Power for Petroplan: A look back at 2022

2022 has been a busy but successful year for Petroplan. From scaling up our clean energy operations in the Middle East, to growing our team in North America, we have continued to expand our range of energy services across the globe.

As we continue to grow and adapt our offering to suit the rapidly evolving market landscape, we focus on prioritising and championing the best talent in the sector.

With 2022 drawing to a close, we look back on some of the highlights and achievements across the year…

We kick-started 2022 with a raft of appointments and expansions across the globe, signalling the start of a strategic organisational shift to sharpen our service offering. This business transformation was delivered by six newly appointed senior leadership team members, led by CEO Christopher Honeyman Brown.

January also marked the beginning of the expansion of our operations in the Middle East, driven from our offices in Oman and the UAE – supporting projects across the region in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait too. To accommodate a growing workforce in the region, we acquired more office space in Dubai’s business district at Jumeriah Lake Towers and welcomed new team members in the Muscat office. Leading this growth in the region is Regional Director EMEA, Darren Brown, and Recruitment Director EMEA, Dean Greenwood.

February saw the transformative remodelling of our office in Houston, Texas, to provide a larger and more efficient workspace for the growing US team. US team member Helen Fowler celebrated 8 years at Petroplan this year, following her promotion to Head of Compliance and Operations, North America, in 2021 – an honourable mention!

In recognition of the re-invigoration of energy projects in North America post-pandemic, we appointed David Waterfield as Director for North America in May. David manages our hubs in Houston, Texas, and Calgary, Alberta, and specialises in LNG export projects. As a result, the team in North America is exploring a number of opportunities to support LNG development projects and operational facilities, concentrating on operations in the US Gulf Coast, Western Canada and the Mexico Pacific Coast. 

In May, we celebrated the launch of our employee share scheme – the first of its kind in the recruitment sector. The scheme gives all our employees across the globe – no matter their level or experience – the option to enrol on the scheme on joining the company, with shares exercisable on sale. The share scheme has strengthened our continued mission to attract and retain high quality talent within the industry, and has encouraged productivity, performance, and engagement in the team – building an inclusive culture to celebrate everyone’s successes.

To take advantage of the multiple opportunities for growth in mining and energy in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, Petroplan expanded its operations into the large, mineral-rich province in July. The expansion is in line with the increasing demand for hydroelectric, hydrogen and wind power in the region, led by our business consultants in Canada.

Continuing our expansion in the Middle East and following a contractual agreement with national oil company Saudi Aramco in 2019, we expanded our activity in Saudi Arabia in August. This expansion focused on the EPC market in the Eastern province of KSA, and coincides with the Saudi Vision 2030, a strategic framework to reduce the country’s dependence on oil, meet net zero targets and diversify its economy. Petroplan will be supporting significant client projects in the region in the coming years, including the new city of Neom.

In September, the business announced its expansion into the Asia-Pacific region, and appointed Daniel Torpy to drive this new offering forward. With a regional headquarters in Singapore, we have initially focused on driving business expansion in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. In 2023, we will be entering the Australian market in line with government investment in the country’s renewable energy sector.

To end the year, in November we received the news that our annual contribution to Oakleaf’s Mental Health Leaders Network (of which we were founding members in 2021) has helped to provide 50 people with 12 weeks of counselling this year. Oakleaf is a charity who provide free support for those suffering from mental health problems in Guildford, Surrey, and the surrounding areas – where our UK headquarters is based.

As we look ahead to 2023, we will continue to grow into new markets and evolve our service offering, focusing on clean and renewable energy projects in line with international government targets and priorities.