Having provided legendary innovations and practical solutions to offshore and onshore energy challenges for nearly 30 years, ICON Engineering is a leader in the oil and gas sector. We take a deep dive into the company’s daring past and even more ambitious future with David Field, Managing Director.
ICONIC INNOVATIONS
For nearly three decades, ICON Engineering Pty Ltd (ICON) has had a track record of providing cost-effective, truly innovative, and practical turnkey solutions to the technical challenges of exploiting offshore petroleum resources in a safe, sustainable, and reliable manner.
Founded in Perth, Western Australia, in 1997, the company has made an international name for itself, executing world-first offshore installation methods and designing novel equipment as a responsive oilfield service provider.
Having successfully executed hundreds of projects spanning the world’s major oil regions, including Australia, the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the US, Canada, Singapore, the UK, Trinidad, Middle East, Norway, and the North Sea, ICON provides a one-stop turnkey service for the concept, design, fabrication, and installation of some very innovative solutions.
This innovative approach is key to the company’s culture of encouraging out-of-the-box thinking and finding creative solutions.
“We are known for solving tricky problems. It’s often those problems that are keeping Energy Company Executives awake at night that we are engaged to fix,” introduces David Field, Managing Director.
“Some people say that failing often is the key to success. In our industry, however, we cannot fail at all, as when things go wrong, they go wrong very badly. So, to build new things that do not break takes a lot of thinking and lots of experience – which we’ve managed to do very carefully and successfully for a long time.”
ICON has grown its products and services organically from customers seeking support for problems they cannot solve or wanting to do things differently, with approximately 80 percent of the company’s revenue being repeat clients, referrals or untended work. Many solutions of course become product lines as often the same problems occur industry wide.
ICON has been particularly innovative in the drilling and offshore installation areas, that combination of skills is itself unique, bridging the two big silos of the industry – offshore projects and drilling.
With innovation being a core part of its DNA, ICON has worked to differentiate itself from the rest of the sector through a variety of distinctive means.
“Primarily, ICON situates itself as a truly customer-focused company with a mission to generate amazed customers stoked with our service. For many years, we have realised that the overused phrase of customer satisfaction is a very low bar, so we won’t settle until each customer is beyond amazed with the final product. This, of course, creates strong referrals and repeat business.
“It’s a small industry with lots of interconnected networks. We are proud to be Australian-owned and based and work hard to maintain our global relationships and reputation,” asserts Field.
“We have a reputation for coming up with novel and innovative ideas and concepts for very remote fields where the cost of building anything can be hugely expensive”
David Field, Managing Director, ICON Engineering
BAPTISM BY FIRE
Having studied civil engineering at the University of Western Australia, Field initially went into the water supply industry before realising his calling lay elsewhere.
Inspired by a friend working on the Piper Alpha platform replacement after the 1988 disaster, Field went to work for the UK engineering company, Brown and Root Vickers.
“I would call it a baptism by fire! I worked in a 16-storey building in London that was stocked full of other engineers from all over the world hired to build these replacement platforms in record time,” he reminisces.
After this fast-paced and intensive experience, Field worked for a variety of other big-name companies, including Saipem, Clough, and WAPET (now Chevron), furthering this already extensive portfolio.
Soon, Field realised he wanted to go a step further in his career and start a company specialising in the installation of offshore oil platforms. Thus, with a team of two other experienced colleagues, ICON was brought to fruition.
“Our first job was in Malaysia, and our friends in Perth couldn’t believe what we were doing since we were a brand new company consisting of only three people. Nonetheless, we headed to Malaysia and successfully installed an offshore platform, cementing ourselves as a serious player in the international sector,” he attests.
Since then, Field has developed a track record of managing the installation of jackets and topsides, utilising float-over and jack-up rig installation methods, alongside personally supervising the installation of many significant offshore structures across different countries.
Currently, from an engineering perspective, he finds the industry to be incredibly exciting despite many modern challenges, such as the transition from oil and gas to renewable energy.
“The reality is that oil and gas are used in so many different types of products that many can’t even imagine, such as computer screens, sunglasses, shoes, car tyres, and roads, so there has to be a pragmatic transition and people are starting to recognise that,” Field insights.
Equally, those within the oil and gas sector are best placed to provide alternative energy methods, particularly anything put in the ocean, as they possess the offshore engineering skills and principles developed over many years of safely building offshore facilities floating or fixed, which allow them to seamlessly shift to constructing offshore wind facilities.
A REPUTATION FOR SUCCESS
ICON’s motto – ‘legendary innovation, practical solutions’ – is a direct testament to its capabilities and attitude, coined directly from client comments.
With a team consisting of technical experts who design and deliver state-of-the-art turnkey solutions, the company boasts an impeccable record of safely delivering revolutionary projects and does not take the responsibility of its promised slogan lightly.
“When workshopping the company motto, we asked – what does it mean to work at ICON? What does it mean for customers when they deal with us? Why are customers coming to ICON?” details Field.
“We heard the same sentiments repeated multiple times over and worked it down to just four words that represent our collective drive, passion, and output.”
One such example of ICON’s legendary innovation was a float-over installation completed in Malaysia. This type of project is typically conducted utilising an offshore crane barge, however, the client requested that it be installed without one.
After an afternoon at the drawing board, the company was able to find a method to build an offshore forklift truck to lift the structure and place it onto the platform using hydraulic rams.
The company supersedes practical solutions through its ability and willingness to get face-to-face with its projects.
“Practical means we’ve got engineers who are used to getting grease under their fingernails. We’re not just sitting in a design office drawing up plans; we follow designs through to offshore execution,” explains Field.
ICON furthers its repertoire of cutting-edge offerings and services through its industry-leading speciality niche of offshore platforms installed with jack-up drilling rigs.
Additionally, due to the company’s established reputation for successfully conducting highly engineered products, it was approached to help address a potential major accident event (MAE) where two global operators both recognised they had a serious risk regarding new drilling rigs. ICON was brought on to develop unique drilling heave compensation equipment to mitigate the risk using only the highest quality equipment. The company was able to successfully complete this project and help avoid any potential MAEs, situating itself as a leading drilling equipment company.
“We’re not just sitting in a design office drawing up plans; we follow designs through to offshore execution”
David Field, Managing Director, ICON Engineering
DELIVERING LASTING SOLUTIONS
ICON recognises that its team of technical experts is central to the company’s impeccable record of delivering projects efficiently and safely.
The company boasts a culture of continued professional growth and development and believes in fully investing in its people alongside actively planning for succession.
“Our employees are without a doubt our most valuable asset. Whilst we own plenty of equipment and physical assets, none of it is worth anything without our people,” dictates Field.
“Despite being around for over 25 years, we try to keep that new company feel and are continually on the lookout for change, talent and different opportunities.”
“We have amazing staff with some amazing out-of-work interests achieving work-life balance.
“One of our employees, after recovering from a broken neck, climbed the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents, the ‘Seven Summits’ challenge in world record time, another employee is to be featured in a BASE-jumping documentary, one produces short films in his spare time, and another has won the Rottnest Channel Swim twice,” enthuses Field.
Of equal importance is the company’s relationships with suppliers and partners.
ICON balances long-term supply chain relationships alongside utilising suppliers from local communities in the different countries where we operate.
“If we’re working in a foreign country, we like to find out what can be sourced locally. This is good for the local community, the client, and for us, as we get the opportunity to meet new people and suppliers to add to our contacts,” Field insights.
Maintaining a global supply chain and key partnerships are crucial factors for the company, ultimately allowing it to conduct a wide range of projects, utilising external skills, and provide offerings seamlessly and rapidly.
As ICON continues to look towards the future, it is focused on expanding its footprint across the globe and into currently untapped foreign markets. Post-COVID-19 use of low-cost video conferencing is making this increasingly easier.
Additionally, it is actively integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its activities.
“We believe AI has the potential to allow for increased productivity, knowledge base management, and corporate knowledge sharing to assist staff members,” concludes Field.
Through ICON’s vast experience, talented team, continuous growth, and relentless pursuit of legendary innovation, it continues to carve a name for itself in oil and gas history.
