PhysE Receives Queen's Award for Enterprise

PhysE Limited provides meteorological and oceanographic design criteria for offshore installations. Since its launch in 2002, PhysE has continuously developed software to provide fast, accurate and economical analyses to offshore oil, gas and wind energy companies. After seven years of steady and robust growth the PhysE team was thrilled to learn that they had received a Queen's Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category.

Offshore structures, such as oil rigs, have to withstand potentially destructive forces caused by strong winds, big waves and currents. Tides, surges and the crests of extreme waves also determine the height at which platform decks are set during initial design. Because fabrication costs are high, accurate design criteria, which minimise costs without compromising safety, are important. PhysE specialises in the complex calculations necessary to convert raw data from field instruments into criteria which engineers can use to decide how tall and strong a structure must be.

Nigel Bellamy, founder and Director of PhysE said, "It is such an honour that our little company has been indentified as one worthy of this prestigious award. Remember, it is an award to the company; none of us could have achieved this as individuals. It's all down to teamwork and I am very proud of the PhysE team."

PhysE (pronounced 'Fizzy') is short for Physical Environment. Platforms, pipelines and wind farms all need of design criteria. PhysE also inspects, checks and approves meteorological and oceanographic data that are continually streaming in from some 25 North Sea platforms operated by the UK's principal oil and gas production companies.

"We will do justice to this award," said Bellamy."I think it is fair to say we have been fairly 'low profile' in the past. We will build on this award to become the first port of call for any company that cares about the environment, both the effect they have on it and the effect it has on their business."

With the environment at the heart of its business, PhysE chooses its office locations with care. The head office in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, is surrounded on three sides by water; ideal for oceanographers! A second office, which serves the North Sea oil and gas companies of Aberdeen, is in Banchory, just a short drive from the mountains and rivers of central Scotland.