With the Oil & Gas Middle East awards show just months away, we catch up with Andy Gibbins, vice president, MENA, Euro Petroleum Consultants, to get his thoughts on the awards, the industry and the future of oil and gas
Why is it important to celebrate the industry’s leaders and achievements?
I think it’s something which shows the development of the industry in the region, the development of expertise in the region and the fact that things have progressed so much. It gives exposure to all of the good things that are happening within the industry in the Middle East.
What developments are you particularly interested in in the coming year in the oil and gas industry?
I think I’m looking from a downstream perspective – certainly we expect to see developments in terms of refining more. There will be a drive towards complexity. In petrochemicals there is a significant move towards liquid feed rather than gas feed from the crackers, given the relative shortages of ethane. From an upstream perspective I’m very interested in the development of shale oil and gas and just how that is going to affect the region. Part of this regions challenge is that, although it is relatively rich in terms of crude oil, gas is becoming tighter and tighter and that’s going to become a challenge in the future.
What trends do you see emerging in the upstream sector?
Clearly Iraq is a huge issue and we have seen the potential that exists there as well. Iran of course is the other wild card in the region that is going to open up – but who knows quite how quickly that will happen. Other than that the challenge is going to be the supply / demand balance and the fact that the supply situation is lengthening, the demand factors are effected by the likes of China and by the slow down in Europe and the fact that the US is becoming self-sufficient. How the supply / demand situation affects pricing and how that will affect investment in the future.
You mention Iraq, how do you see the country raising its production levels in the near to mid term?
I think realistically between 6-7mbpd. The big issue is infrastructure and the ability of the state owned enterprises to really realise these projects in the timescale that is required.
Do you see more integration between upstream and downstream going forward?
Yes, that’s a very interesting question. I think there is a big move a foot to doing that. We have already seen in Singapore, Exxon Mobile starting to take Crude oil as a feed into a large scale petrochemical process. There is a lot more to come from the likes of Sabic regarding their project in Yanbu. Things are definitely going to get a lot closer. We expect to see much closer integration all along the value chain.
About the judge
Andy Gibbins is vice president, MENA, Euro Petroleum Consultants (EPC) and is based in Dubai. Prior to joining EPC, Andy spent over 20 years with Shell and NOVA chemicals. EPC is a technical oil and gas consultancy with offices in London, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur. They are also the organisers of leading oil and gas conferences and training courses
