Consultant buys oil and gas specialist to aid international expansion plans in subsea engineering

Atkins, the engineering and design consultant, has expanded in the oil and gas sector after a £3.8m acquisition in the UK.

Atkins has bought Boreas Consultants, which specialises in the subsea engineering of oil and gas facilities and employs 35 people in Aberdeen, Cranfield, Newcastle and Weybridge.

Boreas will be integrated within Atkins’ existing oil and gas business, increasing the overall number of staff in the division to around 280 people.

Martin Grant, managing director of Atkins’ oil and gas business, said that Boreas would “play a vital part in broadening our technology footprint and in aiding our international expansion plans.”

He added: “In the coming years an increasing proportion of oil industry spend will relate to subsea facilities.”

The acquisition of Boreas is consistent with Atkins’ strategy of expansion in the sector, after it bought MSL Engineering in March last year. MSL specialises in integrity management with bases in Surrey and in Houston, Texas.