics, materials performance and technology selection are applied across the sector. We are heavily involved in the renewables world, particularly offshore wind (fixed and floating), and are helping traditional O&G companies transition into areas such as Offshore Wind, Hydrogen and Carbon Capture.
What are some of the opportunities/challenges you see for your organisation in the future?
The biggest challenge is growing our pool of exceptionally talented, problem solving, engineers. Finding the highest calibre engineers to meet the ever-increasing demand from our customers is both an opportunity and a challenge, but we are up for it!
How would you describe the company culture? Do you have any specific shared values?
We care – about our people, our clients and responding to their needs.
We are Trusted – to deliver on our commitments
We deliver Success – we strive to be the best at what we do
We want to do things that matter – we make a difference to our clients in society.
About your OEUK membership
As an organisation how is OEUK membership helping your business?
OEUK is helping us to get in contact with organisations that might benefit from our services. As we are relatively niche, our problem is finding the problems where we can help, or conversely, helping them find us.
Which OEUK event did you most enjoy and why?
The Offshore Decommissioning Conference in 2022 focussed on ‘Energising Decommissioning’ and we came away from the couple of days feeling just that. One of the most interesting sessions of note focussed upon collaboration and integrated project delivery showcased real-life examples of partnering across organisations and a frank discussion on the benefits it brings.
OEUK has over fourteen forums, which forum do you attend and what do you like most about that particular forum?
Regular attendance at the Decommissioning Forum has given our company insight into learnings from others in the industry undertaking active decommissioning projects. The knowledge sharing allows us to adapt the work we do in helping plan and provision for future projects.
Future of the industry
What are the biggest net zero changes you have seen in our industry?
Everyone wants to be seen to be reducing their carbon footprint, we can help them with that. Many want to invest in renewables, with little knowledge of the industry, we can help with that too. Lastly clients want to keep their existing assets serviceable, at a minimum cost; We are doing a lot of work in this area.
How do you see the industry looking in 20 years?
There will still be a need for oil and gas, maybe less as a fuel but there are many other uses that have no current replacement. Our desire to be carbon neutral is likely to take longer than envisaged and we will only have made partial in-roads in twenty years. The distinction between traditional offshore energy industries and newer, renewable energy streams will reduce, with the focus on producing a sustainable energy supply. Greater investment in renewables will be providing a significant revenue stream.
How is your organisation driving the transition to net zero?
We are a signatory to the Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi)’s Business Commitment to 1.5°C. We are currently reviewing the SBTi’s Corporate Net-Zero Standard, published on 28 October 2021. We will confirm a Net Zero target that aligns to this standard, alongside our science-based targets, by January 2024. We also actively work with our customers to help them achieve their own Net-Zero transition.
