Face to face: The big projects are still out there

In my role as a leader the big challenge is keeping my team focused on the customer and delivering solutions that bring value despite tough macro economic conditions. The key is all about communication, both with team leaders around the world and making sure we always listen to our customers to meet the conditions they are in.

Has day to day management changed then?

As a company we have been very careful with travel in 2009. However, my travel budget is probably two or three times higher because staying in touch with all the relevant teams is absolutely vital.

What’s the most exciting project you are involved in?

Personally it’s got to be the Pearl GTL project in Qatar. That’s a huge project, literally one of the largest in the world. Honeywell was selected by Qatar Shell to design and implement the integrated process automation and control system for the world’s largest Gas to Liquids (GTL) plants. The project covers the whole upstream and downstream spectrum, it’s very exciting. They recently announced the opening of the control room there, so it’s great to be part of such an important project.

Where will the hotspots of activity be in 2010?

Today we see more projects coming up in the Caspian and Arctic regions, and in the Middle East the principal activity driver is gas. Projects geared around getting gas out of the ground and marketing that will be big, and downstream we expect to see more projects in the years to come. It stands to reason as this is where the feedstock is. How soon those come up will be linked to the general economic recovery and demand for petrochemical products.

Are you pitching for business on the UAE’s huge sour gas project in Abu Dhabi?

We have had discussions regarding the Shah field development in Abu Dhabi. We are very strong in process control, but also crucially fire and safety, as well as our H2S detection solutions. We are well placed to provide an integrated solution. In Kazakhstan we are working on some notoriously sulphur rich projects and we have been working on those for a number of years now, so we have some excellent experience in that particular field.

Are things looking up for upstream players in the region?

I look at the region as one of the first areas to emerge from last years prevailing conditions back to growth. We have already seen positive figures from Asia and I think it will spread here next. The UAE for us is a very important centre, and although we have the capability in all the GCC countries to serve domestic markets, Abu Dhabi is our hub. Oil production projects in the Middle East have continued throughout the last economic cycle, so comparatively speaking the Middle East is faring well.

What’s the project pipeline like in 2010?

I would say that the projects are still available and out there, but decisions are certainly taking longer on these projects. Big oil and gas projects take several years to be designed, configured and costed, and when the economic crisis hit, a lot of the firms which were engaged in these big ticket projects wanted to re-evaluate whether they had the best costs. We have a good number of projects that we have won, and we remain optimistic about the year ahead.