The recovery of the beleaguered oil and gas industry depends in part on its ability to redefine and reinvent itself. The emergence, espousal and adoption of updated technologies is the new normal. The industry is known to be resilient, having weathered many a storm in its chequered history. This time, recovery hinges on the adoption of new technology, and equipping employees with the know-how required to put high-tech solutions to best use may change the fortunes of the industry for the short and medium terms.
The report card makes for sombre reading. According to the OPEC World Energy Trends Report 2015, the oil industry has faced a daunting year, with a cooling economic outlook in non-OECD markets, particularly in China, where rapid increases in demand appear to be plateauing out. However, all is not doom and gloom – forecasts indicate projected growth in the global economy, and oil is predicted to remain the most significant energy source.
This truth is not lost on senior industry professionals, who have championed the case for technology, efficiency and innovation in order to stay relevant in this highly competitive sector. A case in point is Badria Ali Abdul Raheem, deputy CEO at KOC, which is responsible for conventional and heavy oil fields of the North Kuwait asset. In a recent statement, she says that the petroleum industry in the GCC collectively carries a significant responsibility.
“We need to be as efficient and as innovative as possible and capitalise on the utility we can derive from our natural resources,” she says.
The industry is clearly mindful of the situation and coming to grips with this exigency. According to Dubai-based Vikas Handa, regional managing director, Weir Oil & Gas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and CIS customers want solutions that increase efficiency and boost productivity.
“To deliver continuous improvement, even in a downturn, you have got to invest in research and development and improved facilities, and I am proud to confirm that this is precisely what Weir has done,” says Handa. He adds that Weir Oil & Gas, with a workforce exceeding 1,500 in the region, has trebled R&D investment in recent years and opened the UAE’s first wellhead manufacturing facility in Dubai, a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that has had a great initial response and that Handa says will prove to be a big game-changer in the region.
Weir Oil & Gas, a leading provider of upstream pressure pumping equipment, and part of the 1891-established, Scotland-headquartered Weir Group, has also lately instituted a sophisticated O&M (operations and maintenance) service facility for high-speed rotating equipment in Basra, Iraq.
This implies that Weir customers in the Middle East now have easy access to products and services that earlier had to be imported from other parts of the world. By manufacturing locally, customers get the highly engineered solutions when they require them.
Handa affirms that Weir’s engineers are working closely with the company’s customers in order to offer them world-class engineering solutions and products, which are manufactured locally, thereby delivering valuable time and financial savings.
Handa is also an advocate for embracing innovative technologies in the current context. “Although markets are challenging, there remains a demand for solutions and manufacturing partners who can help customers increase efficiency. That can be by lowering total cost of ownership or reducing lead-times, or simply by having industry-leading engineers ready and able to offer help and advice,’’ he says.
Weir has continued to focus on innovation. The company recently launched its Seaboard wellhead solution, engineered in collaboration with customers, to reduce the amount of time, labour, cost and exposure to risk associated with the installation and operation of the wellhead system.
Technology is the turning point, and new proprietary technologies are at the cusp of this new revolution intended to boost the bottom-line for oil and gas companies. Weir Oil & Gas’s milestone Seaboard exemplifies this narrative.
“We used a Seaboard two-stage, single bore wellhead system, and mandrel casing hangers through BOP (blowout preventor) installed lockdown seal assemblies and the Seaboard versatile quick-connect hub. This allows operators to run the pre-assembled wellhead system through the rotary-table, landing on the conductor, with no flame cutting, welding, grinding or other on-line, time-intensive installation techniques. This effectively reduces the amount of time, labour and costs associated with wellhead installations, while also mitigating risk by reducing time in the cellar below the deck,” explains Handa, a 17-year company veteran who has worked in various senior management roles in multiple locations.
New, ground-breaking, scalable, economical, environmentally friendly technologies that spell efficiency and reduced costs while maximising output will continue to play an important and defining role, and be the big differentiator in determining the fortunes and commercial viability of the oil and gas industry in the future. Deploying these solutions – and ensuring staff receive the appropriate training in their effective use and maintenance – is the way forward for the industry, and will be the harbinger of the new energy revolution.
