Omron Oilfield & Marine operates under the Woodhouse International umbrella in Dubai. Oil & Gas Middle East speaks to its point man on the support the company provides the region’s drilling industry.
Woodhouse International, a major supplier and stockist of drilling equipment for the Middle East has been supporting the region’s drillers from its Dubai headquarters since 1985.
It prides itself on its extensive range of stock and perhaps more critically on delivering these products quickly to customers in the region.
Omron Oilfield & Marine provides the systems for power generation and distribution for onshore and offshore rigs. It is one of the many companies that Woodhouse International makes representations for in the Middle East.
Oil & Gas Middle East speaks with Tarik Gharrafi, Omron Oilfield & Marine’s Regional Oilfield Service manager who is based at Woodhouse.
What is Omron Oilfield & Marine’s offering to the Middle East’s drilling operators?
Tarik Gharrafi: Omron Oilfield & Marine provides power systems for the generation, the control and the distribution of AC&DC power on land and offshore drilling rigs.
We use advanced engine-synchronisation and generator-load-sharing systems to control and optimise engine/generator performance. Omron Oilfield & Marine improved conventional DC-technology to control and distribute power to DC-driven field equipment.
I sincerely think that we can call ourselves one of the pioneers in applying AC-technology to the global oil and gas drilling industry.
We have a team of experienced service engineers based at Woodhouse in Dubai. This allows us to provide 24/7 technical support and service engineer dispatch.
We keep parts in our stock in Dubai, to provide more efficient support to our customers in the region. The excellent storage facility provided by Woodhouse International allows us to keep all our equipment in a temperature-controlled safe environment which is critical for some of our equipment.
Soon we will have a simulator in Woodhouse for training purposes. This will be available to our customers that want to provide training to their crew.
How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?
TG: This region was in need for some healthy competition. Many drilling contractors were complaining about the lack of choice when they were looking into power and control solutions.
The main problem was the lack of flexibility that certain vendors had. And I honestly think that this is where our company filled the gap in this market.
Omron Oilfield & Marine discovered that many customers wanted to choose between the best of breed products when assembling their rigs. So we made it our business to customise our systems and controls to the customer’s needs and their rig configuration.
Previously vendors would sell whole rigs as one package and the customer would have a very limited input. Customers had to accept particular brands and equipment since there were practically no competitors to provide SCR (Silicon Controlled Rectifier) or VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) control houses.
Drilling contractors were more than happy to see us entering the market in the Middle East, since our approach to projects is totally different. We work together with the customer so that they can choose the best equipment that the market has to offer and we engineer our drives and controls to match their choice of equipment.
What regional oil and gas projects has Omron Oilfield & Marine been involved in?
TG: We have several projects going on locally, one of them is a project with Weatherford and Lamprell. The project consists of several rigs that will be drilling in Kuwait.
Omron Oilfield & Marine will be providing the engine-generator controls; the SCR/VFD houses and the state-of-the-art Driller’s Cabins. This equipment has been sold out of our Dubai office.
These are being built as per the customer’s requirements. So having an office in Dubai is essential to support communication between the customer in Kuwait/Dubai and our engineers in Houston. The commissioning and startup of the Omron equipment will be done by our service engineers based in Dubai.
Who are your biggest clients in the region and/or where are your biggest markets in the region?
TG: We have many VFD and SCR drives working in Egypt. Omron Oilfield & Marine and Egyptian Drilling Company have a long history in a very successful relationship. We also have several systems in Oman on rigs operated by Arabian Drilling Services.
Drillmec in Iraq is also a big customer of ours and we have systems in Kuwait as well. Recently we remarked H&P (Helmerich & Payne) bringing over some of their Omron AC-rigs from the US into Bahrain.
What opportunities and challenges do you see in the regional market this year and beyond?
TG: In other regions we can notice that AC technology is replacing DC technology on new rigs and is being retrofitted into many older rigs. In fact Omron Oilfield & Marine’s product mix has shifted to almost 100% AC-controls (VFD-houses) in the North American market.
This is because AC technology is more efficient and provides more precise control of position, speed and torque. It also reduces fuel requirements and the AC induction motor requires less maintenance.
The regional oil and gas market will follow this trend as well, because only AC technology delivers the reliability and performance required for today’s demanding drilling programmes and directional wells.
How has Omron Oilfield & Marine’s offering to the oil and gas industry evolved over the years?
TG: The performance of Omron Oilfield & Marine’s AC-drives, in combination with our comprehensive and open controls, has allowed us to capture more than 50% of the market on new-build AC landrigs in North America.
AC technology has been used by Omron Oilfield & Marine for more than 20 years. During this time we have taken technology from other industries and successfully transferred it to the oil and gas marketplace. This has played a key role in the company’s success and we’re committed to continue providing this technology to the oil and gas industry.
