Cyberhawk Innovations, the world leader in aerial inspection and survey using UAVs, has been awarded the Business Innovation and Efficiency SME accolade at the 10th Oil and Gas UK awards.

Over 450 energy industry professionals attended the ceremony, held annually at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC), to celebrate the achievements of companies and individuals working within the UK oil and gas sector.

The award, which recognises enterprises delivering improved performance though innovation and efficiency initiatives, was presented to Cyberhawk after judges recognised its pioneering UAV inspection solution for the internal inspection of tanks and confined spaces in the oil and gas industry.

Cyberhawk has been using UAV technology to conduct close up inspections of live and difficult to reach structures since 2008. The company’s track record proves that this technique dramatically reduces safety risks, can incur savings into seven figures and is at least 2-4 times faster than traditional inspection methods.

Last year, Cyberhawk carried out the world’s first inspection of an internal storage tank on board a Maersk FPSO in the UKCS, successfully launching a new service to the global oil and gas and shipping industry.

Chris Fleming, CEO at Cyberhawk, said: 'The whole team is honoured to have won this award and it is testament to our skill and determination to take an idea and develop an entirely new market from it. Our list of world firsts increases every year and it was because of our innovative technology that Maersk was able to undertake a quick and safe audit of the tank, dramatically reducing the human risk factors while enabling the team to identify a more efficient plan for future inspections

'Never before had UAVs been flown into confined spaces in the oil and gas industry – we broke this mould. '