Oil and gas engineering specialist to support industries of the future
Name: Tom Murdoch. Age: 28.
What is your business called? Brimmond Group.
Where is it based? Kintore in Aberdeenshire.
What does it produce, what services does it offer?
We design, manufacture, rent and service a range of hydraulic, mechanical and electrical equipment. Our core equipment includes diesel and electric hydraulic power units (HPUS), marine cranes, umbilical reelers, spoolers, flushing units and pump units of all shapes and sizes.
To whom does it sell?
Our customer base is predominantly within the oil and gas, and decommissioning sectors, but in recent years we have taken advantage of opportunities to diversify through supporting a variety of projects within the marine and workboat, construction, and Navy and defence industries.
What is its turnover?
Despite a challenging year, we are projecting a turnover of £5-6 million similar to that of last year. We are extremely thankful to our entire team for enabling us to finish this year in a financially stable position.
The initial impact of the fallout from the Covid-19 crisis was by no means as severe or sudden for Brimmond as for other industries within the UK because working within the energy sector allowed us to always keep our workshop open and equipment out on hire.
We didn’t start to see the real impact until six-eight weeks after the initial lockdown, when offshore installations started to down-man and non safety critical operations were postponed, with many of these projects being delayed upwards of eight months. This resulted in a far lower utilisation of our rental fleet throughout the summer and a significant drop in revenue for this period. However, we’re starting to see an upturn in utilisation of our rental fleet as operators have adapted to new ways of keeping installations up-manned and operational.
How many employees? We have 25 full-timers.
When was it formed? In 1996 by my father.
Why did you take the plunge?
It was always part of my long-term plan to work for the family business. Having first scooted about the workshop on a pallet truck at the age of four, to nearly losing my first summer placement after a rather shoddy paint job (and thinking I was going to get sacked in the first week of working for my dad), I have been involved in the business, on and off, almost my entire life.
The plan was to work within the industry and come back to Brimmond Group later in life. Sadly, in August 2016 my father died from cancer. It wasn’t long after that I re-joined the Brimmond Group team.
What were you doing before you took the plunge?
My undergraduate degree was in
Product Design Engineering and after university my first job was as a graduate engineer working for a subsea engineering company in Aberdeen. It was a brilliant experience, I was mainly involved in subsea tooling design, as well as spending some time offshore West of Shetland, in the workshop and across the engineering department. Alongside this, in the evenings and at weekends, I studied for a Master’s degree in Subsea Engineering.
I had envisaged being with that company for a number of years, before eventually coming back to work at
Brimmond Group. I certainly didn’t think the move would happen within two years. I joined Brimmond Group in 2016 as a design engineer and in 2018 started in my role as engineering director.
What are your top priorities?
1. The energy transition. Diversifying our portfolio outwith oil and gas is key to the company’s long-term success. Oil and gas will continue to be a significant income stream for Brimmond Group but over the next 25 years we are looking forward to working in more sustainable industries such as renewables, marine and aquaculture.
2. Recovery from Covid-19. After the oil and gas downturn in 2014, capital expenditure budgets were slashed and the group transitioned from focusing primarily on manufacturing to rental. We expect a similar trend in budgets.
Diversifying our portfolio out-with oil and gas is key to the company’s long-term success