New chapter for Total E&P (UK) and PBS

The General Maintenance and Operations Contract (GMOC) for all Total Exploration and Production UK (TEPUK) awarded in January 2020, officially commenced on May 1^st 2020. 

The Aberdeen-based consortium PBS composed of Ponticelli, Brand Energy & Infrastructure Services and Semco Maritime, formed in 2019 and led by Ponticelli, brings a wealth of knowledge, North Sea and global experience and expertise to TEPUK.

Following an intensive three-month transition period, PBS have successfully and safely transferred over 650 existing employees under TUPE to either Ponticelli, Brand or Semco, as well as recruited for over 50 new roles within PBS.

Throughout this transition, PBS have worked with TEPUK and incumbent contractors to ensure that processes and systems are seamlessly put in place while maintaining safe and reliable operations. All structural organisational changes, onshore Asset Focal Points and GMOC Site Representatives are in place, and the PBS UK head office has been opened in Westhill, Aberdeenshire.

PBS were awarded the contract by TEPUK due to their innovative approach. Consolidating processes and systems means that they can deliver high levels of efficiency, productivity and safety along with new ideas and ways of working. This means that existing approaches that serve well can be retained, but it also provides the opportunity to share existing practices as well as explore new ideas.

Olivier Renaud, GMOC Director says, “I am delighted and so proud that we have reached this point. The PBS team has worked well with TEPUK’s teams throughout the transition phase. Our focus has always been to implement this as smoothly and as safely as possible, and although COVID-19 provided some setbacks, we have been able to react calmly and evolve with the changing situation. We are grateful to TEPUK and the incumbent contractors who have supported us throughout this process, as we successfully communicated with the workforce, answered any questions and minimised uncertainty. People and safety have, and always will be, a key priority in how we work and our approach will not change going forward. Our working model now provides us with a huge opportunity that doesn’t come along often to try something different and we encourage everyone to get involved.”

Under the terms of the five-year contract, PBS will manage asset integrity, maintenance and reliability, fabric maintenance, shutdowns and modification projects for all TEPUK operated assets, which currently produce circa 340 000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. PBS are now in the implementation phase which will focus on behaviours and new ways of working – both towards TEPUK and PBS’s aligned targets through a simplified operating model.