These awards were given in recognition of the outstanding performances of its subsidiaries, Offshore Design Engineering Ltd (ODE) and ODE Asset Management (ODE AM).

ODE received the Gold Award from The Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) at the Health and Safety Awards. This was ODE’s eleventh consecutive year receiving this award, and as such, ODE was further qualified to receive the prestigious President’s Award.

Operating globally, ODE provides technical services such as consultancy, engineering, procurement, project management, and construction support to the oil and gas and renewables industries. Through receipt of this award, ODE has been recognised as working in compliance with RoSPA’s global vision of life, free from serious accidental injury. > Read More

Photo: Gassco Emden Receiving Facility

Independent operations and engineering services company Offshore Design Engineering (ODE) has been awarded a new contract with GASSCO AS to work on the findings of its gas terminals review.

The project is the latest in a three-year relationship between London-headquartered ODE and Norwegian operator GASSCO, which is responsible for safe and efficient gas transportation from the Norwegian Continental Shelf to mainland Europe and the UK. GASSCO’s infrastructure includes export processing plants, gas receiving terminals and an 8,300km network of pipelines and offshore platforms.

A company with an exemplary record in safety performance, GASSCO undertook Barrier Integrity Reviews (BIR) across all its European gas terminals to assess existing facility conditions against its high performance standards. The contract will see ODE work with GASSCO to align solutions and co-ordinate implementation plans based on these initial reviews, and is scheduled to last approximately nine months.

Despite the current Covid-19 pandemic impacting operations around the world, ODE’s work for GASSCO will commence immediately, with the project being initiated and coordinated while remote working is in effect for ODE employees.

With offices in London, Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth, ODE has been supplying a range of services, including engineering and asset management, to oil and gas and renewables companies around the world. A frame agreement has seen the company provide engineering support to GASSCO since 2017.

ODE Project Manager Chris Lomax said: “This key contract award is a great opportunity for ODE to once again support and build on our relationship with GASSCO. I am delighted our technical capabilities, asset familiarity, and track record played a part in us securing this latest phase of work with a valued client.

“The contract demonstrates our client’s continued trust and faith in us, our technical skills, and our ability to successfully deliver and complete critical projects to the highest possible standard.”

GASSCO Project Manager Dag Olav Saeverud said: “ODE has been awarded a technical service contract, and this reflects our past working experiences, the company’s knowledge of our assets, and its capabilities to meet our expectations.”

From this week onwards, ODE will be operating  exclusively on a working-from-home basis in response to COVID19, reacting to government advice and guidelines, and prioritising the wellbeing and safety of our company.

During this period of working from home, ODE business will continue as usual. You can still get in touch with us through phone, email or Skype with key information available on our website; contact-specific details can also be found in email footers. Receptions are being remotely manned with work telephones redirecting to personal phones to ensure we function as closely to normal as possible.

ODE remains committed to delivering a high-quality service in complete alignment with our clients’ objectives in spite of global events. True flexibility as a company is demonstrated in uncertain and challenging times and we maintain our commitment to be a dependable and innovative service provider for the oil and gas and renewable energy sectors.

In order to continue to meet our company vision and our responsibilities to our clients, our IT department in conjunction with senior management has worked tirelessly to ensure as seamless a transition as possible. Such a transition prevents any delay or impact on project work for our clients and provides as stable an environment as possible for our employees. From project team group-chats to company-wide bulletins, we are ensuring that communication is clear and coherent.

For ongoing updates on ODE’s status, please visit https://www.ode-ltd.co.uk/news.

At the 2020 Active Cup, ODE was represented by Team cODEsign with team members all coming from different disciplines and roles; Beatrix Sibley (Process Engineer), Sam Lawson (Operation Resource and Logistics Coordinator), Kirsty Hamilton (Business Development/Proposals Administrator), Samuel Wakerley (Interface Engineer) and Michael Cowles (Integrity Engineer). Unfortunately, the morning of the Active Cup, Michael headed home after being very unwell. Thus, with a team of 4, the Active Cup began…

Friday – Day 1:

Preparation day started with lectures on what the weekend would hold; we started to understand what we had put ourselves forward for. Cost prediction, effective project management, the lectures flew past until suddenly a university-wide power-cut struck. Despite this, we tried to keep on track and went through our plan and budget for the simulation. As the day went on, our plans were finalised but the lack of lectures meant we struggled to understand our costings. With the rumours of cooking dinner by the Cranfield firepit floating around the groups, there seemed to be no hope of the power returning. Luckily, at around 5pm, the power returned and we were able to finish off the lectures on cash flow, earned value and critical path analysis. Along with the finance lectures, we received help from another team on our cash flow which allowed us to improve our estimation for our budget and negotiate with the bank manager. Finishing the day, we headed the bar for one last drink and a good night of rest before the hard work started.

Saturday – Day 2:

With an early start of 7:30 am, we gathered as a team to finish off the last few parts of the preparation and to nail down our first presentation of the weekend: who we were, what we wanted to achieve, and why we were there. Presentation done; it was now time to start the simulation by handing in our first Action Form. After the first round, we quickly fell into a methodical routine with Beatrix and Kirsty tracking finances and Sam and Samuel sorting resources. With only a few hiccups and the odd mad dash to hand in an Action Form, we did well.

Throughout the day, we realised the importance of working alongside the other teams, viewing them not as competitors within the simulation but as sponsors. From there on, we were in and out of other teams’ rooms asking for advice, passing on information and tips, and sharing a laugh or two. We were all working within the Active Principles and collaborating. As Day 2 came to an end, the simulation was paused; after dinner, we presented our forecasted profit and scheduled end date to the client before heading to the bar for some networking.

Sunday – Day 3:

Another early start: we finalised the last loan and confirmed out game plan to ensure we would end our project on schedule. During lectures, it was announced that our PMs were being swapped out; Beatrix was removed with Wood’s PM swapped in. Sam swiftly ensured that the team were confident staying on track without Beatrix and he introduced the new PM to our processes of working before the simulation started again. Beatrix was gone for an hour but in the fast-paced Active Cup it felt no more than ten minutes. Beatrix returned as the simulation moved into its concluding weeks.

As a final four, we handed in our last Action Sheet and waited, slightly bewildered at the idea of having free time. As news started filtering in from other teams about their profit expectations (or rather, lack thereof), we started to realise we had done well and had potential to finish in the top three. We received our last progress report: we had missed our target profit. Our Wild Card – a guarantee of extra points for accurate cost and schedule predictions – seemed to be wasted. We began to doubt how we had done overall…

Time for the final presentations. Shaun Hutchinson, Regional Operations Director of ODE AM, had arrived to support us in our final presentation and asked us a tough question on how we would support and advise the ODE’s 2021 Active Cup team. Our answers? Don’t over plan, make sure you support one another, and get enough sleep. We presented our costs, discussed what we had learned, and tentatively admitted we were proud of ourselves.

The awards began. The Silver Award was given to KBR who had been tracking extremely closely with us that morning. Did we have a chance?

“The Gold Award goes to ODE”.

We had smashed it, despite being a man down! We proudly collected our awards, congratulated Wood plc. for achieving first place, and said goodbye to the brilliant organisers of the Active Cup and all the helpful people we had met along the way. We happily headed home, lured by the prospect of a good night’s sleep and content with the amazing results we had achieved. We all universally agreed that the Active Cup provided valuable experience on the importance of collaborating within our organisation and externally with our clients.

ODE, one of Europe’s most experienced offshore wind engineering, design and project management contractors, has appointed a new Japan Country Manager as it prepares for further expansion in Tokyo.

Takao Sato will apply his extensive experience in electrical engineering and offshore projects, as well as an intimate knowledge of the Japanese supply chain, to the post as he looks to expand ODE’s offices in the Roppongi district of Tokyo and to prepare for further local recruitment. Sato-san, who has held a number of director and senior management positions at both Japanese and international companies, joins ODE from Chiyoda Corporation, a major Japanese engineering company specialising in oil and gas, LNG and other industrial facilities. > Read More