How was business for your company in 2015, and what impact did the low oil prices have on your operations?
The oil and gas, marine and offshore industry is experiencing one of the worst headwinds in decades. The outlook for 2016 is not great, and with fewer projects on offer there is a lot of pressure on pricing and quality. This certainly puts service providers like us in challenging situations. Despite this, we had a good year in 2015.
We had a few big jobs in the MENA region, especially in Saudi Arabia, where we had three major projects. In the UAE, we have had some big breakthroughs in process services, where we did a few chemical cleaning and nitrogen testing jobs, as well as tank cleaning works. We also executed a big pipeline project in Latin America in 2015 – our first major project outside Asia.
What products and services do you provide to clients?
Headquartered in Sharjah, UAE, we are a leading provider of pipeline and process services to the oil, gas and petrochemical sector, with more than 200 employees and a presence in 12 countries around Asia. We provide pipeline and specialty services to the oil and gas, marine, and petrochemical industries. We also provide equipment on rental to various oil companies and EPC contractors. We work with all the major national and international oil companies in Asia. However, the majority of our direct clients are EPC contractors, construction companies, pipeline operators, and so on.
What major contracts have you have won?
In pipeline services, our projects typically range anything in between $100,000 to $5mn. We have recently finished a project in Saudi Arabia, where there were five pipelines ranging from 30” to 44”, and that project was about $4mn. Our Latin America project also increased our topline by about $3mn. In process services, in 2015 we had a couple of jobs amounting to $500,000 each, and in 2016 we are working on a couple of projects where we expect topline revenues of about $600,000 each.
What efforts has your company made to boost the skills development of your workforce?
Being a service company – and also a knowledge-based service company – our employees are our brand ambassadors. We also operate in an industry where experience, knowledge, work safety, and quality matter the most, and it has always remained challenging for us to enhance our employees’ knowledge base, their skills level, and to empower them. Fortunately, we are able to create an atmosphere where everybody feels included in the business and takes ownership of the tasks assigned to them.
What do you expect from the business in 2016?
We are fortunate to have won a few projects, especially in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Vietnam, where we will be busy throughout 2016. Receiving repeat clients on a regular basis, and the longevity of positive relationships formed in the sector are testament to Trans Asia’s success. We have already reaped rewards at the beginning of 2016 via the attainment of a prestigious project in the Middle East alongside one of the largest national oil majors. In addition, we are bidding aggressively for new jobs in the pipeline and process sectors, and we expect a few wins by the end of June 2016.
