Under the patronage of HE Michel Miraillet, Ambassador of France to the UAE, EVOLEN, the French association of companies related to the oil and gas industry, and Business France organised meetings between French companies and ADNOC Group within a series of themed workshops.
French companies showcased innovative and technical solutions, designed to meet and anticipate the demands of the fast-changing sector. With the UAE’s Vision 2021 agenda, the symposium aimed at highlighting skills of French firms and enabling local companies finding innovative solutions through French technology within the new contemporary energy context.
The meetings included several presentations of French experts, and topics covered energy efficiency, operating facilities, digital innovations and smart infrastructures, energy storage, refining and petrochemical, water management and waste treatment, control systems and revamping.
The French industry has a long tradition of innovation in the oil and gas sector, and it covers the whole spectrum of oil and gas activities all over the world in research, development, innovation, technology, geosciences, equipment, projects and services.
HE Miraillet stated: “I would like to express my most sincere thanks to all the representatives of ADNOC Group’s operating companies for attending this second UAE-France Oil & Gas Symposium. The Strategic Dialogue Committee initiated in 2013 between our two countries was determined to move forward towards this objective.”
“Traditionally, large contracts represent the core of our exports with an industry driven by international leaders such as Total and Veolia. However, French SMEs are more and more active in the UAE, either on their own or acting as subcontractors to large companies,” added HE Miraillet.
The UAE remains France’s main export market in the Gulf region, with a value of US$3.8 billion in 2016. Bilateral trade just reached US$5 billion, which ranks the UAE as the second trade partner of France in the Gulf region, after KSA.
“I am very impressed by the huge amount of investments forecasted in the oil and gas business field over the period 2012-2020. Given the importance of this sector in the region, my understanding is that the UAE will remain a strategic partner for the French companies,” HE Miraillet concluded.
