zoomTonia Weldon, Epic International's business development manager.

Epic International, an offshore engineering company, has expanded into marine and subsea services for oil, gas and renewables.

Namely, the Great Yarmouth-based firm has appointed Tonia Weldon as its new business development manager.

Weldon, who has more than 25 years offshore industry experience, mostly in marine and subsea, should help Epic International boost its services portfolio.

Epic International’s latest expansion builds on the company’s growth last autumn when it took on well services manager Billy Robinson, made redundant when U.S. company Cameron pulled out of Great Yarmouth.

“Tonia and Billy are valuable additions to the team because they bring complementary expertise and contacts, allowing us to expand our services at what is a difficult time for everyone in the industry.

“The current situation in the industry has given us time to look at the market we operate in and investigate different opportunities - something we would not normally do if we were busy with a high oil price. It has offered us a quieter time to reflect and develop the business.

“We all know that the oil price will recover but we just don’t know when. When it does we want to put ourselves in a stronger position coming out of the recession than we were when we were going into it.”

“Tonia’s knowledge of subsea and ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) is extensive. Her knowledge of marine is impressive. What EPIC does on platforms, providing personnel to cover the skills, Tonia does on ships. Tonia’s contacts and expertise is complementary to what EPIC has a heritage of offering.

“It is in an area we have been involved in for a long time but not directly involved in. We are exploring a window of opportunity that we wouldn’t have normally looked at,” said Epic International’s managing director Dave Rowan.