About OceanBlocks®
OceanBlocks is led by its executive team, which takes the gate decisions described in Our Approach.
Our approach
Our development approach connects energy technology, industrial resources and commercial project development. It considers how an opportunity could progress through assessment, feasibility, customer alignment and appropriately structured partnerships. The scope, delivery entity and conditions for each engagement are agreed before work begins.
How the approach worksThe company
OceanBlocks is an energy and resource infrastructure development enterprise. We connect engineering assessment, resource systems, technology integration and commercial project development to evaluate infrastructure opportunities. Our work is structured around evidence, decision gates and disciplined deployment rather than a predetermined technology.
OceanBlocks® is headquartered in ADGM, Abu Dhabi.
OceanBlocks’ earlier work in environmental measurement, carbon accounting and resource management informs its present focus on industrial energy and resource infrastructure. The business applies that experience to resource traceability, environmental performance and evidence-based project assessment while developing its broader infrastructure capabilities.
People
OceanBlocks brings strategy and engineering together to assess infrastructure opportunities, test assumptions and define the work required before a project advances.
Founder & CEO
Ryan Babbage is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of OceanBlocks. A strategist and entrepreneur with more than two decades of leadership experience across Australia, Asia and the Middle East, he leads the company’s strategy, commercial development and relationships with prospective clients, partners and capital providers. His work focuses on connecting industrial needs with credible project pathways and the evidence required to support investment decisions.
Chief Communications Officer
Samantha Jewel leads communications at OceanBlocks and divides her time between Australia and Abu Dhabi. Her 27 years in agriculture and soil carbon, including founding the soil advisory service Urth and writing Carbon Is Not a Dirty Word, shaped a lasting commitment to practical climate solutions. That commitment drew her to clean energy and to OceanBlocks, where she works closely with Ryan on the company’s partnerships, reputation and stakeholder relationships.
Chief Engineer
Ignatius Verbeek is an engineer with deep expertise in chemical, process and environmental engineering and in fuel cell technology. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in mechanical and environmental engineering from the University of Newcastle and began his career with BHP Engineering and BHP Research. Over three decades he has pioneered new approaches in clean energy, and that work brought him to OceanBlocks, where he leads engineering assessment and technical development.
Chief Sustainability Officer
Phil Taphouse brings more than three decades of experience in finance transformation, enterprise planning, and finance systems and data. Since joining OceanBlocks, he has focused on making sustainability claims credible and auditable across energy and maritime supply chains, giving investors and partners confidence in the data behind each project.
Chief Financial Officer
Dr Jeff Chamberlain is a CPA whose career has followed how technology transforms enterprises and economies. His PhD research and work as Deputy Director of the MBA program at Deakin Business School focus on how strategy, process and technology combine to drive change, building on nearly two decades leading digital transformation at the Australian Taxation Office. At OceanBlocks he applies that thinking to the energy transition, structuring the capital and financial discipline that turn clean-energy projects into investable opportunities. He also serves as a Director of the Eastern Innovation Business Centre, where he worked alongside Ryan on strategy.
Chief Technical Officer
Joe Wu is a systems and solutions architect and full-stack developer who connects high-level technology needs with practical implementation. Recognising that every industry ultimately runs on energy, he joined OceanBlocks to be part of something bigger, applying his technical abilities to help build the business for a new age of technology, with a focus on data quality and verifiability.
Governance
OceanBlocks uses a stage-gated project review process. Proposed developments are evaluated against technical feasibility, resource and site evidence, preliminary economics, counterparties, regulatory requirements, financing and delivery risks. Decisions and outstanding conditions are documented to support accountability and disciplined capital allocation.
Next step
We review each enquiry and respond when we have enough information to identify an appropriate next step.
