Capabilities

io applies domain expertise to enable clean technology solutions at pace with certainty.

Aligned with io’s mission to support the development of new and different approaches to shape and accelerate the energy transition for affordable, reliable and cleaner energy for all, and drawing on the extensive experience of our multidisciplinary team throughout the project development lifecycle, io partners with start-ups, technology and project developers, owner operators and investors to de-risk and enable scale, commercialisation and development of new energy projects.

io specialises in creating value throughout the FEL stages and then protecting that value throughout the subsequent execution phases. Our services include independent technology validation, process optimisation, bankable feasibility studies, PreFEED, FEED and basic engineering, owner’s engineer and due diligence.

io’s track record includes supporting startups seeking seed and series A funding to sovereign wealth funds assessing multibillion dollar investments; project developments that we have supported include compressed air energy storage, waste heat energy storage, multi gigawatt green & blue hydrogen, green ammonia, sustainable aviation fuel and CCUS. Outcome focussed, our offerings are always phase appropriate and provide maximum value to our clients.

We help our clients to shape and act upon business critical decisions that aim to drive transformational growth, across both energy investment strategy and transaction due diligence. Our real-world energy and chemical industry experience, deep knowledge of architecting complex energy projects and structured approach to decision analysis enables us to provide our clients with practical and expert-informed advisory services for investing in and growing your business.

We work with corporates, investors and lenders to identify potential investment red flags, reduce investment risks and plan for navigating roadblocks. We undertake buy-/sell- side integrated technical, commercial, operational, regulatory and environmental and social due diligence across energy, chemicals and decarbonisation. Our comprehensive strategy advisory services span technology commercialisation, technology screening, readiness reviews, market assessments, project planning and project delivery.

In conjunction with our parent companies, alliance partners and associate network, our expert advisors look beyond ‘answering the exam question’. We work hard to understand your strategic value drivers, objectives and risk-reward appetite so as to ensure clarity and confidence in your business decisions.

At io we hunt for value within a business opportunity, and determine technical feasibility and commercial viability.

io is best described as a project architect, a role that is fundamental to the early stages of business opportunity realisation. We use our traditional and new energy domain expertise, systems thinking and decision quality to bring innovation, discipline and an exploratory mindset to the early-stage search for business value.

An integrated approach ensures that our multi-disciplinary knowledge is deployed efficiently to rapidly understand the data, define the opportunity frame and identify the decisions, uncertainties and value drivers that characterise the business opportunity. By ensuring these aspects are fully understood any subsequent technical or commercial investigations and studies are truly focused on the key issues and can be executed in a phase appropriate and cost-effective manner.

We have learned from our experience of hunting value with our clients that our philosophy of working with the ‘end in mind’ unlocks business opportunities. Our preference on ‘outcomes over process’ and ‘insights over deliverables’ allows us to skilfully manage the complex front-end, with its inherent ambiguity, gaining insight on the potential solutions and to establish feasible alternatives that are aligned with the business objectives.

io’s proven approach is founded on Decision Quality (DQ), agile practices and regular decision dialogue with our clients.

Success in Front End Loading (FEL) 2 is that the correct project is selected and that it is defined sufficiently to ensure the project is subsequently executed successfully. Failure to achieve either of these aims inevitably materialises in a failure to meet the desired business objectives. FEL2 is critical to successfully fulfilling a business opportunity.

At io we delineate FEL 2 into two discrete steps Concept Select and Concept Definition (PreFEED), aligned with the objective of ‘right project’ and ‘project right’ respectively. During Concept Select we apply decision quality as the framework against which we generate the technical definition necessary to evaluate the key project decisions against the selection criteria and ultimately decide on the development concept that best delivers the desired business objectives.

Of course, decision making is rarely straightforward. The underlying data, outcomes and the future business context are uncertain and once combined with the different perspectives of multiple stakeholders’ proceedings become complicated, requiring careful consideration. Our approach navigates this complexity by engaging in a decision dialogue with our client that builds consensus and commitment to action through regular and timely sharing of techno-economic study outcomes and the associated decision analysis.

We foster an integrated and transparent approach, engaging clients throughout the process to deliver tailored, best-in-class solutions. This is achieved through our agile methods, grounded in Decision Quality (DQ) principles.

Success in FEL 2 means selecting the right project and defining it well enough to ensure successful execution. Failing in either risks not meeting business goals. At io, we break FEL 2 into two stages: Concept Select, focused on choosing the right project, and Concept Definition (PreFEED), aligned with the objective of ‘right project’ and ‘project right’ respectively..

We view the Concept Definition (PreFEED) step as an opportunity to optimise the project scope and setup the project for success in FEED (FEL 3) and beyond. The technical depth of the Concept Definition activities are shaped by the contracting strategy and we believe that working with our clients to understand their contracting requirements, their project management capability and the market trends is key to appreciating the trade-off between alternative contracting strategies. Collaboration with the client is necessary to select a preferred contracting approach that delivers a tolerable project cost and risk profile.

With the preferred contracting strategy in hand concept optimisation activities are executed to address high risk aspects and ‘bake in’ project value improvements whilst leaving room for further optimisation in FEL 3. These activities are executed by our experienced multi-discipline teams who embed our parent company execution expertise, further improving project readiness and safeguarding the transition to FEL 3 and FID.

Our Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) approach is a pivotal component of all capital project developments. It encompasses the completion of basic engineering across all disciplines, leading to the development of cost and schedule estimates of appropriate accuracy, sets the foundation for project execution planning, enables the launch of the Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) phase tender in line with the desired contracting strategy and ultimately supports Final Investment Decision (FID) leading to project sanction.

FEED involves a rapid expansion of the project team across multiple technical disciplines and the commencement of numerous concurrent tasks. We understand the legacy requirements of some clients’ Capital Value Processes (CVP) and can provide a more traditional and detailed FEED with prescriptive deliverables when required. We have a proven track record of delivering such projects successfully. For example, our largest FEED project developed over 2,100 deliverables across multiple disciplines, including detailed development of five EPC ITT packages covering both technical and contractual aspects in close collaboration with the client.

For developers seeking a more rapid route, especially in the context of energy transition projects, we offer a flexible and objective oriented FEED approach. This approach is better suited to smaller scale, replicable and highly cost-competitive low carbon projects.

Our FEED approach combines the best practices of conventional FEED methodologies with a relentless focus on value-add engineering. It is driven by outcomes rather than volume, adhering to the philosophy of ‘as simple as possible, but no simpler.’ This approach is outcome oriented rather than deliverables led, enabling a more efficient workflow, shorter delivery timelines, lower costs and greater certainty, without compromising the need for a comprehensive tender package to secure firm pricing for the execution phase and FID.

We integrate modern software packages with specialist project development engineers and experienced leadership to provide a ‘system wide’ view of the project design. Our use of database-driven and automated multidiscipline engineering tools brings the benefits of digitisation to our execution, supporting our approach. This holistic methodology helps tackle complexity, de-risk development, enable more efficient and economic delivery, and unlock further value for our clients.

We work closely with the supply chain to find better ways to execute projects, ensuring that designs are safe and constructable. By leveraging insights from our tier 1 parent companies, Baker Hughes and McDermott, we access outturn data and real time supply and demand insights. This allows us to inform our cost and schedule estimates with greater accuracy, bringing enhanced certainty to the FID and minimising execution risks. Our strong ties with these industry leaders enable us to deliver unmatched precision and efficiency in our project execution. Additionally, our deep understanding of what EPC contractors require helps us shape the FEED to be most objective and focus on the areas that matter. This ensures a successful tender and sets the basis for a minimal-risk execution for the client and the selected contractor(s).

Our experienced multidiscipline team brings a systems thinking and phase appropriate approach, combining technical, strategic and commercial frames. We shape energy projects by influencing key decisions at the earliest stages of the CVP, ensuring uninterrupted flow from resource to the point of sale. Our world class resources, modern office spaces, strong capability in Front End Loading (FEL), and owner’s mindset maximise value and chances of success. We also have inhouse capabilities for a range of specialist technical consulting capabilities, maximising speed, efficiency, and optimisation.

In summary, our FEED approach is designed to meet the evolving needs of our clients, delivering objective outcomes and leveraging our track record of success across various segments.

io, as an Owner’s Engineer, helps lay the foundation for a project, or programme, and mitigate risks by defining the scope, evaluating budgets, conducting feasibility and site selection studies, analysing technologies, and addressing permitting and environmental concerns. At io, we take this role further by safeguarding the concept’s value proposition and design intent throughout FEED and beyond.

In large, complex projects across sectors like Energy and Chemicals, and Energy Infrastructure, value often erodes due to overly optimistic forecasts and poor implementation. io ensures this doesn’t happen by deploying a value protection team that preserves or enhances the value proposition defined in the conceptual phase, altering it only with clear justification.

Our approach tackles five key causes of value loss:

1. People: Ensuring the right talent and leadership continuity with a “front end” mindset.
2. Production attainment: Mitigating unreliable forecasts due to optimistic assumptions and lack of accountability.
3. Cost & schedule growth: Providing realistic forecasts for cost and timelines, addressing data limitations.
4. Project processes: Ensuring decision-oriented processes are followed, with clear ownership.
5. Project definition: Preventing value loss by avoiding rushed business cases or poor concept selection.

During FEED, io’s owner’s engineer team supports the project by:

• Safeguarding the value proposition and design intent.
• Assisting with project integration, system engineering and interface management.
• Conducting value checks and validating design developments with feedback.
• Facilitating value-enhancing practices like project framing and risk assessment.
• Attending key project meetings and offering advisory support.
• Providing technical oversight and specialised input during FEED.

This comprehensive approach ensures that io’s clients achieve project success while minimising risks and maximising value.

io brings much-needed certainty to identifying opportunities and planning the final stages of an asset’s life cycle. With mature Oil & Gas assets across the globe often exceeding their original design life, effective late-life management is critical to ensuring safe and profitable operations.

Managing late life opportunities requires deep understanding of asset conditions and how operational requirements evolve over time. As assets age, their integrity, reliability and availability change, impacting what modifications or alternative operating modes are feasible. io’s experts analyse these shifts to determine the most viable paths forward, considering both the current state of the assets and the changing business drivers.

Late in the asset life cycle, when operating costs are high and revenues decline, bespoke brownfield modifications are often necessary. io’s specialist late life team helps clients understand the critical requirements of late life operations, developing tailored solutions to maximise the value of ageing assets before planning for retirement.

Our late life management team combines independent expertise with a proven track record of helping clients identify and capitalise on opportunities. We offer a unique blend of agile, forward-thinking consultancy and deep technical capability, supporting clients in maximising economic recovery from their assets.

When all late life opportunities have been explored, io also guides clients through asset retirement. Rather than seeing decommissioning, abandonment and restoration as the end of the road, we view it as an opportunity to unlock new value. io’s decommissioning specialists work closely with asset operators to develop cost-effective strategies and plans for safe, efficient asset retirement.

With extensive experience in decommissioning and restoration, io offers a global, multi-discipline service. Our asset retirement team operates with deep domain knowledge, providing responsive, expert solutions to ensure smooth and successful asset retirement.

We are fully committed to supporting our clients on their journey to net zero, helping them manage and reduce emissions for both existing assets and new developments across multiple sectors. Emissions reduction is the first step in understanding a company’s or facility’s emissions profile, forming the foundation for developing effective reduction strategies. This goes beyond regulatory reporting, as it focuses on analysing emissions holistically to create actionable pathways toward net zero, recognising that companies are at different stages of their journey.

Scope 1 and 2 Emissions: The first stage in emissions reduction is identifying the sources of emissions across Scopes 1, 2 and 3. Using advanced tools, io can analyse and estimate Scope 1 and 2 emissions on an hourly basis, providing detailed insights into the intensity, frequency and causes of emissions. We evaluate how equipment, such as gas turbines, boilers, compressors and pumps, is operated to identify opportunities for emissions reduction. Solutions range from near-term operational changes, like improving efficiency and addressing intermittent flaring, to mid-term equipment upgrades and long-term investments in projects like electrification, carbon capture and hydrogen conversion. Through techno-economic analysis, io develops tailored roadmaps and targets that align with different regulatory regimes and government commitments.

Fugitive emissions: while a smaller part of overall GHG emissions, are a significant source of methane, which has a much higher global warming potential over a 20-year period. Reducing methane releases is essential in combating climate change, and io advises on Leak Detection And Repair (LDAR) strategies, technologies, and compliance with OGMP2.0 and Responsibly Sourced Gas (RSG) standards.

Scope 3 emissions: which include emissions from the value chain, often make up the largest portion of an organisation’s carbon footprint. io helps clients estimate Scope 3 emissions and develop reduction strategies, which may involve technical, commercial, and strategic solutions. Given the complexity of the value chain, Scope 3 abatement often requires a strategic approach, involving alignment across the entire supply chain to achieve meaningful reductions.

We solve complex process and systems challenges, delivering optimised designs, enhanced performance and safer operations. A key capability is stakeholder framing, where we identify, analyse, and document stakeholder needs and expectations for a system or project. This critical step aligns business plans with operational capabilities, helping clients define objectives, assess impacts and develop feasible strategies that align with their goals.

Solving Complex Challenges with Systems Modelling: We understand that successful process design relies on the intricate interactions between systems. Our holistic approach to systems modelling provides a comprehensive view of these dynamics, ensuring optimal solutions. By integrating technical, economic, and operational factors, we deliver flexible models tailored to each unique system, addressing the most complex challenges with precision. io’s emerge tool offers real-time insights into project performance, costs and risks, enabling data-driven decisions and dynamic scenario analysis in rapidly changing markets.

Addressing Design Complexity through Process Modelling: In process modelling, we tackle complex challenges like the energy transition and carbon capture using advanced equations of state, ensuring accurate representation of thermodynamic behaviour for substances such as CO₂ and hydrogen. Our expertise in fluid characterisation and PVT analysis further supports robust modelling of phenomena such as hydrate formation, wax deposition and reservoir compositional gradients.

Dynamic Modelling and CFD Insights: Our dynamic modelling simulates critical operational events like startup, shutdown, and emergency scenarios, providing detailed analysis of process dynamics and equipment survivability. With expertise in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), we offer deep insights into fluid behaviour, heat transfer, and equipment optimisation, enabling targeted troubleshooting and specialised studies like explosion risk assessments.

We are committed to delivering tailored systems modelling solutions that empower clients to efficiently achieve their process design objectives while mitigating risk.

At io, we influence business decisions early in the design process, helping clients manage environmental and sustainability risks in a way that fosters balanced solutions. As the world shifts towards a lower-carbon, circular economy, companies are under increasing pressure to transition to sustainable energy sources, reduce resource consumption and minimise waste. Environmental and Sustainability (E&S) is critical in this journey, ensuring that our clients address potential impacts on both the environment and local communities throughout their project lifecycle.

Our E&S services offer a wide range of capabilities, including E&S due diligence, regulatory compliance, environmental impact assessments and social licensing. We guide clients through every stage, from lender compliance and environmental modelling to stakeholder engagement and circular economy implementation. By combining advanced data analysis, visualisation techniques, and deep technical expertise, we provide clear insights to manage E&S risks, ensuring projects meet high standards of sustainability and responsibility.

io also offers Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategic planning and advisory services to help businesses navigate the rising demands of sustainability and climate change. ESG is more than a policy—it’s an integrated framework that strengthens business resilience and creates new opportunities while reducing risk. Whether you’re starting from scratch or refining an existing strategy, io provides guidance through materiality assessments, ESG maturity assessments, and the development of sustainability strategies that align with your business goals and regulatory requirements.

We also support clients in sustainability reporting, advising on the most relevant frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, GRI and ISO 14001. With a dedicated team experienced in sustainability, branding, and communication, io ensures that your sustainability strategy is effectively communicated both internally and externally. Our goal is to help you create lasting impact, from strategy development to stakeholder engagement, paving the way for a more sustainable and responsible future.

We provide specialised flow assurance services, working alongside other disciplines to ensure a fully integrated approach to systems engineering. Our flow assurance experts bring extensive experience across the full project lifecycle, using tools like PIPESIM, OLGA, Multiflash and PVTSIM to generate insights tailored to each project phase. With a mindset of ‘starting with the end in mind,’ we assess how different concepts will operate to meet production requirements, regardless of the project stage.

Managing Flow Assurance Risks for CCUS: Our team designs technical solutions that ensure smooth Oil & Gas transport from the reservoir to the point of sale, avoiding blockages and production losses. In the early stages of project planning, we identify flow assurance risks—such as hydrate formation, wax or scale deposition, sand deposition and asphaltenes—and assess their impact on system design. For CO₂ flow assurance, particularly in Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) projects, we address unique challenges like CO₂ phase behaviour, pressure and temperature control, and the risk of hydrate formation in pipelines. We develop tailored strategies to manage these risks while optimising pipeline sizing and insulation, heating, or chemical injection to ensure safe and efficient transport.

Developing Robust Flow Assurance Strategies: As the project progresses, io focuses on developing detailed flow assurance management strategies that define how to address risks during operations. For example, a hydrate management strategy might prevent hydrate formation with insulation during normal operations, using electrical heating during shutdowns or restarts, and depressurisation as a secondary option. In CCUS projects, we simulate CO₂ transport under various operating conditions, ensuring that flow assurance strategies are viable and maintain safe CO₂ injection and storage.

Flow Assurance Solutions from Concept to Operation: During early project phases like Feasibility and Concept Selection, we use steady-state simulations to support cost estimation and evaluate different concepts for delivering hydrocarbons or CO₂. We assess pipeline sizing, insulation, and the need for artificial lift, while managing risks such as hydrates, wax, and CO₂-specific flow assurance challenges. As the project moves into FEED, we shift to transient simulations, focusing on key operational conditions like turndown, shutdown, cooldown, restart, and depressurisation. Our team has extensive experience in supporting commissioning, decommissioning, and designing specialist systems such as HIPPS and hydraulic submersible pumps, ensuring reliable performance throughout the asset’s life.

At io, our flow assurance expertise ensures that systems are designed and operated efficiently, whether managing hydrocarbon flows or addressing the complexities of CO₂ transport in CCS projects.

At io, we deliver integrated safety and risk management across all phases of a project’s life cycle. From the earliest stages, we prioritise the inclusion of safety measures to minimise potential risks and avoid costly changes later in the design process, maximising value and reducing the risk of cost or schedule impacts.

Proactive Safety Integration in Design: Our safety and risk specialists ensure a thorough understanding of how safety requirements impact design. By adopting a proactive approach, we manage safety and risk from the feasibility (FEL 1), concept selection and definition phases (FEL 2), through to FEED (FEL 3) and project execution. Early engagement not only fosters confidence among stakeholders and regulators but also promotes a culture of safety awareness, reducing the need for future modifications and encouraging inherently safer solutions.

Expertise in Safety Engineering and Risk Assessments: io provides detailed safety engineering studies and risk assessments, supporting projects with structured workshops such as HAZID, HAZOP, SIL, LOPA, BowTies and ALARP. Our experienced safety and risk professionals work closely with project teams to identify and mitigate key hazards in design. The assessments we conduct provide evidence to clients, regulators, and authorities that risks are managed to levels as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP).

Broad Sector Experience: Our safety and risk consultants bring extensive expertise across a wide range of sectors, including greenfield and brownfield projects in the Energy & Chemicals, Energy Infrastructure and Industrial Decarbonisation sectors. This cross-sector experience enables us to apply proven safety strategies to complex projects, ensuring safety and risk are managed effectively from concept through to execution.