What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in the past year, given market conditions?
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all the businesses worldwide, however there is no doubt that oil and gas industry has been particularly hard hit. Most of the greenfield projects in the region are either getting delayed or are progressing at a very slow pace. The IEA also forecasts upstream spending to be reduced by more than 25% on year-on-year basis worldwide. The reductions are to come from reduced activity levels, delays in sanctioning new projects etc. This will certainly affect the services sector, however I am still optimistic about the overall industry trend for 2021-22 and I surely hope that industry will bounce back by Q2 2021.
What do you see as the areas with the greatest potential for growth going into 2021?
The pandemic has clearly disrupted the Industry in the worst possible ways in recent times. The impact on service providers like us is more significant, creating more competition and smaller margins. I think this will eventually lead to consolidation of the sector, possible restructuring of the oil & gas services industry and overall focus on total costs reduction per barrel. This is leading to automation and improving work efficiencies which will be a good news for the industry. There are quite a few areas which can be automated or digitalized and Trans Asia is partnering with leading technology suppliers to find and market effective solutions which can increase overall efficiencies.
Further, It is unlikely that large and complex new projects will see the light of day anytime soon and Trans Asia is focusing more on brownfield projects, maintenance of existing infrastructure and shutdown/turnaround activities. However the energy sector in general and oil and gas industry in particular continues to be the kingpin powering the growth in Middle East and GCC economies and I am bullish on the overall industry trend.
What are the major trends you are noticing among oil and gas service providers?
With renewed focus on costs there is a great transformation towards digital and automation technologies which can enhance efficiencies and safety. Further in the region there is enhanced focus on increasing overall operational efficiencies and I hope the trend continues for the better of the industry.
What are some of your most recent projects, and upcoming projects?
We are busy at present in the Middle East as well as in South Asia. We have a very healthy order backlog and we are waiting for some of the projects in Middle East to commence in early 2021. We certainly hope that industry reverses its course in early 2021.
What are some success stories from 2020?
Clearly some companies are better placed that others to ride out the ongoing storm and with a strong balance sheet, focus on core activities, reduced costs and increasing overall efficiencies to deliver the projects in safest way is what Trans Asia is known in the industry. We were fortunate to anticipate the industry trend as early as March 2020 and have adapted ourselves to take on challenges faced in early 2020 in the time of lockdowns and increased travel restrictions by placing the resources across the regional energy hubs so that we were able to carry out most of the projects without any hindrances. Despite these challenges we delivered major projects safely and within schedule in places like Oman, Vietnam, Kuwait etc.
Further as a responsible, proficient, collaborative and agile organization we are reusing existing resources in new and novel ways and repositioning ourselves to better meet customer needs. We are “fast followers” and have adjusted our short term goals and objectives according to the industry needs and trends and looking and converting the opportunities on a shorter, more manageable horizon.
