Susan Hart, general manager of Middle East and Africa at ChampionX, discusses the company’s growth strategy in the region and how the Houston, Texas-based company is pursuing opportunities for expansion in existing core markets.
Oil & Gas Middle East: Can you discuss ChampionX’s ongoing projects in the Middle East region?
Hart: With the ramp-up of oil and gas production in the Middle East, there is an increasing opportunity to utilise chemical solutions and technologies to improve oil recovery and enable the production of hard-to-treat crude oils and gas. We are leveraging our expertise in this area to develop new solutions which address technically challenging production across the region.
Localisation remains a key focus for ChampionX for the year ahead. We are committed to enhancing our current local content across the regions in which we operate, but particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). We have already implemented localisation of key roles in Saudi Arabia, with the majority of our leadership positions filled by talented nationals. We are also working hard to increase local production of products. The Middle East is a price-sensitive market, so we pay close attention to localisation while ensuring we remain competitive.
Oil & Gas Middle East: What is the company’s growth strategy in the region?
Hart: We have had a presence in the region for more than 30 years, and we plan to continue making growth in MENA a priority for ChampionX by pursuing opportunities for expansion in existing core markets. Utilising our proven capability and decades of experience, we’re bringing innovative products, applications and service models to the region through our people and digitisation efforts. ChampionX has always recognised the value of local expertise and ingenuity. Localisation and nationalisation in the region are core to our growth strategy and these are areas of continued focus in support of our global social responsibilities.
Oil & Gas Middle East: What are the key trends in the Middle East’s service sector over the next 5 years?
Hart: I see the Middle East taking a very holistic approach to sustainability in recognition that there is a clear need for oil and gas far into the future. There is rapid change and increased focus taking place across MENA with regard to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies. COP27 in Egypt and the upcoming COP28 in the UAE reflect the importance the MENA region is putting on sustainability and the environment.
ChampionX has been ahead of the curve with this activity globally; increasing our local content, and introducing environmentally preferred chemistry and products with a lower carbon footprint, while reducing our own emissions at operational bases. This trend will undoubtedly continue with even greater prominence.
Companies had to adapt quickly and adopt new digital ways of working as a direct response to the challenges presented by the pandemic in 2020, which has accelerated digital transformation. I see this trend continuing into the next five years as businesses identify more advanced ways of working, to the benefit of their people and their organisational efficiencies.
Lastly, with new and increasing production in the region, technology development will also remain a key trend as the industry looks for new solutions to maximise production. This will remain central to ChampionX as we advance our chemistries to ensure high performance, safety, and sustainability.
Oil & Gas Middle East: How are ChampionX’s technologies supporting the Middle East’s push toward sustainability?
Hart: I believe there is a genuine desire by companies to do the right thing by advancing policies and initiatives that benefit the environment, people, and society, and this is supported by cultural change. There is a clear need for the oil and gas industry to become more sustainable, and for ChampionX, this is a welcomed move.
During the last couple of years, there has been an acceleration in the industry’s drive to support environmental targets and in reality, there are already many solutions currently available which can support a company’s sustainability objectives. For instance, ChampionX’s chemical technologies division has developed environmentally improved chemistry products that can reduce or eliminate hazardous substances in chemicals and create solutions with a reduced carbon footprint.
Our enhanced, sustainable Clean n Cor product line in the Middle East is also a tangible example of this. These products are multi-functional and address the challenges of constrained production or water injection due to solids deposition, while also protecting systems from corrosion and effectively removing hydrocarbon deposits. The solution uses less acidic chemistry, and the corrosion protection functionality mitigates the risk of future integrity failures. The multi-functional nature of the product means our customers can use one product instead of two or three separate solutions, which delivers clear operational sustainability benefits.
Oil & Gas Middle East: As the head of the MEA region, what is your strategic vision for 2023?
Hart: We will continue to focus on enabling our customers’ key business drivers through technology, innovation, localisation, and other aspects of ESG.
We spent a lot of energy in the last couple of years managing supply constraints and disruption, then hyper-inflation. It feels like 2023 could be a more stable year, and so for ChampionX, we will continue to be laser focused on what we do best – delivering impactful technology to our customers and being fully aligned in creating value for their operations.
ChampionX is a change enabler, and the business has a strong focus this year on the midstream and upstream markets. New technology and innovation are core to our continued growth as we strengthen our customers’ capabilities in maximising production, enabling flow assurance, and minimising deferred production, while also digitising our service offering.
