Aberdeen, United Kingdom—May 30, 2013—Petrotechnics Ltd., a global provider of software solutions to improve frontline operational performance and risk management in hazardous industries, completed a £6 million investment from Business Growth Fund (BGF).
The investment will help fuel the next stage in the company’s global growth strategy in new geographies, new talent acquisition and ongoing innovation, including the continued global roll out of its enterprise operational performance and predictive risk software platform Proscient.
“We firmly believe that with BGF’s guidance and contributions we can truly take our organization to the next level of growth,” said Phil Murray, Chief Executive Officer of Petrotechnics. “We believe there is great potential for oil and gas operators worldwide to significantly improve their operational performance and enhance how they manage operational risk. A system such as Proscient empowers all levels of management to proactively achieve operational excellence.”
Petrotechnics’ software solutions are used on a daily basis by more than 50,000 personnel from some of the biggest businesses in the oil and gas industry. Furthermore, Petrotechnics software is used in frontline operations to help manage operations safely and efficiently across 385 sites on six continents including 80 percent of North Sea and 40 percent of Gulf of Mexico assets.
Proscient provides an easier and more dynamic approach for senior management to proactively manage the organization to optimize performance reduce risk. It manages the execution of frontline work safely and efficiently to help companies maintain asset integrity, workforce safety and the achievement of production targets. It delivers hard ROI within months—specifically with a reduction in the number and length of unplanned shutdowns—;a decrease in permit and contractor wait times; significant improvements in plan accuracy and plan attainment; and a positive change in the strength of the organization’s ‘at the plant face’ safety culture. As an enterprise platform Proscient provides further business value through its integration with other leading enterprise systems used by hazardous industries including IBM Maximo, SAP, Oracle Primavera and Microsoft Project. It also leverages strategic big data to drive continuous improvement of operational performance. Senior management can use Proscient’s integrated actionable analytics for the insight and enhanced decision-making to move the organization from reactive to proactive management.
“Our investment in Petrotechnics is a very exciting opportunity for BGF,” said Mike Sibson, Investment Director, BGF. “Petrotechnics demonstrated its ability to deliver complex software solutions to major oil and gas companies throughout the world. There is an increased priority on the management of operational risk and safety in hazardous industries, with several major incidents over the last decade demonstrating the potential consequences of poor control of work. The company’s large installed base, the new software product Proscient, and the excellent reputation of Petrotechnics is an exciting combination. The investment is a great fit for BGF, which was established to invest growth capital in the UK’s ambitious SMEs. We are also delighted to be backing Phil and the team, who are genuine experts in their field, and who have built the business with no external funding over the last 20 years.”
Petrotechnics represents BGF’s fifth investment in the oil and gas sector and brings the total invested by BGF in Scottish SMEs to date to £30m.
