The team at Longitude shares the passion, vision and values for working in energy and the world’s oceans – delivering design and engineering solutions to de-risk and drive sustainability in oil & gas, maritime and renewable energy.

Our work is underpinned by our values of collaboration, safety, technical excellence, innovation, and seeking the truth in everything that we do. You know Longitude, but do you know our team?

• Name: Stewart Brown
• Role: Head of Process Engineering
• Location: Dundee, UK
• Favourite Film: It’s a Wonderful Life 

Can you give us a glimpse into your day-to-day at Longitude?

No two days are the same. Our Process Engineering team is spread across different countries doing different work for clients all with individual needs.

One day I could speaking at a Process Safety Fundamentals conference in Egypt, the next doing an audit offshore. Some days are spent working with our graduate in Dundee. I also work closely with other departments in Longitude or with other business units – such as the asset integrity team (AIM) at our sister company, ABL – the energy and marine consultancy branch of ABL Group.

It’s always interesting working with different people across the business and the World.

What inspired you to join your profession?

Like many engineers in the oil industry I presume, I always enjoyed maths, physics and chemistry at school. This lead me to study chemical engineering at the University of Aberdeen. Graduating in 2012 to be honest I basically fell into the industry – the job opportunities at that time were impossible to ignore with people moving from all over the country to join an Aberdeen based graduate scheme.

There I enjoyed working with different clients, in various offices before doing an offshore rotation for a number of years before ending up at an Operator for another few years. During COVID we decided to move away from Aberdeen and I had a go at bringing my Oil and Gas Process and Process Safety skillset into the whisky industry, before joining ABL Group and Longitude in September 2024.

I enjoy helping clients around the globe to benefit from the strong grounding in process and process safety that I have received working in the UK oil and gas industry.

Tell us about something exciting that you are working on.

We are working with a client in the middle east looking at converting a VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) into a Floating Storage Offload vessel. This is slightly different to normal as the client is effectively “planning” for an emergency deployment which means they want as minimal modifications done as possible, whilst still being able to meet the production targets. It means we have to really understand what little equipment they need to ensure safe and reliable operations.

In our current offshore landscape, what role does process safety play?

Process safety still underpins absolutely everything we do offshore — even more so in a market where budgets are tight.

In the UK, the commercial pressure is real: mature assets, reduced investment, and a drive to “do more with less” can sometimes tempt organisations to focus on short‑term cost over long‑term risk. But the reality is that process safety isn’t optional — it’s the foundation that keeps people safe, protects ageing infrastructure, and prevents the kind of major accident hazards highlighted across decades of industry learning, where lapses in barriers, operating discipline, and management of change have been recurring factors.

Globally, however, we’re seeing the opposite trend: a growing understanding that strong process safety performance is inseparable from reliable production, regulatory confidence, and social license to operate. Regions outside the UK — especially in Asia Pacific and the Middle East — are investing more consistently in structured Process Safety Management frameworks, barrier assurance, competence development, and proactive risk management.

Around the world the message is clearer than ever: process safety is not a “nice to have,” it’s the backbone of offshore energy, and every successful operation — from late‑life assets to new developments is built on it.

Outside of the office, what makes you tick?

Beyond playing sport and being outside, I also enjoy going to the football or rugby and am hoping to get some World Cup tickets to watch Scotland and the World Cups over the next couple of years.

Find out more about Process Engineering and Process Safety with Stewart at EGYPES 2026.