On Orkney’s “flat isle”, the oil and gas industry has been figuring out how to get the most out of existing North Sea reservoirs. Erikka Askeland reports…
For Glen McLellan, the UK general manager of Fjords Processing at Flotta, coming up with new solutions for old wells is the fun part of the job.
“It is about coming up with innovative solutions to real people’s problems,” says Mr McLellan.
His domain at Fjords Processing has benefited from a £1million investment that has increased capacity, upgraded instrumentation as well as spruced the place up a bit.
The upgrade, thanks to the firm’s new owners Akastor, means that in addition to running groundbreaking joint industry-backed tests on the latest in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques, it will also have the capacity to do its own research and development.
“That was the problem we had prior to the investment – all of our own development work died whenever we had paid work to do because we had to focus on that. It is a very, very good thing,” says Mr McLellan.
Fjords employs 30 people at Flotta and has offices in Aberdeen in Frimly, near London. It is now part of a global organisation since it was acquired by the Norwegian firm in 2013 and was rebranded last year.
The lab and processing facility, then called Opus, was set built in 1988 as a joint industry and university project to provide an onshore facility to test and develop offshore water treatment systems.
“We can simulate an oil rig’s topsides and develop technology from that application,” he says.
“It’s a big place. We can run 20,000 barrels per day of oily water. It is unique in the UK and I would say it is unique probably worldwide.”
The water that oil rigs in the UKCS discharge must have less than 30ppm of oil in it. Thanks to the efforts of the team at Flotta, water quality in the North Sea remains “pretty good”, he says.
“There are some assets that really struggle, and other ones that do really well.
“We can enhance their production and improve their environmental performance. We’re the guys who in and say we can make it work,” he says.
Born in Stromness, Mr McLellan says he left school at the age of 15 with no qualifications, working on farms until he landed an apprenticeship at the Flotta terminal next door.
He worked in Singapore, then “eventually worked his way back to Flotta”. He joined Fjords in 2000 as a project engineer.
He is a firm believer in the need for the industry to support apprenticeships and hailed the Opito-backed scheme from which he was able to learn the skills which developed into an impressive career.
“The apprenticeship we did was absolutely fantastic. I couldn’t say enough good things about it. I’m really pleased the oil and gas industry is still focusing on that.
“Out of my class of something like 25 of us, there must be ten or 12 of us that are either OIMs or business managers of some description.”
The expansion of the Flotta facility is nearly complete, although times have changed in the North Sea since the initial decision to invest was first made.
Mr McLellan says he agrees completely that the industry needs to drive down costs. “It is long overdue,” he adds.
But he is hoping that the pressure put on the supply chain – such as the firm he has put 15 years of his career into growing – by operators and major North Sea players will find a different outlet.
“It has been a tough couple of years for everybody. They come to us and say they need a cut on prices. That is all very well but we still have a lot of mouths to feed at our end.”
Who helped you get where you are today?
There’s the farmer who gave me my first ever job when I was 13. He taught me a huge amount about both farming and general life lessons I try to apply to my life now.
The engineering team at Flotta when I was doing my apprenticeship were some of the best engineers I have ever worked with. They were patient and generous with their time. They helped a lot.
What do you still hope to achieve in business?
I’d like to be able to replicate our unique service offering we have here into the regional offices we have around the world in Fjords Processing.
If you were in power in government, what would you change?
It comes down to tax breaks for brownfield development. There’s a few greenfield projects we have been able to get involved in thankfully. But the real market for the oil industry is brownfield.
I completely agree with the industry’s drive to cut and minimise costs. It is long overdue. But the government needs to support oil companies in that because otherwise a lot of it falls on the smaller companies and the suppliers like us to cut our costs. The government needs to help so the smaller more innovative suppliers don’t fall by the wayside as a result.
What are you reading, listening or glued to on TV?
The Rugby World Cup will get a lot of my attention when I get some spare time.
As far as reading goes it is almost historic books about WWI and WWII. I have a fascination for the human story of the people that fought in those world wars.
If you were a character in fiction or history, who would you be?
It’s not a specific person but I’d have loved to have played rugby for Scotland alongside Finlay Calder and John Jeffrey in the amateur era before it all became professional.
What do you drive and what do you dream of driving?
I drive either a Mazda 3 or Mitsubishi Outlander depending on what the family is doing. Nothing fancy.
What would your family say about you?
The girls would probably say I’m away too much with work.
My wife, if I was in earshot, would say I’m hardworking, dependable and she’s proud of me – but I don’t know what she would say if you were asking her in my absence.
Which charity do you support and why?
Clan is quite high up our list because of the amount of support it gives to Orcadian families who are going back and forth to Aberdeen for cancer treatment.
Personally I also support Multiple Sclerosis because my wife’s grandfather passed away with that some time ago.