Oil & Gas software business Petrotechnics set for growth with £6M BGF investment

This deal is BGF’s fifth investment in the oil and gas sector and brings the current total invested in Scottish SMEs to £30m.

Based in Aberdeen and with offices in Houston, Saudi Arabia and Singapore, Petrotechnics was founded in 1990 and since then has pioneered proven solutions and successfully helped organizations in hazardous industries increase operational performance and improve risk management in the riskiest part of their operations.

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, including the three largest independent Oil & Gas Companies. Petrotechnics software is used in frontline operations across 385 sites on 6 continents. 80 per cent of North Sea and 40 per cent of Gulf of Mexico assets utilise Petrotechnics’ software to help manage their frontline operations safely and efficiently.

BGF’s £6m funding will help fuel the next stage in Petrotechnics’ growth strategy, enabling expansion into new geographies, recruitment of more people, and ongoing investment in the software products.

Petrotechnics’ enterprise software platform, ‘Proscient’, manages the execution of frontline work safely and efficiently to help organisations maintain the integrity of their assets, the safety of their workforce and the sustainable achievement of their production targets. This is a step change for the oil and gas industry, integrating safety, risk management, work planning and efficiency for the first time.

Proscient is designed to reduce the number and length of unplanned plant shutdowns, decrease permit and contractor wait times, more efficient turnarounds, significantly improve plan accuracy and plan attainment and engender a safety culture within an organisation.

Over the past five years the company has generated annual revenues in the range of £10-15 million and has employed more than 100 staff.

Before founding Petrotechnics, CEO Phil Murray worked internationally for BP for 10 years in a variety of technical, operational and managerial roles. The business has won a number of industry awards from organisations including winning the ‘Growth Strategy of the Year’ award at the European Business Awards in 2008.

BGF Investment Director Mike Sibson is joining the Petrotechnics Board, and speaking about the deal he commented: “Our investment in Petrotechnics is a very exciting opportunity for BGF. Petrotechnics has 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.”

Phil Murray, CEO of Petrotechnics, commented: “We are delighted to have BGF join the team and we look forward to their guidance and contributions in taking our company to the next level of growth. We believe there is a big opportunity for customers to significantly improve their operational performance and improve how they manage operational risk. An Operational Dynamics system such as Proscient empowers all levels of management to proactively improve operational excellence.”