This is your first time at ADIPEC, so what is the general mood at the event this year?
Even though you see a lot of visitors, exhibitors and participators, we did not see significant change in the whole industry. The discussions are still focused on reducing costs, optimising operations, and even decreasing the workforce. However, I believe this is more positive to last year. So generally speaking, it is getting better.
What are some of the products and services that you offer to the upstream sector?
Jereh is a traditional oil and gas equipment supplier and manufacturer for over 20 years now. Our reputation is quite recognised, specially here in the Middle East. However, we are trying to move strategically towards something new, which is engineering. We plan ourselves to be an integrated international engineering solutions provider. How can we, as manufacturers, step into the engineering field? We have a good weapon which is financial investment. To tell you more about this topic, we have stablished two oil and gas industry funds in China with the scale of more than $2bn.
Does that mean that you will begin to manufacture in China whatever equipment that you provide and then ship it into the region?
This is the traditional purchase and sale mode. Jereh is changing to a new direction. On the one hand, we are still manufacturing and selling equipment. On the other hand, we do the projects by ourselves. We intend in some cases to be project owners.
Don’t you think that manufacturing locally gives you an upper edge over producing in China and shipping into the region?
We have considered to transfer some of our manufacturing facilities to the local market. For the first time, we established two storage facilities in both Kuwait and Oman to serve the market better. This is in addition to our existing facilities in the UAE, which is quite successful. I do believe that in the next five to ten years, we will have more manufacturing capacities in the region.
What are some of other countries where you are looking to expand?
Jereh is currently setting up 6 bases only in the market, which means we have a great potential. To that potential, the two markets which I am looking for is first Iraq, which has great potential and environmental settings. This is despite the political risks; you should come up solutions because you always have trouble everywhere. The next market would be Iran where the restriction policies is slowly loosening up, which we assume would be a potential market for us. I am also looking forward to high ranking markets like Saudi Arabia and Qatar which are some of our targets for 2017.
Can you give us an idea about your clientele in the UAE and Oman? We assume that you are already doing business with the ADNOC and PDO?
In the Emirates, we have been providing CTU, coiled tubing unit service, for two years now. We have two fleets with 150 people within the UAE market. In Kuwait and Oman, we are supplying equipment and spare parts to several companies including Kuwait Oil Company.
