Research for the Infield Offshore Energy Database was started in 1985 by management consultants Hollobone Hibbert & Associates to support their own consultancy work in the offshore oil and gas, marine and diving industries. During 1986 a formal database structure was created in the DOS based programme DataEase and work began on populating each data set for the North Sea. Even then the database took a scientific approach to understanding each project and all components that constitute a field development were listed individually, cross-referenced and interrelated within separate data sets. This component by component – or “bottom up” approach to research is still practiced today and is the fundamental basis for all of Infield Systems' forecasts and market modelling.
Work started on researching the worldwide database in 1987, however at that time it was anticipated that research and compilation of the information for pre-1980 developments in the US Gulf of Mexico would be not required. However it became clear that in order to tie in post-1980 developments and new discoveries to the existing infrastructure, the complete history for the Gulf of Mexico would have to be researched because of the wellhead to shore research methodology. This was the fundamental basis for the 2010 edition of the Gulf of Mexico Oil & Gas Infrastructure & Integrity Map that simply showed how all of the new deepwater discoveries were going to be tied back into an aging infrastructure.
The Infield Offshore Energy Database was launched at a conference held at the Energy Institute (formally the Institute of Petroleum) in 1989. In 1990 the first publication of Infield Offshore Energy Datababase data was released, The World Offshore Oil & Gas Field Prospect To 1995", which listed all future field, platform, pipeline and subsea completion projects.
In 1991 Hollobone Hibbert & Associates decided to go into voluntary receivership and the database and its commercial rights were purchased in a management buyout. Infield Systems Limited was incorporated in April 1991, with three initial investors, including the late Raymond Whitfield, as directors of the company. The next few years saw work continue on developing the worldwide database, establishing Infield as a brand name in the market place and building up a solid client base. In 1992 the second edition of the "The World Offshore Oil & Gas Field Prospect To 1997" was published in collaboration with McMillan Publishing. As the publication was becoming so large the following year it was split into regional "Directories of Future Offshore Field Developments". These were published annually until 1996 when the market began to demand electronically-based information.
The infield.com website was launched in 1995 to promote and market Infield Systems on the World Wide Web. During the "Dot Com Boom" Infield received countless solicitations for collaboration from organisations developing information "web portals", all of which no longer exist. Infield Systems' philosophy for the Internet has always been that it is part of its marketing mix strategy.
Offshore Europe 1995 was the first exhibition in which Infield Systems participated. Since then Infield Systems has participated in over 60 exhibitions and its analysts have presented papers and delivered keynote speeches to many conferences all over the world.
The first Microsoft Access based web front end was developed in 1997 to help clients search, query and export data from the Offshore Energy Database that were made available by subscription. This was system further enhanced in 1999 when work began on developing InfieldOnline, where clients could run searches and download data sets directly from the Internet. InfieldOnline was launched in 2000 and ran with 99.99% "up-time" until it was replaced with InfieldLive in 2008.
A second management buyout in 2000 saw Infield Systems Limited become a wholly owned family business.
Over the period 1999 through to 2003 Infield collaborated with a management consultancy to produce various published reports covering the deepwater, floating production, subsea, pipeline and control line market sectors. The forecast element of these reports was derived directly from the Infield Offshore Energy Database. By 2002 it became apparent that a much more robust, consistent and transparent modelling process for the market was required so Infield Systems decided to develop its own consultancy and analysis business. The Analytical Services team was formed in 2003 and its remit was to develop a better forecasting process that would satisfy the exacting and growing requirements of the industry and incorporating market drivers, supply constraints and scenarios within the market models. In 2004 the OFFPEX Market Modelling and Forecasting System was developed. Based on the Offshore Energy Database it consequently had the bottom up component by component approach to the market. The OFFPEX modelling process is consistent and transparent in terms of the processes and assumptions used. In 2008 OFFPEX was transferred to SQL, where it is constantly developed, reviewed and improved. OFFPEX is published quarterly.
December 2004 saw the publication of Infield Systems' first market report - The Global Perspectives Deep & Ultra-deepwater Market Update, which was designed to provide a detailed forecast by region and by sector. This report was followed by market forecast reports on subsea, floating production, pipelines and control lines and an industry first; the fixed platform market. Since then other titles covering different sectors of the vessels, LNG and renewables market have been added to the publications list.
As part of the OFFPEX development, work started in 2005 on developing the Specialist Vessels Database to help the Analytical Services team understand the fundamentals of the supply constraints in the vessels market and the effect of this on project development, delays and costs. Since then Infield Systems has added the Vessel Activity Log that tracks the contracts for each vessel, a complete capabilities database for construction and fabrication yards and a database of offshore drilling rigs. In 2010 offshore wind was added to Infield Systems' suite of databases, so an assessment of the competition between this sector and the offshore oil and gas installation and construction market could be assessed and included in supply and demand market models.
The Match & Track product was launched in 2006 and was designed to take the OFFPEX forecast and match that to the client's own business and strategy. The first client was one of the industry's major contractors and since then Infield Systems has established many ongoing contracts with other companies.
In addition to the publication work, since 2002 Infield Systems has been commissioned on over 780 business advisory and transaction support studies covering all aspects of the offshore oil and gas and associated marine industries and produced annual market reports on a growing list of subject areas. In the past 12 months alone these services and reports have been sold worldwide to 39 countries.
Work on the Offshore EnergyGateway, Infield Systems' online GIS and mapping system, started in June 2007. The concept from the start was to create a mapping portal for all Infield Systems' research that was available online through any internet web browser. The service was launched in 2008 and in 2010 the system was runner up in the UK ESRI GIS Innovation Awards. Furthermore, in 2008 the system was also a finalist at the Offshore Northern Seas Innovation Awards. As part of the development of the EnergyGateway, InfieldOnline was replaced with InfieldLive to mange client accounts and online data subscriptions. InfieldLive’s simple premise is to provide access to the latest published version of the Offshore Energy Database, where over 200 annual releases of the database are made each year. The service has comprehensive searching and downloading capabilities and is a portal for clients to download all publications and to access online reports and bespoke studies.
In early 2010 a restructuring and complete strategy review of the company took place with the appointment of business managers to head up research, market modelling, business strategy and analysis and transaction services departments. This structural change created a very dynamic team that can react quickly to client requests, identify new opportunities and products and services and to develop a deeper and more fundamental understanding of Infield's core industry sectors.
As part of this structural review of the business an office in Aberdeen was opened to serve the local market as well as to gather local research and intelligence.
For further background information on the history of Infield please contact Quentin Whitfield.
This history page was last reviewed on 19 August 2010 and will be updated from time to time.