Tuesday 30 September 2008: Four top industry names launch ClerkMaxwell, an Aberdeen-based, independent engineering consultancy for the oil and gas sector. Fifteen new positions have been created initially at ClerkMaxwell, with plans to increase the headcount to 50 by the end of the first year of trading. Alistair Dornan, a former top executive of Genesis Oil and Gas Consultants and Xodus and before this Shell International, takes the position of group chief executive officer and the role of managing director is filled by John Wilson former engineering director at AMEC. Sean Close previously engineering solutions manager at Wood Group and Satnam Shoker previously process and front-end studies manager at Wood Group are also directors of the newly formed company. ClerkMaxwell will provide engineering and management services with a particular emphasis on oil and gas production and processing. The firm aims to deliver projects more effectively by bridging the gap between operators and design and installation contractors.

"We have brought together a significant pool of highly respected talent for the launch of ClerkMaxwell," says Alistair Dornan. "And I believe that this will give us considerable competitive advantage. This wealth of experience covers the full life cycle of projects from concept through to operations and ultimately into decommissioning, and we will bring invaluable operating and design experience to the front end of new projects."

ClerkMaxwell is a sister company of floating production technology firm Sigma Offshore Ltd and is funded through investment from both the management team and Energy Ventures with banking support provided by HSBC

Dornan continues, "We aim to raise the bar in this sector and we have the team onboard to deliver. John, Sean and Satnam are well-known in the industry and are experts across a whole range of engineering disciplines. We expect to have up to 50 people on board by the end of this year and have plans in place to increase this figure to between 70 and 100 in the second year, through sustained and measured growth."

The company takes its name from James Clerk Maxwell (1831 - 79) a former professor of physics at Marishal College in Aberdeen who is credited with laying the foundations for the development of 20th century electronics with his theory of electromagnetism. Much of today's technology stems from his work. Developments in the field of electricity and electronics including radio, television, radar and communications derive from his discoveries. He greatly influenced modern science and the industrial revolution. Einstein said it was James Clerk Maxwell who put him - on the road - to making his epoch making mathematical discoveries.

"By selecting the name ClerkMaxwell we have a lot to live up to. A true innovator, Clerk Maxwell's work was not a synthesis of what was known before, but a fundamental change in scientific concept. It is an exciting venture, as ClerkMaxwell offers a chance to change the way of doing things. A larger organisation may struggle to implement a new way of doing things, however we believe we can do it and provide our clients with sound engineering innovation."

ClerkMaxwell is based at Salvesen Tower in Aberdeen and can be contacted on 01224 531330. More about the company can be found by emailing info@clerkmaxwell.com .