ABL: 5 Years in Energy and Oceans
Celebrating Five Years of Growth, Innovation, and Client Success
At ABL, our mission remains clear: to help clients globally to de-risk their projects and assets, and drive sustainability across energy and oceans.
Five years ago, AqualisBraemar’s acquisition of London Offshore Consultants (LOC Group) created a leading global independent offshore energy and marine consultancy. Since then, ABL has continued to grow in scale, expanded to 44 countries, and delivered on our founding promise: to be the trusted partner for clients navigating complex energy and marine challenges around the world.
Consolidation for a Stronger Future
On December 22, 2020, AqualisBraemar and LOC Group joined forces, with a combined team of 880 employees across 39 countries, and with a bold vision:
- To create a consolidated global consultancy with increased scale and a wider geographical footprint, to better support even more clients in energy and oceans
- To synergise complementary technical offerings and expand our service portfolio
- To support the growing demand for energy transition technologies and sustainability
- To blend market-leading expertise in rig operations, marine warranty survey, and maritime services
- To combine legacies in energy and oceans, dating back to 1856 (AqualisBraemar) and 1979 (LOC Group)
What our Leaders Say
“Bringing AqualisBraemar and LOC together was about consolidating two leading market players, doubling our combined size and enhancing our global footprint, with a vision to reach even more clients around the world. Together, we shared a commitment to de-risk operations and drive efficiencies on behalf of our clients, rooted in the expert loss prevention, loss management and OPEX services that we can offer as ABL. And we have continued with this commitment – entering new countries including Namibia, Romania, Saudi Arabia and Panama – whilst bringing in new companies that both further consolidate and diversify our technical offering.”
Reuben Segal, Group Chief Growth Officer, Co-Founder of ABL and former ABL Group CEO
“From the very beginning this was a successful partnership on account of how complementary both companies were to each other. It’s brought us even closer to more clients across renewables, oil & gas and maritime – as well as the rapidly growing sustainability and energy transition space. It’s given us the foundations to keep growing to the benefit of our clients – bringing in new services to ensure we are a single-source provider to support projects through-life. And it has brought countless benefits to our colleagues with more opportunity for learning and development, travel and technical growth. Here’s to the next 5 years and indeed the next 50!”
RV Ahilan, Chief Energy Transition Officer and former CEO of LOC
Five Years of Milestones
In just five years, ABL has:
- Further grown in scale and enhanced its global footprint to 44 countries
- Entered new markets in response to our client needs
- Diversified our technical offering through strategic acquisitions
- Supported more clients than ever before, across renewables, oil & gas, maritime, and energy transition
Here are just a few of our key milestones along the way:
AqualisBraemar LOC is formed, creating a powerhouse in energy and marine consultancy.
Acquisition of East Point Geo, strengthening our geoscience and renewables expertise.
Full integration into one unified team.
Reuben Segal becomes CEO, driving growth and innovation.
Acquisition of OSD-IMT, expanding our ship design and engineering capabilities.
Sale of Loss Adjusting business to focus on core Marine Warranty Survey services.
Acquisition of Add Energy, diversifying into Asset Integrity Management and well management.
ABL becomes a separate brand within ABL Group, with Ben Lazenby as CEO and Reuben Segal as ABL Group CEO.
Expansion into Romania, supporting Black Sea projects.
Acquisition of Hidromod, adding water management and metocean expertise.
Australasia expansion to New Zealand.
African operations expansion to Namibia.
ABL’s Unique Advantage: What sets us apart?
Our ability to offer clients a single-source solution, leveraging global reach and multidisciplinary expertise to support projects from inception to operations to decommissioning – no matter where in the world they operate.
Our global presence means we are based in every major maritime and offshore energy hub, with a promise to expand to where are most needed. This ensures we continue to provide a global offering via local market expertise.
Lastly, ABL brings together the unique legacies and rich history of:
- The Salvage Association – the world’s 1st marine survey company dating back to 1856 -incorporated in BMT Marine and Offshore Surveys Limited, later acquired by Braemar
- LOC Group – bringing a legacy in maritime services and offshore energy transportation and installation (T&I) since 1979
- Aqualis – a legacy since 2012 in T&I and rig operations
As we celebrate our fifth anniversary, we remain committed to supporting our clients’ ambitions and driving positive change in the industry. With historic legacies, a growing team, and an unwavering focus on sustainability and innovation, we look forward to the next five years – and beyond.
🎉 Here’s to our clients, our colleagues, and the future of energy and oceans. 🎉
Find out more about ABL at 5!
Get in touch with an ABL team near you, to learn more about our services and how we can support your next project in energy and oceans: