Aurora buys Encomora and pledges to invest – Daily Business

Aurora Energy Services has acquired Encomara, a specialist in floating wind deployment systems and subsea engineering, and will make a significant investment in the business.

In particular it will support the roll-out of its flagship mooring connection technology.

Encomara’s UK-based team will relocate to Aurora House in Dyce, Aberdeen, maintaining its brand and product identity while benefiting from Aurora’s global infrastructure and client network.

Its consultancy business, which offers specialist advice on floating wind, mooring systems, and subsea field development, will continue to operate as normal but now has access to greater scale, resource and reach.

Aurora, established in 2022, now operates across 11 international bases in the UK, United States, Australia and Chile.

The integration of Encomara’s leadership team into Aurora is also central to the acquisition. Executive chairman Ian Donald and CEO Raymond Semple will join Aurora’s board and executive leadership team, with Mr Semple assuming the role of chief operating officer, based at Aurora’s Houston office.. Ecomara’s chief technology officer, Malcolm Bowie, will continue in the same role in Aurora.

Aurora COO, Tom Smith, will take on a new role as regional director for EAME (Europe Africa and Middle East) to harness growing market opportunities and will continue as a member of the executive board.

Mr Donald has more than 40 years of offshore subsea field development experience and held senior roles at Venture, Apache and Neptune.

He also founded Enpro Subsea and DES Operations, both acquired after successful global commercialisation of patented technology.

Mr Semple, formerly COO of Technip North America and Brazil, and most recently head of Baker Hughes’ Subsea Production Systems business, brings three decades of operational and project delivery expertise across deepwater basins worldwide.

Mr Donald said: “Aurora’s ambition and capability give Encomara the ideal platform to accelerate our roadmap and bring the SQUID system to more markets, more quickly. Together, we can industrialise floating wind deployment while staying focused on innovation, safety, and engineering quality.”

Ian Cobban, a co-founder of Encomara, added: “I’m very excited to see the Aurora and Encomara teams move to commercialise the SQUID system, which will become a key part of the new Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW) delivery model.”

This acquisition reinforces Aurora’s strategy to support the energy transition through investment in enabling technologies that support Net Zero goals and experienced leadership, and it supports the delivery of integrated offshore solutions across its international portfolio.