Oslo-listed energy, marine, and engineering consultancy ABL Group has enlarged its capabilities in the engineering and design segments of the maritime and offshore energy landscape by bringing Proper Marine, a Brazil-based naval architecture and engineering consultancy, into its fold, which enables the latter to merge with the Norwegian company’s design and engineering arm known as Longitude.
ABL has confirmed the completion of the acquisition of Proper Marine, which was first announced on December 5, 2024, to expand the Norwegian firm’s technical center of excellence in design and engineering for maritime and offshore energy construction and operations by boosting its design and engineering capabilities with a team of over 90 professionals and a track record encompassing more than 1,600 projects.
Aside from these benefits, the company has highlighted the expected strengthening of its offering in both Brazil and the wider Americas within vessel design and conversion, asset integrity management and life extension, and marine and energy operations engineering, thanks to the portfolio enlargement.
Jake Anderson , Managing Director of Longitude, commented: “We are delighted to formally welcome the Proper Marine team into Longitude and the joining of forces between two like-minded design houses. We are confident that our joint offering will benefit both current and potential new clients in both the Americas and elsewhere around the world.”
Furthermore, Proper Marine is also said to bring significant expertise in floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels, enhancing the Norwegian company’s overall capabilities in this segment. On the other hand, Proper Marine will reap the rewards of being part of Longitude, as this will support the firm in transitioning some of its expertise to support renewable energy and energy transition design and engineering.
Bernardo Xavier , Operations Director of Proper Marine, remarked: “This is the first day of the next chapter in Proper Marine’s proud history – to take Brazilian engineering excellence to the world. Becoming part of Longitude not only strengthens our overall capability to support more clients and in more sectors, but opens great opportunity for our colleagues to take our expertise global.”
ABL is active in the Brazilian energy market, which enabled it to land a tow master gig to support and supervise the towage of an FPSO vessel from Yantai, China, to Brazilian waters, where it began working on the third largest oil field in the Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil.
Recently, the Norwegian player set up shop in New Zealand, where its offering will entail the full range of energy and marine consultancy services, focusing on marine surveying and consulting to support the country’s maritime industries.