Awards recognise stellar performers

“From all of us at ITP Media Group, I would like to convey our gratitude to everyone who has been a part of the 2017 Awards programme, our judges, our sponsors and all of you present here today. We have gathered here to celebrate the energy industry’s achievements and to me all of you are winners in your own right,” commented Sen.

The jury panel for the 2017 Awards comprised six judges – Abhay Bhargava, business head – MENASA, Energy & Environment Practice, Frost & Sullivan; Angie Slavens, managing director, UniverSUL Consulting; Mustafa Ansari, analyst, Energy Research, Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation; Nizar Jichi, audit partner, Oil & Gas Practice – Lower Gulf, KPMG; Saji Sam, partner, Energy, Oliver Wyman; and Vinod Raghothamarao, director consulting, Energy Wide Perspectives, IHS Markit.

The sponsors of the Oil & Gas Middle East and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East 2017 Awards were Agility, AVEVA, DIA33, Orpic, Proserv, Thomson Reuters, and Turbine Services & Solutions.

CSR Initiative of the Year

Winner: Orpic 

The Oman Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Company (Orpic) won the ‘CSR Initiative of the Year’ award, at the Oil & Gas Middle East and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East 2017 Awards on 12 September, in Dubai, for its participation in local social projects in Oman. There was unanimity within the judging panel regarding declaring the nomination from Orpic the winner for the CSR Initiative category.

“We are all living together in this planet. So, whatever you do and wherever you operate, you have to consider your neighbourhood. Being nice to your neighbours is a prime objective of Orpic,” said Shaima Ahmed Al Aufi, manager, corporate communications services, Orpic, at backstage after receiving the trophy forher company.

Orpic contributes to and supports communities surrounding its operations through its dedicated External Relations Services. For example, Orpic has recently approved an allocation of $40mn to be invested in major educational, cultural and recreational social projects, such as Al Falaj Modern Park, Liwa Central Park, Liwa Cultural Centre, and Orpic Scholarship Programme.

“As part of the initiative, Orpic opened a CSR company that takes responsibility of the social initiative projects. Basically they come up with efforts like building parks, recreation centres, women associations, and other such facilities. Since we are now embarking on strategic growth projects, one of our commitments is to put a condition in the contracts, which we dole out, for CSR initiatives,” Al Aufi explained.

The ‘Highly Commended’ nomination in this category came from Saudi Aramco for the Local Community Programmes implemented by Aramco Gulf Operations Limited Company (AGOC).

Downstream Project of the Year

Winner: Sadara Chemical Company

Sadara Chemical Company – a joint venture between petrochemical giants Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical Company – has created a record for winning the ‘Downstream Project of the Year’ title for the second time in a row.

The sheer size and potential of the Sadara project, dubbed by the jury as being “the largest in the world” has evidently determined the success of the project at this year’s Awards.

Faisal Algurouni, vice president, human resources and industrial relations, Sadara Chemical Company, was also in agreement, saying, “I think it is the size and the complexities of the project which determined Sadara as the winner. We currently employ about 55,000 staff and contracted workers. It is a huge logistical exercise.”

Algurouni commented: “I am very honoured to receive this award for the second consecutive year for Sadara. This proves that Sadara is a game-changer. Sadara is a huge project and it comes with its complexities.”

“We have teams working diligently for the last six years to bring this project to fruition. This is the first project in the world that has been built in one phase. Now, we have commissioned all our plants, have started production, and everybody has worked hard to ensure that we get to where we are with this project,” added Algurouni.

The ‘Highly Commended’ nomination in this category came from Vopak Horizon Fujairah Limited for Project Black Pearl.

HSE Initiative of the Year

Winner: Saudi Aramco

Saudi Aramco was honoured as the winner in the HSE Initiative of the Year category at the 2017 Oil & Gas Middle East and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East Awards for its ‘Predictive Personal Protective Equipment & Worksite Supervisory System (E-Factory)’.

E-Factory was praised and appreciated by the Awards judging panel as extremely innovative and visionary. Though the system is still in its early stages, this kind of creative thinking and development is what will transform the industry for the better.

“Lots of hard work, patience, persistence and passion have gone in to developing our Predictive Personal Protective Equipment & Worksite Supervisory System. We are extremely delighted to win the 2017 HSE Initiative of the Year Award for this system,” commented Dr Samantha J Horseman, team lead, human energy management, leadership development division, M&PDD, Saudi Aramco.

 “We are witnessing sound accountability and awareness about health, safety and environment issues in the Middle East oil and gas and refining and petrochemicals industry. Our Predictive Personal Protective Equipment & Worksite Supervisory System is innovative and cutting-edge. It is the future of the industry – it will be able to predict accidents and injuries before these happen,” claimed Dr Horseman.

“Predictive Personal Protective Equipment & Worksite Supervisory System is a patent on the IP portfolio of Saudi Aramco. We are always looking for ways to maximise value creation in our Innovation Lab for which we have received great support from our company,” revealed Dr Horseman.

“Health, safety and environment is all about being accountable. Taking control of the situation through the accountability is exactly what this initiative aims at. Predictive Personal Protective Equipment & Worksite Supervisory System empowers the employees to make decisions and save their lives potentially,” remarked Dr Horseman.

Ahmed Al Hadhrami, senior media relation specialist, Orpic, silver sponsor for the 2017 Awards, presented the award on the stage.

‘Highly Commended’ for the HSE Initiative of the Year category was McDermott Operational Values (MOVs) launched by McDermott International Inc.

Logistics Service Provider of the Year

Winner: Agility

Logistics major Agility has beaten stiff competition from other key players in the midstream market to win the ‘Logistics Services Provider of the Year’ award – a category that was introduced for the Oil & Gas Middle East and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East Awards 2017.

The company was recognised for being the “largest and most experienced of all logistics company nominees – instrumental in the realisation of oil and gas projects throughout the Middle East and the world,” by one of the jury members.

Speaking about the level of competitiveness that this new category witnessed, Arun Iyer, head, QHSE, Agility, said, “From the nominations for this award category, I can say that all the companies are equally good. However, we provide a comprehensive portfolio of solutions. We do B2B, door-to-door, 3PL and 4PL services – we cover the entire spectrum of logistics services. That could be one of the reasons for us winning the award.”

Reflecting on what helps Agility continue catering to the oil and gas sector, in the current daunting financial circumstances, Iyer commented: “It is indeed a challenging environment. Oil prices are quite low. Our competitive pricing, our long-term vision, and the support from our board of directors and senior management, helps us compete with other players in the market and succeed in acquiring big projects – like in the oil and gas sector.”

“Winning an award for our work in the energy sector definitely motivates the entire Agility team. There are 22,000 employees based in 500 offices across 100 countries in the world. This award will certainly encourage Agility,” Iyer added.

“We are able to customise our offering and to control our costs, and that is how we are able to offer a competitive pricing to our customers. This helps us survive; not just survive, but also grow in this industry,” remarked Iyer.

The nomination from DIA33 for the ‘Logistics Services Provider of the Year’ category was acknowledged as the ‘Highly Commended’. “Given the age of the company, it has come a long way to reach where it is and achieve what it has. Efforts for continuous improvement of practices and staff is at the heart of their strategy,” said one of the judges about the nomination of DIA33.

Oilfield Services Company of the Year

Winner: AlMansoori Specialized Engineering

Emerging victorious in the ‘Oilfield Services Company of the Year’ category was AlMansoori Specialized Engineering. The Abu Dhabi-based company works with major NOCs and IOCs – ADNOC Group, Saudi Aramco, Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, etc. – to which it provides nearly the full breadth of oilfield services.

This category witnessed an intense contest between AlMansoori Specialized Engineering and its regional and international peers, with Weatherford Middle East and Asia coming as a close second with a ‘Highly Commended’ nomination.

AlMansoori Specialized Engineering in its nomination document stated: “There are several compelling ways to demonstrate that AlMansoori has the ability to deliver projects either based on a business commercial perspective, a technical/technology perspective or from the perspective of company reputation, but mostly on a combination of all three.”

“I feel very proud. We have won this award due to our team and our people, who continue to excel and have given us another chance to feel proud about them. Our people is what makes the difference between us and our peers in the industry. I am very proud to accept this award on behalf of our people,” said Ibrahim Al-Alawi, deputy CEO, AlMansoori Specialized Engineering, at backstage after claiming the trophy for his company.

It is indeed a daunting time to do business as an oilfield services company, and every company has been harshly impacted by the downturn. AlMansoori’s case has been no different, with Al-Alawi commenting: “Yes, it does put extreme pressure on our company. This is compelling us to continually look at ways to optimise our operations and manpower deployment. The situation is getting better now and we feel that we are rising to meet the challenges. We are in survival mode and we hope we can continue surviving till the end of this lean period.”

Oil & Gas Woman of the Year

Winner: Dr Abeer Al-Olayan

The Awards campaign team were overwhelmed by some excellent nominations from women whose work is making a difference to the industry every day.

All of these ladies are fantastic and talented professionals, whose mere presence in the industry will surely inspire many more women to come forward and build a career in oil and gas.

Of the stellar entries that were sent, Dr Abeer Al-Olayan, has been bestowed with the coveted title of the ‘Oil and Gas Woman of the Year’ for 2017 by the jury, which was impressed by her ‘high technical achievements’, and for being ‘active throughout the GCC’. Dr Al-Olayan is a senior research scientist at Saudi Aramco.

“I feel very proud to be receiving the ‘Oil and Gas Woman of the Year’ Award for 2017. This outstanding recognition not only represents me but also every woman in Saudi Aramco who works hard alongside her fellow men to lead the company to success,” said Dr Al-Olayan, who could not attend the award ceremony in Dubai, in an e-mailed statement.

“I know the competition for this award is not easy and this makes me even more proud of this achievement. Winning this award would not have been possible without the support I have received from the Saudi Aramco management,” added Dr Al-Olayan.

Her colleague from Aramco, Dr Samantha J Horseman, collected the trophy on stage on her behalf.

‘Highly Commended’ for the Oil & Gas Woman of the Year category was Gina Fyffe, CEO, Integra Petrochemicals.

Operational Excellence Strategy of the Year

Winner: Weatherford Middle East Asia

Oilfield services major Weatherford’s Middle East and Asia division has emerged victorious in the crucial category of ‘Operational Excellence Strategy of the Year’ at this year’s Awards.

The winning entry from Weatherford, that detailed the conceptualisation, implementation and achievements of its ‘Lean Six Sigma’ programme, was lauded by one of the judges for having “recognised a true problem for the industry and developed a practical solution that has already proven substantial tangible benefits.”

Naji Younes, general manager, Weatherford Oil Tool ME Ltd, who had the honour of receiving the trophy on stage for the company, said, “We are super excited to have won this award. We have been working on operational excellence goals since the last six years, or so. This award really is a tribute to our efforts.”

Detailing the merits of the ‘Lean Six Sigma’ programme, Younes explained: “‘Lean Six Sigma’ has a management philosophy by which you try to change the culture of waste elimination and bringing in variation within the processes. How to drive efficiency in the process so that the productivity picks up is all that the programme is about. It goes right at the bottom of how to generate more and more profits.”

“At present, we have 98% of the workforce trained for the ‘Lean Six Sigma’ programme. That creates a culture of responsibility on all our employees’ part for driving efficiency. Instead of having just one subject matter expert, the entire company is trained to limit wastage and improve efficiency. That is the result that ‘Lean Six Sigma’ intends to achieve,” added Younes.

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) was acknowledged for submitting the ‘Highly Commended’ nomination for this category. KOC was appreciated by one of the jury members for initiating “competence building programmes, with a long-term outlook”, by way of its ‘People, Process, Performance: Field Development, North Kuwait campaign’.

Sour Gas & Sulphur Management Project of the Year

Winner: Al Hosn Gas

Emirati energy giant ADNOC’s subsidiary company Al Hosn Gas won the ‘Sour Gas and Sulphur Management Project of the Year’ category at the Awards, for its Shah Gas Development Project in Abu Dhabi.

Patricio V Rivera, vice president, health, safety and environment department, Al Hosn Gas, felt it was the sheer size of the Shah Gas project, and its future prospects, that may have convinced the judges to declare Al Hosn Gas the winner of this category which was introduced for the Awards this year.

“Ours is one of the biggest sour gas projects in the world. We certainly have the sulphur recovery tools that are among the best in the world. The gas that we produce is eventually used by a large number of families in Abu Dhabi, and the UAE in general. We are helping ADNOC with its Vision 2030. We are producing sulphur as a product that is now being exported.”

Saudi Aramco was acknowledged for submitting the ‘Highly Commended’ nomination for this category for the ‘Design and Development of an Innovative Downhole Corrosion and Scale Monitoring System in High-temperature Sour Gas Wells’.

Technical Innovation of the Year

Winner: Saudi Aramco

History was repeated at the Oil & Gas Middle East and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East 2017 Awards as Saudi Aramco won the ‘Technical Innovation of the Year’ award for the second consecutive year.

The Saudi energy giant was bestowed the coveted award for its ‘Date Seed-based Sized Particulate LCM and Formation Strengthening Materials’ nomination, which was described by one of the Awards judges as “a clear novel solution to an identified problem. Technical innovations are more impressive when they serve a clear need and impact can be measured, and I felt that was the case on this occasion.”

As per the nomination document, the date seed-based sized particulate product ‘ARC Plug’ was successfully field tested by Aramco. It is the first locally-developed product derived from a local raw material to replace some costly, imported LCM products.

Due to its high technical and economic significance, it has been catalogued with a strong recommendation for routine use in oil and gas field drilling operations. The research goal is to promote localisation of product development using local resources to replace some of the oil and gas field products imported from overseas.

Mohammad A Al-Abdrabbuh, network/application engineer from the Ras Tanura refinery engineering support team, who collected the award for Aramco, said he was “very proud of the team” that was behind the development of the product. “I am pretty sure that the contributions that were put into this work is tremendous. I am very proud of the team that deserved to win this award. The judges’ comments reflect how clear and innovative the solution is. I congratulate them on winning the award and am very proud of them,” Al-Abdrabbuh said at backstage after receiving the trophy on stage.

“Any company would want as much technology as possible to make the work of its people more efficient. The goal and vision of Aramco is to remain a leading energy company, and part of that is to have and develop as many technologies as possible. I am very glad that some of these technologies are being represented at the Awards this year,” Al-Abdrabbuh commented.

AlMansoori Inspection Services/iRobotics for its ‘Unique Coil Tubing Inspection Technology for Enhancing Safety and Operational Performance’ was chosen as the ‘Highly Commended’ entry.

Training Initiative/Programme of the Year

Winner: Sadara Chemical Company

Saudi major Sadara Chemical Company has been recognised for having the best ‘Training Initiative/Programme of the Year’ 2017, for its flagship ‘Sadara Apprenticeship Programme’.

“Our initiatives are part of the Saudi government’s directives towards Saudisation. From the beginning, we had decided that 60% of our employees would be freshers, and those would be Saudi locals, and the remaining would be a mix of expats and locals,” said Faisal Algurouni, vice president, human resources and industrial relations, Sadara Chemical Company, justifying why Sadara deserved the award.

“In five years, we have surpassed that figure and achieved 63% Saudisation. And we will continue to work on our goals,” Algurouni remarked.

SNC-Lavalin was chosen as the ‘Highly Commended’ nomination in this category, for its ‘Vocational Training Programme for Employees’. One of the judges praised the Canadian EPC giant for this training initiative, saying the company is “a pioneer amongst the EPCs/FEED service providers in training Saudi engineers.”

Water Management Solution of the Year

Winner: BASF

The world’s largest chemical company – BASF – emerged successful in the ‘Water Management Solution of the Year’ segment – yet another new category that was launched for the 2017 edition of the Awards.

“This is the first time the awards include a special category for water solutions, recognising the importance of water stewardship for the oil, gas and petrochemicals industry. We are incredibly proud to be the first winners of this very important award,” said Nickson Cruz, regional commercial manager, Water Solutions Middle-East, BASF.

“Sokalan RO 3500 is really at the forefront of sustainability innovation for water treatment chemicals. We believe the jury recognised the fact that it is especially designed for water re-usage applications, which makes it very relevant to this region where water is scarce,” added Cruz.

“Sokalan RO 3500, as an innovative and truly multifunctional anti-scalant, which is effective in keeping the RO membrane surface free from any deposits such as inorganic scales, metals fouling and colloidal/silt, offers higher water production capacity while enhancing the energy footprint of the RO plant for water reuse treatment facilities in the oil and gas and refining and petrochemical industries,” commented Cruz.

“Sokalan RO 3500 is a polymer-based anti-scalant with extremely low phosphorus content, 1/300th of the commonly used phosphonate-based anti-scalant which makes Sokalan RO 3500 environmentally friendly by avoiding water eutrophication. The unique feature of Sokalan RO 3500 as a polymer-based anti-scalant is its triple mode of action – threshold inhibition, crystal modification and particles dispersion – which work simultaneously to prevent any deposits on the RO membrane,” explained Cruz.

“As a truly multifunctional anti-scalant, Sokalan RO 3500 offers protection against broad spectrum of inorganic scales, metals fouling and colloidal/silt deposition. Hence, Sokalan RO 3500 is applicable to different types of feed water such as seawater, brackish water and wastewater having different deposits potential,” concluded Cruz.

‘Highly Commended’ for the Water Management Solution of the Year category was Saudi Aramco for its ‘Zero Liquid Discharge Water Treatment Solution for Produced Water Recycle and Oil Recovery’.

Young Oil & Gas Professional of the Year

Winner: Dr Esra Younis Ahmed AlKhadhar AlHosani

Today, the Middle East’s energy sector can boast of employing talented young professionals in virtually every operation and layer of the industry. The contributions being made by these vigorous professionals every day, is not just enabling the regional energy sector to advance with the ability to resolve the complex challenges it faces with fresh approaches, but also helping it maintain its stature of being a progressive and attractive employer.

Of the multiple stellar nominations that the Awards campaign team received from young workers across the regional oil and gas industry, the spotlight was cast on Dr Esra Younis Ahmed AlKhadhar AlHosani for being the ‘Young Oil and Gas Professional of the Year’. AlHosani is an instrumentation and control engineer at ADNOC Group company, ADCO.

“I think what appealed to the judges was my research initiatives that goes beyond my job description as an instrumentation and control engineer. I have intensively researched field challenges related to multi-phase flow measurement and deposit detection and addressed them in many highly accepted publications. However, I was not very confident about bagging this award as I am aware of the capabilities of my amazing hard-working generation,” AlHosani said, when asked about what she feels may have appealed to the judges in her case.

AlHosani’s career so far is noteworthy, and she has had to battle the dilemma of opting either for continuing to work for ADCO or pursue higher education, eventually deciding to manage both. “Perhaps the most challenging achievement was obtaining my PhD from the University of Bath, UK, in only three years while still working at ADCO full time. During my studies, I managed to publish 11 papers in top journals and conferences such as Royal Society Journal and IEEE Transactions, and I also have patented some of my work,” revealed AlHosani.

“My company sponsored my studies and allowed me to work and study at the same time. Without their support, I would not be here today,” remarked AlHosani.

The entry from Mohammed Al-Ghazal, an engineer from Saudi Aramco, was acknowledged as the ‘Highly Commended’ nomination for this prestigious category.