In recent years, the oil and gas (O&G) industry has seen more substantial commitments towards diversity and inclusion; however, there is still a long way to go. Women and men in leadership positions have long advocated the industry to push past its barriers and include people from different backgrounds and viewpoints as part of the decision-making process.
As conversations around gender equality and cultural diversity take centre stage, Oil & Gas Middle East sat down with Angela De Vincentis, senior director of Operations at McDermott International’s Jebel Ali Fabrication Yard, to learn more about the organisation’s role in integrating young graduates into the O&G industry, as well as her collective experience over the last two decades.
“The O&G sector for a young engineer is aspirational from a technological know-how point of view, but also inspirational from a business point of view,” says De Vincentis. “I saw it as an opportunity to know more about the world, and the different cultures and economies of various countries.”
She says that she began her career working for deepwater projects in West Africa as an offshore method engineer based out of Paris. A few years down the line, she shifted her career to fabrication and moved her life to Angola.
“This was when I began my real expatriate experience, and since then, I have never looked back. Leaving everything behind was a risk, but the idea of living around the world, my passion for the job, and being able to continuously discover new ideas were a real driver. With every new opportunity after that, I followed my instinct, got out of my comfort zone, and never said no to new challenges,” De Vincentis adds.
Elaborating on her experience in the Middle East, she says that the region has the energy of growing countries. “Dubai has changed remarkably over the last decade, while Saudi Arabia with Vision 2030 is undoubtedly impressive. I think both must look at each other and
be inspired!”
We cannot progress by remaining in the same position and implementing the same ideas; we need new ideas to enter our environment to wake up our minds and create successful progress.
Angela De Vincentis
When asked about how O&G companies can attract more women to the industry, De Vincentis says: “I’m convinced that if more companies had the right culture and policies in place to guarantee equal opportunities, organisations would be more successful in attracting, as well as retaining, women. Each individual should have the chance to follow their aspirations, and every industry, including O&G, must create the right environment to make this happen.”
De Vincentis points out that successful teams are composed of people who are different; however, diversity should include not just gender diversity but cultural diversity, too.
“We cannot progress by remaining in the same position and implementing the same ideas; we need new ideas to enter our environment to wake up our minds and create successful progress.
“Respecting diversity, inclusion, and opportunities, are linked to culture, and the real difference will start to show when O&G companies invest in creating the right culture. Not only that, but this culture should also lead to embracing new ways of working, new technologies, digitisation as well as opening opportunities for young students and graduates who would like to enter the industry,” she notes.
The next generation of engineers
For instance, since 2019, McDermott has partnered with the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) to facilitate an exchange of ideas between students and employees in a quest to find sustainable solutions for the challenges faced in the O&G industry.
Joris Haesaerts, vice president of Engineering from McDermott’s office in The Hague, says that the organisation has a long tradition of working with universities to create a bridge between the academic world and industry.
“Every year, we collaborate intensively with local universities. One of these collaborations is in the form of a challenge that we organise with the University of Delft for a multi-discipline group of students. This year, for the first time, the programme was expanded to include the University of Twente.
“McDermott employees and university professors co-create the challenge, which allows participating students to earn study credits,” he adds.
For 2022, the theme was ‘Fabrication Yard Optimisation,’ with the focus on optimising operations of McDermott’s yards through technological innovation.
De Vincentis notes that the students came from different backgrounds and had very little knowledge of the sector, which helped them to look at the system critically. “What I have seen from them is that they were able to quickly catch the problems in the production chain and provided clever, innovative ideas with a fresh view, particularly on becoming more sustainable.”
Haesaerts explains that the benefit of these platforms are that they create a pollination between the academic and the industrial world, where students can see the real-world application of theoretical models. “McDermott engineers that coach and guide the students usually get a flurry of unorthodox ideas and concepts, some of which are so good that we can improve the way we work or the product we make.
I believe a well-balanced team of experienced and graduate engineers are nimbler and can achieve better results. These teams can combine years of experience with uncontrolled energy and creative thinking.
Joris Haesaerts
“This activity also allows our experts to share their knowledge with the next generation while students get unique insights into potential career paths
before graduating,” he adds.
This is an opportunity for the students as well as McDermott: “I think these kinds of initiatives also have the added advantage of discovering and attracting talent, which can lead the O&G industry in the next step, but we need to give them the right space for it to happen. As I said before, evolution and the future will only arrive by embracing new ideas,” De Vincentis says.
The Jebel Ali fabrication yard
De Vincentis says their primary focus in the fabrication yard is to safely deliver on time and with high-quality standards. “I have a great team working with me, and we share the same vision – continuous improvement. We have to make sure that we have the right people, the proper working procedures, and the correct number of people, to remain safe, constantly monitor our performances, and readdress issues as needed.
“The major challenge was to have the team trust me and be a part of the same journey. I suppose that for many of my colleagues, it’s still difficult to refer to a female leader, but the fabrication yard requires a great deal of focus from all the team members, and I need to trust them, and they need to trust me.”
She reiterates that building trust and working with the team to fulfil their major objectives – safety, quality, improvements, and productivity – is an everyday challenge.
“The yard has a long history of success,” says De Vincentis, adding that she continually strives to create a team that believes in asking the critical questions while using past successes as learning points to improve, creating synergies that embrace change.
“I feel this is happening now, all thanks to my team,” she adds. “The safety culture at the Jebel Ali Fabrication Yard was already at a high standard, but complacency doesn’t lead to great achievements. My resolve is to constantly improve, be critical, review the process, and implement a top-to-bottom safety culture that becomes part of the daily life principle.
“The yard is evolving and growing, moving towards the future. It’s looking at digitising working processes, digitising the management of assets and facilities to reduce risk and cost, and working towards fewer emissions. Giving space to new ideas is helping the Jebel Ali Fabrication Yard grow and move toward the future without losing the know-how built during the past,” De Vincentis concludes.
The TU Delft Business Challenge
The TU Delft Business Challenge is an annual competition held since 2019 which has facilitated the exchange of ideas between students and McDermott employees, to find sustainable solutions for the challenges faced in the oil and
gas industry.
The competition was conducted in May 2022, with four teams of students tasked with exploring ways to make McDermott’s yards more sustainable, efficient and safe to improve and advance its sustainability portfolio. The teams were each allocated a mentor from McDermott’s office in The Hague and the Jebel Ali Yard, who worked with them on preparing their entries.
Team 4 was announced as the winner for their idea to implement smart green energy solutions to reduce the overall CO2 footprint of the Jebel Ali Yard. In recognition of their achievements, the group visited Dubai to see the fabrication yard first-hand.
The visit took place the first week of July, and over the course of three days, the students were given safety training, a complete yard tour, and met with key operational stakeholders, including De Vincentis and Shaun Hannam, McDermott’s senior director, QHSES.
“We believe that initiatives like these will also motivate more young people to study engineering and to enter into our branch of industry. This benefits the industry and McDermott as there are more enthusiastic young people that we can recruit,” says Haesaerts.
Meanwhile, winning team member Bruno Mazzola from TU Delft commented on the yard: “The scale of the yard is incredible! It already looks huge in the pictures but seeing it in person was an entirely different story. Each area is different, and our hosts were very patient in showing us the flow of the yard and explaining how projects are executed.”
Haesaerts remarked that as a young engineer, he was mentored by a senior engineer, which allowed him to be creative while being deterred from making the ‘big mistakes.’ Later in his career, he similarly guided students with their master’s thesis and found the experience rewarding and challenging.
“It helped me to gain new insights and challenge some status quos, both personal and of the company. As a result, some of these (former) students now work with McDermott, and are growing in their roles and responsibilities, and starting to guide the next generation of students.
“In some ways, with programmes like this one, the industry is better at engaging young engineers than it was in the past. In other ways, I feel we can improve. There seems to be a tendency to want all-star teams of engineers with minimum of 15 years of experience on a project. I believe a well-balanced team of experienced and graduate engineers are nimbler and can achieve better results. These teams can combine years of experience with uncontrolled energy and creative thinking,” he concludes.
