Company History & Key Personnel
The company was established in the wake of severe geotechnical challenges arising from early developments on the North-West Shelf of Australia in the '80s and '90s. This involved unexpected ground conditions for the first two large manned platforms at North Rankin and Goodwyn. Each project required hundreds of millions of dollars of remedial work to fix and caused lengthy delays to production schedules, but ultimately resulted in platforms that still remain vital for the industry today. The local and global industry then fully appreciated the engineering challenges posed by the calcareous sediments around Australia, especially in relation to the extreme cyclonic weather that beset the oil and gas regions, plus their remoteness. This first resulted in the evolution of a centre of excellence at the University of Western Australia, which has gone through several iterations to become the world-renowned Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems. Central to the development of this group was Professor Mark Randolph, supported by other distinguished academics, Professors Martin Fahey and John Carter.
In order to turn academic understanding into engineering application, Advanced Geomechanics was established in 1994 to provide geotechnical engineering support to the local oil and gas industry. AG’s Managing Director from the outset, until his retirement in 2008, was Dr Mohamed Khorshid, who had worked closely with Mark Randolph during his role as Woodside Energy’s Engineering Manager.
Carl Erbrich, who initially came to Australia to assist with remedial work for the Goodwyn Platform, joined AG shortly after its formation to become the leading technical authority and ultimately became the company’s Technical Director and remains in this position today.
The longest serving member of AG is Dr Steve Neubecker, who has risen to become a Director and the Company Secretary. Dr Ian Finnie joined the company shortly after its inception, left for a while to work overseas and then returned to become a Director. Both Steve and Ian undertook PhDs under the guidance of Mark Randolph at UWA, and essentially formed the vanguard of the many UWA postgraduates that have joined AG since.
Dr Hackmet Joer was central to development of UWA’s geotechnical laboratory facilities in the '90s, before joining AG and becoming the Director in charge of testing and site investigation, amongst many other things.
Dr Phil Watson, also a postgraduate of UWA, became a Director and took up many of the roles left after the retirement of the Mohamed Khorshid as General Manager.
Now, Carl, Steve, Ian, Hackmet and Phil represent the full-time Directors in charge of day-to-day running of AG. They are supported by part-time external Directors Mark, Mohamed, Martin and John.
AG has continually responded to industry needs, first to conquer the key challenges of the initial developments, and then to reliably service the increasingly active industry using proven methods. This has resulted in AG growing to become the largest geotechnical design consultant that specialises in oil and gas developments. Since inception AG has acquired the brightest talents to meet the demands of industry and this approach has been, and still is, central to AG's success.
This foundation has well and truly established AG as the preferred geotechnical consultant in the offshore industry in Australia. In addition, AG has built a world-class reputation overseas, with its key personnel appearing on many industry panels, including those for ISO and API. This had led to an increasing involvement in consultancy work in other regions including the Southeast Asia, the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, and the Middle-East. Traditionally, this involvement has been restricted to challenging rather than routine end of the consultancy spectrum.
AG's central office is conveniently located at the end of the cafe-strip in the leafy Perth suburb of Nedlands, a short-walk from the University of Western Australia, which is next to the beautiful Matilda Bay, on the Swan River, and only short taxi-ride away from the hustle and bustle of down-town Perth. AG's state-of-the-art core-handling and storage facility is based in the light-industrial and commercial centre of Osborne Park, which is only a short trip from the city centre.