A number of stakeholders from the energy industry have come forward to be patrons of the Oil & Gas Middle East and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East Awards 2017 – just a measure of how popular, respected and engaging our event is.
The Oil & Gas and RPME Awards, now in its eighth year, has established itself as a premier industry event that bestows recognition to outstanding work in the regional oil and gas sector and casts the spotlight on those meritorious professionals whose outstanding efforts help the industry scale new heights.
The Awards encompass the wide spectrum of the region’s energy industry, including companies, service providers, contractors and individuals from the upstream, midstream and downstream segments.
We spoke to a number of the Awards sponsors to understand what they think of our endeavour and why they decided to associate with it.
Ahead of the 8th edition of the Awards happening tomorrow at the Four Seasons Dubai Jumeirah hotel, we are happy to share the candid interviews we conducted with senior officials from these sponsoring companies:
A number of stakeholders from the energy industry have come forward to be patrons of the Oil & Gas Middle East and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East Awards 2017 – just a measure of how popular, respected and engaging our event is.
The Oil & Gas and RPME Awards, now in its eighth year, has established itself as a premier industry event that bestows recognition to outstanding work in the regional oil and gas sector and casts the spotlight on those meritorious professionals whose outstanding efforts help the industry scale new heights.
The Awards encompass the wide spectrum of the region’s energy industry, including companies, service providers, contractors and individuals from the upstream, midstream and downstream segments.
We spoke to a number of the Awards sponsors to understand what they think of our endeavour and why they decided to associate with it.
Ahead of the 8th edition of the Awards happening tomorrow at the Four Seasons Dubai Jumeirah hotel, we are happy to share the candid interviews we conducted with senior officials from these sponsoring companies.
(Interviews start from next page…)
Turbine Services & Solutions (TS&S)
Abu Dhabi-based Turbine Services & Solutions (TS&S) is an integrated total solutions company for industrial gas turbines and rotating equipment, serving the aerospace, oil and gas, utilities, and petrochemical industries. The company is wholly-owned by Mubadala Development Company, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and development company that supports the growth of the UAE economy. TS&S’ industrial division offers an array of maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for gas turbines and driven equipment, in addition to component repair, spare parts supply, leasing, exchange, and sale of engines, modules, and ancillaries. The company’s primary markets are the UAE, the GCC, and the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with select services marketed worldwide. Baha Salama, senior vice president – commercial and business development at TS&S, offers his opinions about this year’s awards:
What role do you think the Oil & Gas Middle East and Refining and Petrochemicals Middle East Awards, now in its eighth year, plays in recognising and rewarding the successes of the regional industry?
In 2016, the Middle East was the world’s largest oil-producing region. It also accounted for all of the net growth in global production of oil and crude oil exports in the regional industry. As oil and gas and petrochemicals continue to make innovative discoveries in areas such as engineering operations and production, it is important to have a platform that rewards these advances and recognises the major players in the market while setting international benchmarking standards.
Why do you believe it is so important that success in the energy industry is celebrated regularly?
Awards play a great part in any business, for growth and recognition. They can also raise brand awareness, making companies more visible and giving an organisation an edge over its competitors. Being shortlisted or winning an award serves as testament to a company’s work ethic, dedication, and unique specialty.
Why did you decide to sponsor the awards for the first time this year?
TS&S is a company that works closely with several oil and gas and petrochemicals companies and feels the responsibility to participate in these awards as a pioneering member of the energy industry’s community. Standing out in a changing market is difficult; these awards set a company apart from its competitors and highlight its achievements. We believe that the categories in the O&GME and R&PME Awards reflect innovation, benchmark quality, and recognise exceptional talent in the industry.
It is the aim of the O&GME and R&PME Awards to acknowledge the impressive innovations, hard work, and pioneering practices that can be found in the regional industry, especially when it comes to the all-important areas of operational excellence, health and safety, and corporate social responsibility (CSR), including In-Country Value programmes. What do you think of our efforts to shine a spotlight on aspects of the industrythat are crucial to the very survival of the oil and gas industry? How necessary do you think is it to recognise stakeholders’ performance in these verticals?
It is essential to encourage and promote operational excellence; health, safety and environment (HSE); and CSR across businesses that have created strategic facilities and products to benefit the energy industry to ensure business development, contribute to human capability, and incite productivity. Stakeholder performance in these verticals allows for accountability and growth in areas that can affect business activities and performance management. Recognising key steps that stakeholders are making in areas such as operations, health and safety, and CSR, helps to steer direction and gain industry insight into approach and execution.
The oil and gas industry has experienced some significant challenges in the past couple of years. With companies across the value chain having to cope with new realities, what challenges and opportunities are there likely to be for the sector going forward?
Much of the oil and gas industry has survived an especially tough few years, with weak demand and low prices. The main foreseeable challenge is to maintain a lower operational cost. With challenges that range from the growing threat of renewable energy to market uncertainties, opportunities come from driving creativity to implement new methods, allowing for a competitive edge in the market.
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Agility
Kuwait-based logistics major Agility, offers the oil and gas industry a suite of solutions across the supply chain, and has served many of the world’s largest oil and gas companies in some of the globe’s most challenging environments. This has involved specialised logistics expertise, and the company boasts of managing the supply base for the world’s largest natural gas project off the coast of Australia, building supply lines through remote Papua New Guinea, and moving an entire gas compression station to Uzbekistan. Agility’s real estate division has developed dedicated facilities for the oil and gas sector, including a one million square-metre energy park in Iraq. Agility also offers customers remote site services, like construction, facilities management, and catering. Bassel El Dabbagh, the chief executive officer of Agility’s Abu Dhabi division, shares his thoughts on the awards:
As it enters its eighth year, what role do you believe the Oil & Gas Middle East and Refining and Petrochemicals Middle East Awards play when it comes to recognising and rewarding the regional industry’s successes?
These awards are extremely important for companies to showcase their best practices, innovative methods, and operational excellence to their customers in the energy sector. Such awards encourage and motivate people to provide better solutions to customers in a consistent way.
Why do you believe it is so important to celebrate success within the energy industry?
Success in any industry deserves celebration, especially the energy industry, which is undergoing tremendous global changes in the face of falling oil prices, increasing the need to innovate and achieve efficiencies in order to remain profitable. Achieving success in such a critical industry paves the way for achieving better scale and efficiency of operations, and helps to bring down costs, resulting in greater customer satisfaction. Thus, success in the energy industry deserves celebration and recognition.
As a first-time sponsor, what made you decide to get involved with the O&GME and R&PME Awards this year?
The oil and gas industry is one of the most important industries in the world, and especially in the Gulf region, where significant investments are committed to this field. The growth of many economies within the GCC depends on the successful growth of the oil and gas industry. Agility, with its long-term commitment to this field, does a significant amount of business with clients involved in this sector, so it is pertinent for us to focus on this critical industry and to improve our presence. From our experience dealing with past winners, and our knowledge of the oil and gas industry, especially in the UAE and the GCC region, we feel that these awards are genuine indicators of operational excellence, quality, and performance.
This year we have introduced three new categories for the downstream sector: Sour Gas and Sulphur Management of the Year, Logistics Service Provider of the Year, and Water Management Solution of the Year. How important do you believe it is to highlight downstream achievements as well as those of the upstream segment?
For an industry to truly succeed in its entirety, it is not only the core sector that needs to achieve excellence. Its related sectors also need to be dynamic and well developed, and achieve operational excellence, in order to fully reap the benefits of growth in the industry. The organisers of these awards are doing the right thing by focusing on the downstream sector – including the logistics part of the value chain, which is the core business of Agility – as this helps to bring awareness about operational efficiencies to all the players involved in the industry.
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Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic)
What role do you think the Oil & Gas and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East Awards play in rewarding success in the regional industry?
These awards have been in the market for quite a long time and are credible awards, recognising leading players, innovative solutions, and best practices throughout the oil and gas industry, in both its upstream and downstream segments. They hold significant importance for Orpic as part of our aim to lead performance in the refining and petrochemicals industry.
Why do you feel it’s important to celebrate success in the energy industry?
Success is crucial to the existence, development, and sustainability of any business, let alone oil and gas companies. We, at Orpic, believe that celebrating the success of our achievements is the beginning of yet more challenging but rewarding experiences down the road. It has been said that “success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency”, so, as we keep pushing for operational excellence and consistency in our quality standards, it is important to celebrate success accordingly.
At Orpic, we have many success stories that need to be heard, starting with the ongoing growth of projects, namely Sohar Refinery Improvement Project (SRIP), Muscat – Sohar Product Pipeline (MSPP) project, and Liwa Plastics Industries Complex (LPIC) project, as well as all the in-country value (ICV) contributions, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, and the environment enhancement programmes. Therefore, sponsoring the achievements of the oil and gas sector in the Middle East underscores the fact that we are contributing to the most important sector in the world.
We believe that the Oil & Gas and Refining and Petrochemicals Middle East Awards are a great opportunity to stand out, compete, and – above all – inspire other players in the market to be part of this regional acknowledgement.
What would you say of our campaign to shine a spotlight on factors that are crucial to the oil and gas industry?
Orpic is committed to promoting and improving awareness of its projects, initiatives, and operations, both internally and externally, as well as our environmental programmes, ICV initiatives, and CSR programmes. It is, therefore, vital to recognise the big role played by the corporate’s stakeholders in driving growth, operational excellence, and social responsiveness.
By recognising their remarkable contribution, you offer an all-round boost to both major businesses and their relevant stakeholders, striking a balance that could positively impact businesses, individuals, and communities, while at the same time optimising the opportunity to enhance the ICV. Bringing core businesses and related stakeholders’ initiatives into the spotlight has, therefore, become necessary to the development of the industry.
Additionally, Orpic aims to maximise the economic and social impact of its business operation by playing an active and positive role as a ‘good neighbour’ to all stakeholders. We believe that social investments strengthen our community engagement and the economic development of local communities, especially in the trying economic conditions we see at present.
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AVEVA
What role do you believe these awards play in recognising achievements in the regional industry?
Recognising and rewarding achievements in this way emphasises to others the importance of investing in new diversification strategies and a movement towards innovation.
Eight years of awards celebrate the Middle East’s constant strive to become an industry leader and compete on an international level, with much to celebrate. Looking back at eight years of winners, you can see that bold steps have been – and are still being – taken by companies to improve cost and efficiency; health, safety, and environment (HSE); and operational excellence.
We often focus on what’s not working, and forget to recognise what’s gone well, to stop and celebrate it. A successful mindset requires cultivation, and celebrating success through awards helps us focus on the positive things.
As a first-time sponsor of these awards, why did AVEVA decide to support the event this year?
At AVEVA, we are motivated by success, and those of our clients. These awards are a way to promote the momentum of the great things that are currently being achieved, which will inspire others to innovate for the future.
Sponsoring the Young Professional of the Year award is important to AVEVA, as the future belongs to the youth of today. They are the next innovators and leaders. Recognising the great things they bring to our industry is essential.
Awards speak volumes. As a coveted third-party endorsement of achievement, they place the nominees and winners at the forefront of the industry. Years of support from some of the biggest and best NOCs and service providers is testament to the quality of the recognition gained by being a part of the awards.
How important do you think it is to recognise performance in areas such as operational excellence, HSE, and corporate social responsibility (CSR)?
While progress has been made in certain areas, the industry is not yet where it needs to be. Refocusing attention on new technology for preventative strategies, and programmes to maintain and enhance momentum in operational excellence, HSE, and CSR are crucial. Even after 29 years, Piper Alpha still serves as a shocking reminder of the inherently hazardous nature of our industry, and shining a spotlight on initiatives taking place in these vital domains allows us to encourage further sustainable, innovative solutions and ideas for the oil and gas sector.
This year sees the introduction of three new categories for the downstream sector: Sour Gas and Sulphur Management of the Year, Logistics Service Provider of the Year, and Water Management Solution of the Year. Do you believe that our efforts to highlight achievements in downstream operations are justified?
The downstream segment includes complex and diverse activities and is experiencing a period of rapid change. With refining margins under pressure for the medium and longer term, largely because of over-capacity and relatively slow demand growth, it is right to highlight the achievements of players that have improved their ability to compete more aggressively in the market. Ensuring people continue to innovate and achieve throughout the entire oil and gas business chain is crucial for the industry’s future.
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DIA33
What role do you think the Oil & Gas and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East Awards play in recognising achivements in the regional industry?
Awards and recognition are an opportunity to display, recognise, and inspire the achievers, passionate and ambitious inventers, collaborators, contributors, and developers in any industry. The Oil & Gas and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East Awards aim to highlight a deserving few, and they are objective when it comes to showcasing organisations and individuals for their commendable achievements.
Why do you believe it’s so important to celebrate success within the regional energy industry?
Energy is a metaphor for the global fabric. Anything and everything depends on energy, in its various forms. From food, shelter, clothing, and comfort, to travel and exploration, the energy industry has transformed the world, and the whole concept of living. Celebrating the energy industry is no less than celebrating life.
As a first-time sponsor of our awards, what made DIA33 decide to get involved this year?
We’re in a difficult marketplace, with unyielding cost pressures, product proliferation, and regulatory scrutiny. In this setting, we believe in empowering those that are pioneering innovative approaches to business, the environment, and sustainability.
As a chemical distribution company, DIA33 is, therefore, thrilled to support this work by promoting awareness of the important work being done by this year’s nominees and winners. We have seen the growth of these awards for the last five years now, and we are extremely pleased that DIA33 is able to sponsor the Oil & Gas and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East Awards this year.
We are looking forward to presenting the very prestigious award of Downstream Project of the Year, as it particularly shows the development of this industry and its value, not just within the Middle East, but across the global refining and petrochemicals market.
This year, along with Downstream Project of the Year, we have three newly introduced categories that target the downstream sector: Sour Gas and Sulphur Management Project of the Year, Logistics Service Provider of the Year, and Water Management Solution of the Year. This makes a total of four categories out of a dozen that pertain to the refining and petrochemicals sector of the industry. Do you believe that our efforts to highlight downstream operations, in addition to recognising achievements in the upstream segment, are justified?
Downstream operations include refining, processing, and converting crude into thousands of products that are essential for producing millions of finished products that are used by people all over the world every single day. However, such processes also produce many by-products, like sour gas and sulphur. It’s vitally important that these by-products are handled efficiently – and that those involved in managing the waste actually help to make the planet greener.
Meanwhile, recognising logistics providers at the same time as applauding the manufacturers is very logical, as the logistics service providers are the ones that actually deliver the things you need to your doorstep.
