diff --git a/packages/embark-utils/src/index.js b/packages/embark-utils/src/index.js
index 703717cf6..05d8c3066 100644
--- a/packages/embark-utils/src/index.js
+++ b/packages/embark-utils/src/index.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import * as AddressUtils from './addressUtils';
 import {
   getWeiBalanceFromString,
   getHexBalanceFromString,
+  hexToNumber,
   decodeParams,
   sha3,
   isHex,
@@ -200,6 +201,7 @@ const Utils = {
   checkIsAvailable,
   findNextPort,
   hashTo32ByteHexString,
+  hexToNumber,
   isHex,
   last,
   soliditySha3,
diff --git a/packages/embark-utils/src/web3Utils.ts b/packages/embark-utils/src/web3Utils.ts
index 1891a948b..69feed120 100644
--- a/packages/embark-utils/src/web3Utils.ts
+++ b/packages/embark-utils/src/web3Utils.ts
@@ -55,3 +55,7 @@ export function soliditySha3(arg: any) {
 export function toChecksumAddress(address: any) {
   return web3.utils.toChecksumAddress(address);
 }
+
+export function hexToNumber(hex: string) {
+  return web3.utils.hexToNumber(hex);
+}
diff --git a/packages/embark/src/lib/modules/console_listener/index.js b/packages/embark/src/lib/modules/console_listener/index.js
index e3ffc062d..1da47ad57 100644
--- a/packages/embark/src/lib/modules/console_listener/index.js
+++ b/packages/embark/src/lib/modules/console_listener/index.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 const async = require('async');
-const utils = require('../../utils/utils.js');
-import { getAddressToContract, getTransactionParams } from 'embark-utils';
+import { getAddressToContract, getTransactionParams, hexToNumber } from 'embark-utils';
 
 class ConsoleListener {
   constructor(embark, options) {
@@ -108,8 +107,8 @@ class ConsoleListener {
     }
 
     let {transactionHash, blockNumber, gasUsed, status} = request;
-    gasUsed = utils.hexToNumber(gasUsed);
-    blockNumber = utils.hexToNumber(blockNumber);
+    gasUsed = hexToNumber(gasUsed);
+    blockNumber = hexToNumber(blockNumber);
     const log = Object.assign({}, request, {name, functionName, paramString, gasUsed, blockNumber});
 
     this.events.emit('contracts:log', log);
diff --git a/packages/embark/src/lib/utils/utils.js b/packages/embark/src/lib/utils/utils.js
index 7f339db34..f3e7fd9a2 100644
--- a/packages/embark/src/lib/utils/utils.js
+++ b/packages/embark/src/lib/utils/utils.js
@@ -261,11 +261,6 @@ function getExternalContractUrl(file,providerUrl) {
   };
 }
 
-function hexToNumber(hex) {
-  const Web3 = require('web3');
-  return Web3.utils.hexToNumber(hex);
-}
-
 function isValidDomain(v) {
   // from: https://github.com/miguelmota/is-valid-domain
   if (typeof v !== 'string') return false;
@@ -431,7 +426,6 @@ module.exports = {
   httpGetJson,
   httpsGetJson,
   getJson,
-  hexToNumber,
   isValidDomain,
   pingEndpoint,
   cd,