Petrofacts Magazine - Oct 13

Petrofacts October 2013 | 2

PetrofactsO

cto

ber

2013

2 | Petrofacts October 2013 Petrofacts October 2013 | 3

4 Our record of the company’s news, activities, new contracts and milestones, with an introduction from Group Chief Executive Ayman Asfari

8 24 hours on Berantai A unique view of daily life on an offshore vessel

16 Farewell from a founder Maroun Semaan talks about his decision to step away from Petrofac

20 Made in Mumbai The office where so many of our projects start life

22 Our island story Locals reveal the impact which the Laggan-Tormore project has had upon Shetland

30 The Big Picture: Rumaila One Petrofac site, captured in an image

32 The future of work An academic’s view of how our working lives are about to change

34 The Tigers who took on El Merk The story of the men who together built the ‘jewel in the desert’

40 “Life is really about the second effort” Meet our new Non-Executive Director, Kathy Hogenson

42 In safe hands Old and new alike, all offshore workers must attend offshore survival training

44 I always carry… A single item can sum up a person’s working life

46 Appointments, achievements, appearances and some of the personal aspects of our lives as Petrofac people

Inside this issue

Contributors Petrofacts

Log

Peter LongAcademicPeter is a Programme Director at the London Business School’s Centre for Management Development

Andrew DavidsonJournalistAndrew is known for his business profiles in The Sunday Times and Management Today magazine

Rupert WrightJournalistRupert has had a 20 year career, writing for publications including The Times, The Financial Times and the Washington Post

Anna MillarJournalistAnna is an Edinburgh-based writer and travel editor for The List. She has written for The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday

Ian TehPhotographerIan’s work has been widely exhibited and featured in Time, Newsweek and, The Independent Magazine

Petrofacts is published quarterly by Petrofac; to provide comment or contributions contact [email protected] Editor Hazel Meldrum Art DirectionEsterson Associates with Jon KieltyPicture EditorMillie SimpsonConsultant EditorPaul [email protected]

34El Merk‘It’s a jewel in the desert, and we can all be very proud’

22Shetlands ‘One of the UK’s biggest construction projects since the London Olympics’

40Kathy HogensonOur new Non-Executive Director joins us from Texas

Cover story:24 hours on Berantai See page 8Moored 150km offshore Malaysia, the FPSO Berantai processes gas 24 hours a day Photograph by Ian Teh

Features

People

305

Rumaila‘Camels are a common sight here… arriving in the cooler months to feed’

Gulf of Mexico‘On 1 July the IES team took over operations for the Arenque contract area’

20Mumbai‘As part of our ECS business, around 800 people work in Mumbai’

16Maroun Semaan‘When I was growing up, the biggest thing in Lebanon was its education’

8Malaysia‘Gas from the FPSO Berantai is piped back to mainland Malaysia’


Log

Petrofacts is for and about the people working in Petrofac; it’s your magazine. In every story your achievements are brought to life, as we aim to explain what we do as a company and how we do it. You’ll see contributions from colleagues featured throughout. To find out how you can get involved send an email to [email protected].

The year so farYou’ll also find stories about our recent successes and developments in this issue. It’s been a good year so far; our portfolio of active projects has been progressed and we have built momentum in securing new awards, reflected in a 21% increase in contract backlog at 30 June 2013. Due to the phasing of some project delivery, we expect to do even better in the second half of the year. We also have a strong bidding pipeline, so we are positive about the future and remain on track to achieve a doubling of 2010 net earnings by 2015.

I am pleased with the market’s very positive response to our recent interim results, and the resulting improvement in share price. It shows that – despite the cloud of investor scepticism which has hung over the sector – our differentiated strengths of a disciplined approach, our emphasis on first-class project execution and ability to build and transfer our capabilities between service lines and geographies are being understood and appreciated by the market.

A major milestone in September was the official

inauguration for Petrofac’s largest EPC project undertaken to date – the US$3.4 billion Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan. The project – formerly known as South Yoloten – celebrated successful introduction of gas to the field in just 33 months; a very significant achievement indeed.

Sadly, in August our industry mourned the loss of four lives as a result of the ditching of a Super Puma L2 helicopter off the coast of Shetland. As you would expect, helicopter safety and operations were key topics at the 40th Offshore Europe Exhibition and Conference in Aberdeen this September. I was visiting the City during the Conference and was pleased to have the opportunity to affirm our commitment to safety when talking to staff at the opening of our second office in Aberdeen – Quattro House.

The final quarterWe’re now entering the final quarter of the year; a time for planning, for setting future budgets and objectives. In these remaining months of the year, we are preparing for two events. At the first – our leadership conference in November – we will focus on ensuring that our business is well placed to meet our targets, and look further ahead as we consider our strategic evolution towards 2020. At the second – a Capital Markets Day in December – we will present aspects of these plans to our investors and other key stakeholders to ensure our future progression and plans are more clearly understood. I’ll bring you an update on

this in the next edition of Petrofacts.

In this edition we welcome Kathleen Hogenson to the Board. I am looking forward to working with Kathy and would like to formally welcome her to Petrofac; you can read about her approach to this role on page 40.

Maroun SemaanAnd finally, it feels like we are now approaching the end of an era. Maroun Semaan will retire from the Board and as President of Petrofac at the end of this year. He and I co-founded Petrofac International in 1991 and have spent the last 23 years working very closely together to build this business. Maroun has been instrumental in the growth and success of Petrofac and will be missed by many; but I know I am going to miss him most of all.

In planning for his retirement, Maroun has managed an effective transition process; he leaves the business with the knowledge that it is in great shape for the future. Find out what Maroun had to say to Andrew Davidson on page 16.

I hope you enjoy this new-look issue of Petrofacts, please do give us your feedback via PetroNet.

Welcome to our new-look Petrofacts. It still has the same great name, but our magazine is now quite different

WELCOME

Ayman AsfariGroup Chief Executive

Oil flows at West DesaruFirst commercial oil from the West Desaru development, located offshore Peninsular Malaysia, was achieved at 2.10pm on 3 August. The West Desaru project went from field development approval to first

MILESTONES

oil in just over 18 months, and while it’s too early to confirm sustainable production rates, the current flow from this first well is performing above expectations.

A Mexico milestone On 1 July, the IES team in Mexico took over operations for the Arenque contract area from Pemex, Mexico’s national oil company. Arenque is an offshore field in the Gulf of Mexico, the fourth asset to be operated by Petrofac in Mexico and our first offshore. Arenque produces around 5,000 barrels of oil per day and initial oil in place is approximately 1.2 billion barrels with a current recovery factor of

around 11%. The handover went smoothly and the team is now focused on enhancing the existing production levels.

Turkmen team triumphA ceremony was held in Turkmenistan on 4 September to inaugurate the US$3.4 billion Galkynysh gas field project – our largest EPC project to date, formerly known as South Yoloten. Alongside our West Desaru development

Arenque contract area

Galkynysh gas field project

Since 2008, and the establishment of our Abu Dhabi office and strategic joint venture with Mubadala Petroleum, our operations in the UAE capital have gone from strength to strength.

A total of six significant engineering, procurement and construction projects have been won in that time, including three mega-projects: ASAB full field development; NGL4; and the Upper Zakum UZ750 field development project. As 2013 has been a key year for Petrofac in the region, we take a look at some Abu Dhabi statistics.

For more information on our Abu Dhabi projects why not visit the Petrofac team at ADIPEC between 10–13 November 2013

9.3bn (US$)the gross value of Abu Dhabi projects that Petrofac has led or been a partner in since 2009*

ABU DHABI DEVELOPMENTS

75% Petrofac’s stake in Petrofac Emirates**

MalaysiaPetrofac Training Services has signed a five-year agreement worth US$120m to operate and manage two high-spec upstream training facilities, currently being built by Petrofac, on behalf of the national oil company PETRONAS.

Oman OPO secured a three-year operations and maintenance contract worth US$50m from Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production to work on two new onshore facilities in the Sultanate.

IraqWe have been awarded a second contract on Gazprom’s Badra Oil Field development.

Worth US$95m over three years, the scope covers maintenance engineering and support services.

PETROFAC CONTRACTS ROUND UP

40bn (US$) Abu Dhabi’s budget for oil and gas projects 2010–2014†

25,000 number of people working on the ASAB and NGL4 projects at peak

†source The Oil & Gas Year, Abu Dhabi 2012. *excludes any contract variation orders. **Nama Development Enterprises has a 25% economic interest in Petrofac Emirates following the sale of shares by Mubadala Petroleum to Petrofac and Nama

customer, SC Turkmengas – and in the presence of the Presidents of Turkmenistan and China – our OEC team celebrated the successful commissioning of utilities and the introduction of gas to process facilities for the site. In just 33 months we have provided engineering, procurement and commissioning for this challenging desert project.


Log

Ayman Asfari is speaking at Oil & MoneyIntercontinental Park Lane, London. 1–2 October We are exhibiting at SPE Kuwait Oil & GasKuwait International Fair, Mishref.7–10 October

Imed Derouiche is presenting at the North Africa Oil & Gas SummitLe Palace Hotel, Tunis.22–24 October

We are exhibiting at and sponsoring the AFED Annual Environment SummitAmerican University of Sharjah, Sharjah. 28–29 October

We are sponsoringNOC and Governments ConferenceMandarin Oriental Hotel, London. 28–30 October

We are exhibiting atADIPEC 2013Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi.10–13 November

Paul Groves is presenting at the OPITO Safety and Competence Conference Park Hyatt Hotel & Villas, Abu Dhabi. 19 November

Andy Inglis is presenting at the Oil Council: World AssemblyOld Billingsgate, London.18–20 November

We are sponsoringOil & Gas TurkmenistanSergi Kosgi Exhibition Palace, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.19–21 November

See us in the Leopard’s Rock Safari Lounge at 20th Africa Oil WeekCape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town. 25–29 November

We are sponsoring theBasra Oil & Gas ShowBasra International Fair Ground, Basra, Iraq.5–8 December

It’s always satisfying to report acknowledgments for safety. In June, our team working in Kuwait, on Kuwait Oil Company’s (KOC) effluent water injection phase-1 and sea water injection phase-2 projects, proudly achieved 10 million man-hours without a single Lost Time Incident.

The milestone was celebrated at the KOC offices in Kuwait, at an event attended by senior dignitaries from the professional services provider Worley Parsons Kuwait, and from the Kuwait Oil Company.

This achievement follows our team’s second consecutive Gold Award for the projects, in the engineering and construction sector at the American

Society of Safety Engineers GCC HSE Excellence Awards.

These Awards recognise and promote leadership, excellence and exceptional performance in the field of Health, Safety and Environment in private sector companies in the Gulf Region.

Together, these industry acknowledgments are great achievements.

They proudly achieved 10 million man-hours without a single Lost Time Incident

In June this year, Dr Anna Ferguson presented at the Renewable UK Offshore Wind conference.

Held in Manchester, it is an annual conference with a two-day exhibition hosting 150 exhibitors, where discussions

The team receiving their second consecutive Gold Award

reflect key industry positions on a range of issues.

Anna presented in the session ‘A Tight FiT: Offshore Sector, CfD and Allocations’ which looked at the UK government’s proposals for electricity market reform.

Anna’s presentation investigated the support mechanisms currently being used across Europe for offshore and onshore wind; analysed the success of these; and compared them with the government’s proposals for contracts for difference (CfDs).

Andy Inglis took part in September in a keynote session at Offshore Europe, a bi-annual 4 day oil and gas conference held in Aberdeen, Scotland. He highlighted the need to increase the UK and European share of the

global export market for oil and gas services and expertise. This included how the industry could maximise potential for exporting services globally to support national oil companies to help address their capability shortages.

As part of this, Andy shared recent successful Petrofac projects in Malaysia and Mexico, demonstrating how we export our capability, experience and technical expertise to train and build the competency of staff and to develop supply chains locally.

SAFETY FIRSTS

PETROFAC PRESENTS…

EVENTS

BUILDING BUSINESS TOGETHER

Petrofac-RNZ is a strategic engineering collaboration formed in Malaysia in 2011. The tie-up has been working well; Petrofac-RNZ had growth of 29% in 2012, compared to RNZ’s position in 2011.

The business has approximately 700 employees and is one of a only a small number of companies licensed to undertake major offshore engineering projects for PETRONAS, the national oil company.

“The main objective of Petrofac-RNZ is to work together to build a strong local presence and enhance our ability to serve the oil and gas industry in the Southeast Asian market,” General

Manager, Rozali Ahmad explained to Ida Ismail.

“The strong RNZ brand and track record in the local market, coupled with Petrofac’s stellar international reputation, will help the business to secure new projects, especially in the offshore sector.”

Since the beginning of this year the team has been aligning internal processes and systems. Now that’s complete, the focus has turned to building the brand and the business.

Rozali said, “We see real opportunities, as a result of the collaboration, to develop our respective offerings. One of the key factors behind the link-up was our commitment to work jointly on all engineering related work in Malaysia and to

build a centre of engineering excellence in this region.”

When asked about his outlook for next year, Rozali is positive.

“Looking at the current market trends and strong pipeline of new projects, we see real momentum for 2014.”

How a tie-up in Malaysiais proving successful

THERE’S A FAIR WIND BLOWING

Germany has set itself an audacious goal: to generate 60% of its total power consumption through renewable energy by 2050. And it’s one many critics think they’re unlikely to achieve. So with an already well-established onshore wind sector you can see why the Germans are looking offshore to make up the shortfall. This is no simple matter – and that’s where we come in.

“We’ve got exactly the experience they’re looking for,” says Mick Bowery, Business Development Manager for Petrofac Offshore Projects & Operations. “Only this summer we picked up a

Our experience in the operation and maintenanceof offshore platforms is now leading to newopportunities with offshore wind energy projects

new contract with Siemens Energy worth EUR40 million. We’ll be providing operations and maintenance to two converter station platforms.”

The new contract is for the HelWin1 and BorWin2 High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) platforms, which are under construction and will be situated near the islands of Helgoland and Borkum.

Emma Bishop is the Delivery Manager for the project: “We’re providing Siemens with a range of services tailored to the demands of commissioning large platforms in the North Sea – providing and managing jack-up accommodation

barges, supply ships, standby vessels and helicopter transfers.

“We’re also supplying the crews to man and maintain platforms during the commissioning period. It doesn’t matter whether their previous experience is in oil, gas or wind: the working environment, the challenges and the importance of safety is exactly the same.”

With each of the platforms connecting several surrounding wind farms to the mainland, they’ll collectively provide enough transmission capacity to supply about two million German households with clean

power. With a population of around 80 million, Germany still needs a few more to meet its target.

Says Mick: “With 45% of the world’s consented offshore wind energy projects located in Germany, this is a growing market for us. Experts believe that operations and maintenance will make up a quarter of the cost of offshore wind. That’s a great opportunity and given the track-record we have, we’re well placed to become the industry’s go-to provider.”

Petrofac set up its office in Hamburg in 2012.

Offshore wind – the solution for Germany?

Source: Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), September 2010

Dr Anna Ferguson, Principal Consultant at Petrofac’s specialist energy consultancy TNEI

Andy Inglis, Chief Executive, Integrated Energy Services


24 HOURS ON BERANTAI

Repairs are conducted to a leaking water pipe in the engine room of the FPSO Berantai

24 hours a day, gas flows through the floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) Berantai, designed and built for PETRONAS, and moored 150km offshore Malaysia. And also round the clock, life and work to maintain the production continue on its decks… Photographs by Ian Teh


06.30PTW issuance. Each day begins with a meeting to plan preventative maintenance activities and issue ‘permits to work’ for the tasks that need to be done

08.00Arrival of new crew on the vessel. The crews generally work a pattern of two weeks on, two weeks off

10.30Housekeeping in the cabins. These staff will work in both the kitchen and laundry

13.00The supply barge transfers men and materials to and from the main vessel. When needed it also makes the half-day journey there and back to the wellhead, to which the FPSO Berantai is connected by pipeline

12.00The huge, four-storey vessel has two control rooms; this one is in the engine room, deep in the bowels of the vessel


14.00Maintenance work at the bow of the vessel

The FPSO Berantai is the first Risk Service Contract (RSC) executed in Malaysia. It draws upon an 18 slot wellhead platform, and has a 35,000 barrels per day crude processing capacity, with an export capacity of 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. A 12” 30km gas export pipeline connects it to an existing gas distribution trunkline


18.00Leisure time; the vessel has a gym, TV room and space for workers to relax

15.00Mustering exercise. There are different levels of on-board alarms; workers must demonstrate that when ‘abandon ship’ is sounded, they can don life jackets and muster for evacuation within defined time limits

19.00A special evening meal for Malaysian independence day. Halal food is always provided on board

17.00Inside the main control room, crew meet to discuss an operational issue. Each discipline contributes, with the meeting run by the offshore installation manager Halim (centre)

16.00Maintenance work on the marine deck


FAREWELL FROM A FOUNDER

After 23 years at the helm,Maroun Semaan, President and joint founder, is to stepaway from the company. In alook back at his life and workhe explained his departure to Andrew Davidson. Photographs by Phil Sayer

Is there a right time to go? Simply when the business is ready. “I started thinking about this a couple of years ago,” nods Maroun. “I wanted more time for my personal life, but I also wanted the organisation to be in the right shape so it wouldn’t be affected by this. Now we have good momentum, good management in place…”

Maroun, 57, President of Petrofac and owner of an 8% stake in the business, steps away from the firm in January, 23 years after he and Ayman Asfari started the partnership that built one of the fastest growing oil and gas services groups the world has seen. He wants, he says, a clean break, so he can focus on his family, his passion for education and a growing portfolio of start-up investments. But there is a part of him that will always remain behind: a clutch of his characteristics that are embedded in the very DNA of Petrofac.

Maroun is anything but sentimental. Those who know him will recognise the courteous, no-nonsense style, the attention to detail, the desire to work to a purpose.

“I thought we would use this interview to send some messages to the organisation,” he says in lieu of greeting. “If we can assess the elements of our early success, the challenges we faced, it will help us think about what to keep in mind as we look forward.”

Then, he implies, something much

more useful than a friendly farewell might be achieved.

To appreciate the company’s strengths, you must understand its roots, and his early experience in contracting and construction. To explain his own drive, you must understand his upbringing in war-torn Lebanon, and the role education played in getting him out and away, an engineer with a yen to run his own business, like any good Phoenician trader.

But key to it all, he says, has been his friendship with Syrian-born Ayman Asfari, who he first met in Oman in 1981. Both men worked for rival contracting firms, but hit it off immediately, recognising complementary skills that could be harnessed to greater effect.

“He was three years younger than me but definitely not short of ambition or drive,” chuckles Maroun.

“While he was in a smaller company, he was always eyeing the big business opportunities. As a strategic thinker he remains remarkable.”

Maroun, working back then for the Arab-owned contractor CCC, was always a hands-on operator, a team builder and detail man. He was bright, winner of a scholarship to the American University of Beirut, but determined to make his own way in business, not least to help pay for his siblings’ education and family expenses.

At construction giant CCC he learnt


challenging. I came from the mentality of a large company, but suddenly I was doing my own estimates and proposals, my own photocopying. The biggest worry was to win some business.”

But that thrill of building from zero, taking that risk, remains with him. Recommend it to others? “I think so, so long as it’s done with a calculated approach. Let’s say 70% calculated, the rest is luck. But we had great partners.”

Partners who Maroun and Ayman eventually bought out, making Petrofac their own, building a base in Sharjah, later floating the company in London in 2005. But he credits Ralph Martin with having the vision to see what they could do.

“He believed you could start a business in the Middle East like you could in the US, he had lived there, he knew we would find talent.” Many of the early hires were simply those they had been impressed by in their construction years. “We were very fortunate to attract some very bright talents like Rajesh Verma, Marwan Chedid, Subramanian Sarma, Murugan Pitchai and many others.”

Ralph was also smart in the way he made them buy into the business. “If you take a man to the middle of the river, and show him it is harder to go back than to cross, he keeps going.”

That entrepreneurial push has given Petrofac its dynamism. But they also needed luck with timing. “We established the business in a down cycle and could

only differentiate ourselves by being sharp in delivery and prices. So when we caught the up cycle in 2003, we had been going 12 years, we were lean and mean, had strong delivery, and could take advantage of it, doubling in size every two years.”

Keeping that urgency now the company has 18,000 employees still obsesses him. “One thing, part of that original DNA, is our ability to criticise ourselves, to keep asking what we could do better. So we keep changing the organisation. In the last decade we have done it four or five times, as we have added more sectors, more offerings. And it’s good for staff, as it allows more people to hold higher responsibilities.”

So have he and Ayman had major disagreements along the way? “No, our relationship has always worked well. Ayman has done a great job in terms of the visibility of the company, explaining it to stakeholders, I have focused on the organisation, and the people we have to deal with on a weekly basis.”

It has suited their styles: Ayman in London focusing on strategy, new customers and investors; Maroun in Sharjah running operations and new ventures. Maroun has a feel for politics and relationships and is naturally the more cautious.

“Sometimes it helps to be paranoid about risk in the contracting business,” he smiles. “Ayman always wants to push

ahead, to fill the space when he sees one. So we come out with the right balance.”

Ayman says the key is that they respect each other’s strengths. “We have had our differences, usually over risk or strategy, but we always get to the right solution. And one thing about Maroun, if we make a decision – and all the decisions here are a team effort – he owns it, he never comes back when there is a problem and says, I told you so.”

Did Maroun never want to be chief executive? He pulls a face. “No, ask Ayman, we debated it, but Dubai is my family’s home, moving to London is not going to work.”

So why leave now? Because, he says, he has other commitments that need his focus, and to take leave of absence would send the wrong message. “I always led from the front, I put everyone in the executive team, I want 100% effort. To then take lots of time off… well, that just corrupts the culture.”

He intends to devote more time to education, a passion he shares with Ayman. He already sits on the boards of two universities, and supports several schools in Lebanon. Born with six siblings into a Maronite Christian farming family in the south of the country, he lived in a mixed community and witnessed the worst of the country’s civil wars and invasion by Israel. It left its mark.

“When I was growing up, the biggest thing in Lebanon was its

education. It enabled its young to get good careers and support the country. Most of what supports Lebanon now is people working outside.”

Any regrets about his time at Petrofac? He pauses. “Looking back, if there was one thing we should have done better, it was hiring young graduates from 2001. We only started in 2004 in a shy way. We were too cautious, if we had invested we would have had the right talent coming through from 2006 rather than 2009.”

But he acknowledges it would have been difficult back then, without a mature enough organisation to absorb them. Balanced against that are the memorable leaps the business has made, the multibillion dollar contracts in Abu Dhabi, Oman, Algeria and Turkmenistan, the move into Britain’s North Sea market, the sleepless nights and anxieties over delivery and deadlines. He has loved it all. But from January he will have to watch from outside. How hard will that be? Maroun shrugs.

“Petrofac is a great organisation and has strong management. My advice to the younger generation is to keep pushing their management to empower them more, but they can only do this by proving they can deliver. And a word of caution: with the business we are in, you need to understand the trends and stay ahead. Creating new opportunities by staying close to customers and understanding their needs.”

‘ I went through the ranks, always a hard hat job, you lead and manage from the front. We couldn’t have done what we have done without this bedrock.’

‘ If you take a man to the middle of the river, and show him it is harder to go back than to cross, he keeps going.’

contracting from the bottom up. “They were world-class, and the Oman team was one of their best, delivering projects involving thousands of people, good systems and procedures, a fantastic training ground.” He worked on highways and infrastructure before moving into oil and gas construction, partnering with Saipem, the Italian engineering group.

“I went through the ranks, started as site engineer, then project engineer, then project manager, but it was always a hard hat job, you lead and manage from the front. We couldn’t have done what we have done here without this bedrock.”

When Ayman approached him in 1990 about creating a new venture with Petrofac, then American-owned, he was intrigued. “But it took me a year to be convinced, to see clearly what we were about to do.”

Petrofac’s American founder, Ralph Martin, wanted them to set up and run a Middle Eastern subsidiary, Petrofac International, which they would jointly own. Why did they need Petrofac?

“Because in a business like this you need some track record and the knowledge, they had done turnkey EPC projects in the region.”

So Maroun and Ayman poured their savings into the venture. “I was still young and single and could afford to do that. There was no looking back, you had to put every effort into it. And it was


So many of our projects start life on the screens you see featured here. In the ten years since opening its doors as Petrofac’s first operating centre in India, the Mumbai office has grown significantly. Part of our ECS business, around 800

people now work in Mumbai to provide proposals engineering, detailed engineering and FEED services for projects including Laggan-Tormore in Shetland, Badra in Iraq and projects in Kuwait.

Photo by Daryl Visscher

MADE IN MUMBAI


OUR ISLAND STORY

Locals across Shetland are benefiting from a massive investment in their Island. Total E&P UK’s £3.3bn Laggan-Tormore project is under construction by Petrofac – Anna Millar finds out how widely the economic impactis being felt. Photographs by Phil Sayer

Ellis Nicholson‘My father started working in construction in the 70s when the BP terminal came, and Laggan-Tormore is going to consolidate our business for the future’


As the plane sweeps down into Shetland’s Sumburgh airport, a lighthouse sits at the end of a long craggy rock in the distance: a solitary welcome to an island ripe with history and grounded in community. Nearby, Jarlshof stands proud; an archaeological site, chronicling the Stone Age, Iron Age, Pictish, Norse and Medieval eras – it hints at Shetland’s rich layers. Drive north to the island’s capital, Lerwick, and the wide open spaces display Shetland’s extraordinary geology, spanning almost three billion years. The tourists who journey to this, Scotland’s most northerly of islands, come for the wildlife, the world-renowned seabird colonies, the dramatic rock formations – and often serene silence.

Weaving up and through the mainland, passing silvery inlets and jagged cliffs, the taxi driver, a native Shetlander, speaks of a people driven to make the most of the opportunities born to them – and given to them, most recently by the oil and gas industry. Certainly, as it finds itself hosting one of the UK’s biggest construction projects since the London Olympics, this tight knit community has revealed itself to have the local characters, business savvy and scope to meet the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Ways of workingAs he sits sipping a cold pint after a long day, Morris Morrison, son of the Andrew emblazoned on the Andrew’s red buses around the island, happily admits that the boost to his workload – since Total awarded Petrofac the contract to develop the Shetland Gas Plant, in 2010 – has been unprecedented. Having started life as a company with just one bus, Andrew’s now has 17, most of which are used to transport workers between their accommodation and the gas plant site.

With Shetland’s population of almost 23,000 being topped up with around 1,400 workers, Morris explains that the island’s mode of working has had to shift.

“I get out of bed at half past four in the morning now, and my buses are rolling out of the yard at half five, taking workers on the shuttle service from their accommodation to their work.”

Morris has, he says, been impressed by how easily the workers have slipped into the everyday life of the place. “It amazes me, you know. Workers come on to the bus and know the drivers by name. I suppose when you’re working away from home for long periods of time, it’s nice to have something familiar, and hopefully we help a little with that. Everyone is open to it; no one is shutting the door.”

Having heard from his father about the 1970s oil boom, when BP arrived on Shetland, Morris is no stranger to the long-term potential. “When I was at school, I was told that Sullom Voe [the BP plant] would be shut by the year 2000, and now it’s got another 30 or more years in it. My working life could be seen out with the oil industry, so it’s not just a boom for now – there’s a knock-on effect.”

Home from homeAt the local hotels, a sense of familiarity with their newfound guests has certainly kicked in. Marjory Barrie, Regional Manager for the Lerwick and Shetland Hotels, says she is keen, where possible, to create a ‘home away from home’ for the workers, many of whom are working three weeks on, one week off, and says she happily changes the menu and gets in special food should workers ask for it.

“We understand the constraints,” explains Marjory. “It’s never going to be home, but we try and do as much as possible. They are up early in the morning and even though they are on the island to work, we try to make it feel like when they’re back at the hotels they’re not working anymore.” With an average of 25 workers staying between the two hotels, Marjory says many have become ‘well kent’ faces. “They get to know our staff, and we get to know some of them. It’s a long term picture. We’ll know that they’re

Marjory Barrie‘Sometimes you’ll see workers bring their families up here for a holiday on their days off – it’s nice.’

Morris Morrison‘I get out of bed at half past four in the morning now, and my buses are rolling out of the yard at half five.’


away to see their son or their wife, and sometimes, on odd occasions, you’ll see them bring their families up here for a holiday on their days off – it’s nice.”

There have been whispers of a shortage of beds for those coming to the island for tourism, but Marjory is quick to dispel such rumours, laughing that because of its northerly location, tourists tend to book with plenty of notice. Besides which, Petrofac offers business 52 weeks of the year, unlike tourism which can only really hope to boom in the high season.

Like Morris, Marjory is keen to talk about the wider implications on the supply chain for the rest of the community. “It gives the island buoyancy. If anything negative is said, then it’s got to be in the minority. If we’re making money, then the person selling the toilet paper is making money.”

And considering their long hours, Marjory has been impressed with some of the workers making the most of the local facilities, and giving back to the community in other ways. “Some have got involved in the local football teams,” she says. “The workers have a really long day, so to see them go out and play football after that, it’s great.”

Port in a stormOver at the port in Lerwick, there are different challenges, as they continue to develop the harbour’s infrastructure to meet the needs and requirements of the oil and gas industry. “It’s a massive project by Shetland’s standards,” says Sandra Laurenson, Chief Executive at the Lerwick Port Authority. “And the business community certainly welcomes it.”

Beyond the many other roles the port plays, it is currently hosting one of the floating accommodation barges, an addition to the landscape that has not been shy of controversy. “It has been commented on that the barge is not particularly beautiful. It blocks the view and the cruise ship lands people here, so yes, there has been criticism about the visual impact. But people have got used

to it now, and overall they see the business opportunities for Shetland’s economy coming in.”

Meeting the expectations of the islands’ main industry, fishing, and how its needs are being managed, has needed careful consideration. “The barges don’t use deep water, so it doesn’t affect our other projects,” she says. “But normally ports don’t want things that lay about and don’t go anywhere, so some nimble footwork has been needed to get the balance right.

“We predict it [the work] will be at this level for the next five years, so it gives the port a longevity for everyone.”

Beyond the port, Sandra hopes that to counteract Shetland’s long, mild winters and short summers, local businesses will reinvest their additional income. “It’s a short tourism season here, and occupancy out of season is valuable – it gives strength for these companies to reinvest. I see improvement in the hotels happening, they’re trying to up their game a bit. It’s a great boost of confidence for them taking their business forward.”

Appetite for growthCertainly for some local businesses it’s providing an opportunity to expand.

George Hepburn owns Shetland cash and carry J W Gray, while his wife Anna owns local pub, the Douglas Arms. Both have been affected by the project’s arrival, with George’s enterprise enjoying between 12-14% more business, delivering food and drink to the barges, as well as the accommodation facility at Sella Ness. With an average of two large trucks heading out every day, he admits he’s got his hands full.

The sheer volume of food leaving the warehouse hints at the manpower needed to get the site ready. “We had a new butcher start recently and he couldn’t believe that he was sorting a half tonne of braised steak to take up to the camp,” laughs George. “It’s a massive amount of food, but numbers like that might only last them a couple of days.”

Like the other businesses affected, George is impressed by just how much of the business is being soaked up by local enterprises:

“This is our kids’ future,” he says leaning back into his chair at his offices in Lerwick. “If you didn’t have the oil industry, Shetland would be on its knees. When they originally built the oil terminal [in the 70s], all the foodstuff came in

from the South, not a lot was kept on the island. It’s different now and it affects everyone.

“The trucks are doing more miles, and so everyone from the guy that supplies our fuel to the guy doing maintenance at the garage is busier. It has a knock-on effect right down the scale. You have a certain amount of people, who do a certain amount of overtime, and then you have to employ more people – and where you can keep money in the community, you do.”

Already a successful business man, supplying local schools, health boards, old folks homes and pubs and clubs,

George is expanding all the time to meet the needs at the site, and beyond new industrial freezers, roll cages and trucks, he’s recently even tried his hand at window washing, after discovering that the site needed help with their many large windows. “We got this new machine with a special filter to do it, and now that’s part of a service we can provide. It’s about looking at the resources we have on the island and trying to get things done ourselves where possible.”

With the plant due to be completed in the summer of 2014, George and Anna are aware that it pays to get as much from the project while they can, while giving

their own bit back. Across at the pub, Anna notes that the men tend to come in early after their shifts – where possible, she believes local publicans are trying to include them, either by putting on early football matches on television or making a live music night start a little earlier, so the men can enjoy it before their early start the next day.

Earning a living The Shetland Islands Council is keeping a close eye on the wider impact of the project, with hopes that there could be a real reshaping of the social fabric of the island. Alastair Cooper, Chair of the

Alastair Cooper‘We always had quite a strong economy built on fish and wool, but the oil industry has provided stability’

Sandra Laurenson‘Normally ports don’t want things that lay about and don’t go anywhere, so some nimble footwork has been needed to get the balance right.’

The Shetland Gas Plant

The Shetland Gas Plant is part of a major new energy development, the £3.3 billion Laggan- Tormore project being constructed by Petrofac on behalf of Total E&P UK.

The project consists of three parts – a subsea development of the Laggan and Tormore gas condensate fields, located approximately 125km north-west of the Shetland Islands in 600m water depth; the gas plant itself; and two major underwater pipeline schemes – the first to transport the gas from the fields themselves to Shetland, and

a second to export it on to the St Fergus Gas Terminal in Aberdeenshire for commercial sale and consumption.

When the gas plant is complete in the summer of 2014 it will be capable of processing up to 500m cubic feet of gas per day.


Development Committee for the council, would like to see more people moving to Shetland long term.

“The challenge that we have here is that we have a strong economy and a GDP that’s well above the national average, but businesses do still struggle in Shetland. We only have 1% unemployment, so companies find it a challenge to get and keep skilled workers. We could do with more people living in Shetland.” Alastair recognises that alongside the fishing community on Shetland, oil creates some much needed stability. “We always had quite a strong economy built on fish and wool, but the oil industry has provided stability, right back from the 1970s. We thought that the last tanker would go out in 1997; now we’re led to believe there might be oil until 2040.”

Certainly, with an estimated 17% of the nation’s remaining oil and gas reserves located west of Shetland, the new project represents the future of energy generation in the UK – a point underlined by the plant’s location. The site is adjacent to the original landmark Sullom Voe oil terminal, built in the 1970s to receive the oil from the first wave of major North Sea oil discoveries. “This time, the local businesses have learnt how to meet the needs of the oil industry,” says Alastair with pride. “We’ve risen to the challenge and we have the capability.”

Digging deepNearby, another man meeting Petrofac’s needs is Ellis Nicholson. A construction contractor at EMN Plant, he has recently managed to build a new quarry thanks to his company’s contract with Petrofac. That his employee numbers have increased from five in 2009 to 48 in 2013, speaks volumes about the impact the plant has had on his business.

“My father started working in this industry in the 70s when the BP terminal came, and Laggan-Tormore is going to consolidate our current business for the

future. Of course, we have to prepare for an eventual downturn in work, but if all of the business being discussed comes off in the next five years, we are going to be very busy.”

Certainly there’s little doubt that for generations of families on Shetland, oil and gas has played – and continues to play – an extraordinary role in their lives.

Building a future Up in Unst, the most beautiful of the islands at the tip of the Shetlands, just two short ferry rides away, highland entrepreneurs Frank and Debbie Strang are also hoping to capitalise on the presence of workers from Total, Petrofac and their subcontractors.

Their Saxa Vord resort is on a former RAF radar station-turned environmental tourism site, and due to an initial lack of accommodation on mainland Shetland, housed around 40 workers when the project first started.

Set on a hill with stunning views out to Britain’s most northerly outposts, Frank is keen to welcome the workers back, and reinvest any money made from the project back into the local community, encouraging economic regeneration and profitable enterprises in the process. “When we bought this place seven or eight years ago, the locals wondered if we might be in it for the short haul, but we’re keen to try and give back to the local community.”

A day later, back on mainland Shetland, looking down from high up on the site at the Shetland Gas Plant, the sheer scale of the project is clear. Up here, the community affected by the plant’s arrival feels a lifetime away – yet the two are undeniably linked. Standing taking it all in, the island’s motto, which appears on the council’s coat of arms, springs to mind: Með lögum skal land byggja. Taken from the Icelandic Njáls saga, it simply means: By law shall the land be built up.

And building it up they are.

Frank Strang‘When we bought this place, locals wondered if we might be in it for the short haul, but we’re keen to try and give back to the community.’

Anna HepburnWorkers tend to visit the pubs early, after their shifts – so local publicans are trying to include them by starting their entertainments earlier.


“Camels are a common sight here in winter,” says John Palmer, Performance Team Leader on the Rumaila oilfield in Southern Iraq. “I’ve been working here since June 2011 and I’m used to them arriving in the cooler months to feed on the desert vegetation. Rumaila

is a great project to work on, we’re providing inspection, maintenance and repair services on behalf of the Rumaila Operating Organisation comprising BP, CNPC and Iraq’s South Oil Company.” Photo by Mehmet Binay, courtesy of BP

BIG PICTURERUMAILA


OPINIONTHE FUTURE OF WORKThe way in which we work is changing, and will affect us all, says Peter Long, Programme Director of Executive Education at London Business School

Reflecting back on my 35 years of ‘grown up’ work with various large organisations, it strikes me that the scale and speed of change has been unimaginable.

From typing, copying and posting, to a world of always-on ‘social’ and ‘smart’ communication, Tweeting and Skyping, it’s enough to remind me – should my kids ever let me forget – that I’m no longer a young thing!

The fact is that the nature of work – what it is and how it typically gets done – is changing dramatically. And the pace of change is getting faster. The workplace, for example, can now be mobile or virtual. Our workforces are becoming increasingly global, multi-generational and remote; encompassing many cultures, time-zones and disciplines. That makes ‘working’ more complex for all of us.

During the last ten years I’ve been lucky enough, through my teaching and consulting, to work with organisations such as Microsoft, Hilton, Telefonica, Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline… and of course Petrofac! I have seen the nature of everyday work changing – in terms of communications but also with regard to turnaround, productivity, quality, responsiveness, partnering, contracting and many more aspects.

So what’s the future of work?Well, even without a crystal ball we can predict that organisations – whether private or public – will continue to strive towards higher performance to meet stakeholders’ demands. Whether that’s investors demanding growth and assurances; customers looking for differentiated value; employees seeking learning and fulfilment; or taxpayers challenging for greater efficiency and transparency.

Workforces have and are becoming more multi-generational as retirement ages extend outwards and skills shortages – ‘the war for talent’ – bite.

It’s a modern paradox, as Hays Global Skills Index (2012) reports; many countries are battling high unemployment and yet suffer from chronic skill shortages in crucial professions such as engineering, IT, utilities and construction. Much of this is due to labour market inflexibility, global competition for talent and inadequate education and training.

Jobs for life?Meanwhile ‘jobs for life’ have all but disappeared, with newer generations likely to have many more employers during their lifetime. They may also find themselves being employed and self-employed simultaneously at different points of their careers.

My London Business School colleague Lynda Gratton has written a fascinating book called ‘The Shift – The future of work is already here’ and has often said to me that the time when we work to 70 and live to 100 is fast approaching.

This is confirmed by the UK’s Office for National Statistics, which has said that around a third of babies born in Britain in 2012 are expected to survive to celebrate their 100th birthday. There are

good reasons to ensure that all of us, not just the Generation X, Y and Z’ers, are preparing to make the most of our future work and careers.

Making the most of the futureLike virtually all large organisations that London Business School is privileged to work with, it remains true – especially in the services world – that people buy from people.

Across the oil and gas sector, global companies are competing to hire and engage highly capable and mobile workforces. Embracing the new future of work will be vital to sustaining organisational growth and success.

So… if longer working lives, more change, uncertainty and fast knowledge are the norm, then learning, flexibility and resilience are vital skills to have in our personal toolboxes.

As many commentators would say, ‘the only constant is change’. For many organisations their values – applied with integrity – will provide a reassuring ‘lighthouse’ to help all employees navigate even the stormiest change.

So now that we’ll all be living to 100 we’ll have plenty time to review our progress long after retirement!

Update your knowledge and skills on a weekly basis

Build a work future that has real meaning and motivates you to ‘give your best’

Build networks to fuel new knowledge and ideas

Seek regular feedback on your progress, and approach and explore opportunities

Push boundaries and comfort-zones

Think about development: what would you like to be known for this time next year?

Plan how to enhance your life-work balance and build resilience

Think about your own personal well-being – of which your health is the foundation

In order to best prepare yourself for this rapidly changing world of work, here are things to consider:


THE TIGERS WHO TOOK ON EL MERK

The Tigers in May 2012 from left: Nabil CharifOrlando Gagarin Ali Rammal Noureddine Mira Aziz El Garmi Omar Lahcene George Akl Ahmad Sonbol Elie KaramAlain Al Achkar Michele Chaccour Abdallah Shalak Irakli SanaiaPhotograph by Ali Rammal

Few could have predicted how challenging it would be to build the US$2.2 billion El Merk Central Processing Facility – the ‘jewel’ of the Algerian desert. By Rupert Wright


Nobody expected the construction of the US$2.2 billion El Merk Central Processing Facility in the Berkine Basin of Algeria to be straightforward. But few anticipated just how challenging it would be. There were many hurdles to overcome, ranging from the sand that needed compacting before construction, to regional logistical problems caused by the world economic recession, to the political and social pressure caused by the Arab Spring.

Not least of the problems was the sheer scale of the project.

“There were eight different contractors working on the El Merk project – including Petrofac – which required significant cooperation among the project management team and the various contracting companies,” says John Adams from the Anadarko Algeria Company, who was project manager. “There were also regional challenges to overcome to ensure the import of goods and services, work permits for expatriate labourers, and finding qualified local workers and supervisors in a country with relatively high unemployment and labour strikes.”

Petrofac’s rolePetrofac won the contract to build the Central Processing Facility in March 2009.

As the world’s political and economic leaders were battling with the greatest recession since the Second World War, various groups in Petrofac sprang into action, grappling with a dilemma of their own: how to deliver an ambitious project on time and within budget.

EngineeringFor the first time in its history, a decision was taken to have the engineering work

done by a number of work centres. Co-ordinated by the Sharjah office, teams in Mumbai, Chennai and Jakarta all contributed to the process of detailed engineering. K Ramana Murthy, an engineer at Petrofac, was in charge of an engineering team in Chennai, central to the whole project.

The Chennai role involved detailed engineering in three areas: utilities – which included instrument air, nitrogen and plant air; the residue gas compression; and the gas dehydration. “We kicked off with a meeting in Sharjah, where we agreed on a division of responsibility, scope of work and decided on a technical document register,” says K Ramana.

The project was monitored through weekly conference calls. While it was an unusual approach to have different offices involved, it was decided that it was the best approach due to the scale of the project and the need to progress quickly. K Ramana says that it helped that

engineers “all speak the same language”. With so many teams involved it was

inevitable there would be differences of opinion. “I remember that there were disagreements between team members in Chennai and Sharjah,” he says. “My job was to try to resolve this, keep cool and tell them how to move forward. It’s difficult; you have to talk to people softly, but impress on them the urgency of getting it done.”

At the peak of operations there were more than 70 engineers in Chennai working on the project.

While K Ramana was busy on the engineering, the procurement team in Sharjah was swinging into action.

Procurement “We began the procurement process at the beginning of 2009,” says AS Suryakumar, deputy director of procurement. “It was the start of the global recession and we were able to take advantage of the falling prices of raw materials. There were substantial discounts to be had; it must have been the best time for procurement in the history of Petrofac.”

The recession also helped with delivery times, as factories were not full of orders. “We made best use of the circumstances; I don’t think we’ll have another opportunity like that.”

The procurement team came up with some innovative ideas that have since become standard practice at Petrofac. The first was to book copper for the cables, instead of buying cables themselves. Not only were there

significant cost savings, but six months later, the price of copper (and also copper cables) almost doubled. “Now we do this for every project,” says Suryakumar.

The other innovation was to split critical items up by categories when ordering them, rather than just selecting one supplier. For example, when buying valves, requirements were split into size, pressure rating and metallurgy, and then chosen from a range of suppliers, rather than just one. This resulted not only in better prices, but also in better quality and timely delivery of the goods across the board.

The major procurement work lasted from March 2009 until the end of 2010. And having placed orders within budget, they then had to overcome another challenge: logistics.

The site is more than 1,000 km from any of the three ports used: Algiers, Skikda and Annaba. The procurement team also discovered that the Algerian customs had a different mindset to what

they were used to. There was a frequent turnover of people at their end and even the documentation kept changing.

“We’d find that one time we could get an item into the country,” says Suryakumar. “The next time, with exactly the same forms, we could not. It was quite frustrating. For the first six months we were literally on our knees. But eventually we started to get a grip on it and after a lot of hardship we succeeded in getting our materials into the country.”

Another problem was that materials went missing from the site. “There was nothing we could do about this,” says Suryakumar. “Due to the high number of construction contractors on site the materials were sometimes difficult to track and we had no option but to buy the goods again.”

ConstructionKhaled Ghabboura, project director of construction, arrived at the site in October 2010. Some underground piping had

El Merk: The Bigger Picture

AS Suryakumar, Deputy Director of Procurement, based in Sharjah

The site was developed and is operated by Groupement Berkine, a joint venture of Sonatrach and the Anadarko Association (comprising Anadarko, Maersk Oil and Eni) on behalf of themselves and the other El Merk partners ConocoPhillips and Talisman (Algeria), to build the surface facilities needed for the exploitation of hydrocarbon liquid reserves from reservoirs in Blocks 208 and 405a in Algeria. The project is located in Block 208, 90 km south of the Sonatrach/Anadarko-operated Hassi Berkine South facility and over 1,000 km from the coast. Planned as the region’s production hub, El Merk would process an estimated 98,000 barrels of oil, 29,000 barrels of condensate, and 31,000 barrels of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) per day; and a natural gas liquids (NGL) train with a nominal capacity of 600 million standard cubic feet per day. The specification for the CPF built by Petrofac also required it to process 500 million standard cubic feet of residue and re-injection gas compression and approximately 80,000 barrels per day of produced water treatment and re-injection facilities.

Khaled Ghabboura, Project Director of Construction (left); Mulpuru Prasad, Commissioning Manager (right)

Compare the aerial view of the CPF and camp in July 2011 (below right) with the photograph of El Merk in March 2013 by Ali Rammal (above)


been built, along with a drainage system, but it was no more than 16% complete. There was still much work which had to be done.

“I had to totally re-think the organisation structure,” says Khaled. “We had eight major subcontractors who needed to be integrated with our own team to build one solid team.”

His work involved educating the subcontractor workforce about Petrofac’s stringent approach to health and safety, good practices and also ecology. He also divided the scope of work among six area managers, who had to take responsibility and report in every day. At the peak there were more than 8,000 workers on site at six different camps. The workforce was 90% Algerian workers, with the remaining 10% comprising 40 different nationalities. Khaled went regularly to the different mess halls to eat with the workers and organised activities such as barbecues in the desert.

“Of course we had to be culturally sensitive – and smart!” he says. “But it wasn’t always straightforward.”

One of the biggest challenges for the project was dealing with labour strikes in the sub-contract workforce. There were four major strikes during construction and even though the workers involved were not working directly for Petrofac, it still slowed down the project.

“The strikes were difficult, there were no rules on how to deal with them, and they are organised just as in France,” he says.

“They blocked the camps and the site and we had to go and support our sub-contractors’ management teams

in their negotiations with them.” The longest – and most difficult to

resolve – strike lasted 37 days. It also came at a very critical time, as the plant by then was 60% complete. In the end the camp had to be shut down.

“For me it was a very exciting time to be in Algeria,” he says. “It wasn’t easy, but it was interesting, to be working in the desert, meeting lots of different people.”

Commissioning“I arrived in June 2011,” says Mulpuru Prasad, commissioning manager. “It was still in the construction stage at that time, just above 60% complete.”

The schedule was very tight, and there was mechanical completion still to finish. The pipes needed cleaning and all the pre-commissioning activities were at an early stage. There were electrical and instrumentation activities taking place, as well as the fitting of the control panels.

“Even though I had worked in Algeria before, it was difficult because it was extremely cold and extremely hot in the same day. We called the site team the El Merk tigers,” he says.

And Suryakumar agrees that the team put in place for the project was an extremely special one. “It was a major contribution to our success. Everyone felt we were working as one, and the interface with the other teams went beautifully, I’ve never seen that before or since.”

John Adams says teamwork was vital to the success of the project. “I’ve been on the management team of four mega projects in Algeria – projects requiring gross investments of more than US$1 billion in today’s money – and I think El Merk was the most challenging. It is especially satisfying for me because at 64 years old, this will probably be my last major project.”

A ‘mega’ achievementFive years on and the facility is performing well, working virtually at full capacity. It is producing oil, condensate, and liquefied petroleum gas together with a natural gas liquids (NGL) train.

During construction more than 1,000 km of electrical cable was laid, along with 1,200 km of instrument cabling, and 225 km of telecom cabling. A mega project indeed and proof that Petrofac can perform in the most challenging of conditions.

As John Adams concludes, “The El Merk Project is among the biggest and most satisfying of my career. I am very happy and proud of the outcome and the world-class project we delivered. It’s a jewel in the desert and we can all be very proud of what we have achieved.”

Mr K Ramana Murthy was in charge of the engineering team in Chennai

Marking First Oil on 15 March 2013 from left: Mario Torres (Petrofac CM), John Adams (Anadarko PM), Lahcene Bada (Sonatrach PM), Ahmad Sonbol (Petrofac FCM), Salah Mekmouche (Groupement Berkine – Operation), Salaheddine Messaoud (Sonatrach Comm Mgr), Ammar Nouacer (Groupement Berkine – Operation), Bill Savage (Groupement Berkine – Operation)Photograph byAli Rammal


“But also the agility and flexibility to adapt to market changes. That’s been one of my biggest career lessons.”

So how will these attributes come through in the Boardroom? Kathy believes in a strong moral compass, and an approach which is collaborative and supportive. “It’s important not to get caught up in fear or excitement, but to be inquisitive, with an emotional intelligence that allows you to manage risk. Being a long-term, strategic thinker is key.”

As for the challenges ahead? “I think being able to balance innovation and process so they are complementary is important. Innovation naturally feeds

companies and people. Process allows companies to manage their profits, manage the risks that come with it and re-invest their capital for growth. Innovation and process used

together can enable sustainable growth.”There are external pressures outside

the sector to which Boards must also be attuned. Kathy worries about future leaders, and whether they will possess the requisite skills to provide leadership in a world which is evolving so fast that it is almost impossible to define what skills will be necessary. She identifies the digital space as a compelling competitive advantage; but one which is evolving at such a pace that companies have the double challenge of managing the cyber risks that could cripple them, as well as the opportunities that embracing new technology could deliver.

With seats on the advisory board for Samsung Oil & Gas USA Corporation, Parallel Petroleum LLC, and a trustee of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, Kathy has a busy portfolio, but manages to relax with pilates, cycling and travel. She meets her challenges by staying true to the mantra that has helped guide her through life since she was a child.

“My father had a good friendship with a famous American football coach named Vince Lombardi. When I was four years old my dad sat me and my three siblings down in front of a film of Vince’s pre-match speech to his players. His mantra was about the ‘second effort’. In the initial effort you get yourself motivated, but what’s required when you get knocked down and have to get back up again is the ‘second effort’ – and that’s what makes the real difference. I believe the first effort is what your parents instil in you, but life is really about the second effort. And that’s when you get to shake hands with ‘innovation’!”

“ LIFE IS REALLY ABOUT THE SECOND EFFORT”

Ask Kathy Hogenson what attracted her to the oil and gas sector and you get an odd answer. “It was my mother’s way of trying to talk me out of becoming an artist,” she laughs.

Growing up in the American auto cradle of Detroit, engineering was in the family’s blood. Kathy’s mother was a visionary who saw energy as being the future. She was keen for her daughter to use her maths and science skills, and take the career path which both her grandfather and great-grandfather had followed, and which had served the family well.

Kathy duly took the same route, sceptical but opting for a degree in Chemical Engineering, with Petroleum as a subsidiary. Then came a defining point: Kathy discovered geology. “I saw Mother Nature’s canvas laid bare, and I was captivated by its artistic science.”

Seeing a life ahead that allowed her to combine her love of art with her scientific qualifications, Kathy’s career took off. Spending her early years as a petroleum and reservoir engineer, her roles took her to Indonesia, Ecuador, Argentina, Australia and Korea, working with US and foreign based companies, including national oil companies.

Kathy assumed her first CEO role in 2001 at Santos USA Corporation, and held a number of senior roles in exploration and production technology at California-based Unocal Corporation, before setting up her own US-based company Zone Energy LLC.

Her 30 years’ experience gives her a great standpoint from which to view the sector, its challenges, and how, in her new role on the Board of Petrofac, she can help guide the business forward.

“What attracted me to the company was Petrofac’s leadership, approach to innovation and its results. When you look at its size, how quickly it has grown, I was really impressed with the accomplishment in terms of the collective action it must have taken, and the quality of execution. I’m very excited about the ‘evergreening’ of the strategy, and how Petrofac will continue to take advantage of the opportunities offered by technology advancements in LNG and deepwater. These are areas I believe are the future, and really play to the innovation Petrofac has already demonstrated it can deliver.”

Kathy is enthused by the opportunities that may lie ahead. She believes the role of gas in the world will grow. And, as energy reforms pave the way for further investment, she believes that Mexico, where Petrofac has been a first mover, provides abundant growth opportunities.

Kathy sets store by innovation, to keep a business nimble and responsive. “I think both as a business and a person you need self-belief and patience,” she says.

It’s the effort required to get back up again – and it’s the sports philosophy driving our new Non-Executive Director Kathy Hogenson.Interview by Alison Flynn. Photograph by Dylan Thomas

‘ As a business and as a person you need self-belief and patience – but also the agility to adapt’


‘OLD’ HANDIain Gordon, 49, is a control room technician for Total E&P UK, working on the Dunbar platform in the North Sea. He spent much of his early career onshore as an instrument technician at Peterhead power station, but when he joined Total in 1997, he did his first Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training (BOSIET) course.

In August, he attended Petrofac’s Survival training centre in Aberdeen to undertake his fourth one- day refresher course – the Further Offshore Emergency Training (FOET).

“I have always done my training with Petrofac – it was called RGIT in the early days – and it has stayed more or less the same in that time. Some of the equipment and procedures have changed but the basic fundamentals are very similar to what they were the first time back in 1997.

“A lot of my friends have progressed offshore during their careers, like I have. It went a bit quiet a few years ago; people stopped coming into the industry.

“But the investment has returned and things do seem to be picking up and more young people are interested in working offshore – but if you look around the lounge at the heliport it is still dominated by the over-40s.

“I don’t get apprehensive about the training but I can’t say I enjoy it – I don’t know

anyone who actually looks forward to it. The first time I did it I had a bit of an incident – I thought that a buckle had stuck – and that’s the sort of thing that makes some guys dread it.

“But luckily the support is very good. I’ve always thought the trainers are excellent, very professional. You know the divers are there if you did get into any difficulty, and you never feel in danger.”

Photographs by Ian Teh

IN SAFE HANDSWhether you’ve been working offshore for 20 years or are new to the industry, you still need to complete offshore survival training. Petrofac Training Services – home of the ‘RGIT’ – has been training the offshore industry in Aberdeen for more than 30 years. We talk to two recent delegates about their experiences

‘GREEN’HANDPaul Burgess, 26, has worked on the roads in Scotland since he left school nine years ago, but working offshore has always been at the back of his mind. To help him secure a job in the industry he booked holiday from his work and paid to come and train with Petrofac, taking advantage of Petrofac Training Services’ Survival Plus package, which bundles together the BOSIET

and MIST (Minimum Industry Safety Training) courses and is tailored for new entrants like Paul.

“I just needed a new career step. I’m getting married next year; my wife has just qualified as a nurse, and we decided that as soon as she’d sorted out her career, it was time to push mine forward. It’s not that I don’t have qualifications – I went to college to do a welding qualification and an introduction to engineering – it’s just that working offshore is something you’ve got to do in

order to get on around here. “The Survival Plus package

also offered 50% off the cost of another training course, and I’ve gone for the Greenhand course, which is for new entrants like me and covers basic lifting operations training, manual handling and helideck safety. You can’t beat Petrofac Training Services. But at £1500, it’s a big commitment so I need to start sending out my CV when I get home!

“I’m comfortable in the water – in fact I’ve got all my diving certificates – but I was

still apprehensive. I couldn’t sleep the night before. I watched all the clips on YouTube so I knew what it was going to be like.

“But the course was brilliant – really good. It really opens your eyes as to what could happen. And the trainers were spot on, very knowledgeable – couldn’t fault them.

“And you always feel safe. There is always someone there helping you through it. Hopefully now I can get myself a job offshore and begin working my way up.”


I got this calculator when I was just 12, and it’s been with me ever since. It’s a part of my working self.

It looks a bit like the way I feel; held together by insulating tape and marked by the passage of time.

It must have been quite a significant purchase back in 1982, a big investment by my parents – I suppose that’s why I carved my name into the back with the point of a compass, to warn off potential calculator thieves.

I used it at school and through my Chemistry degree. It sat on the lab bench next to me as I did my PhD and post-doctoral research and had numerous chemicals spilt over it. It came to the drilling rig with me when I was a petroleum engineer at Shell, and then helped me to check my computer simulations when I moved into

Do you have something which you take to work each day, and which says something about you and the work you do for us? Let us know, at [email protected]

I ALWAYS CARRY...MY SCHOOL CALCULATORSome of us have an item we take to work each day, which revealssomething about us and our lives.This issue: Matthew Harwood,our Group Head of Strategy.Photograph by Matthew Donaldson

reservoir engineering. As my career has progressed, the

numbers have got bigger – I’m now working in billions! – but the sums have got simpler. Nowadays it’s mainly just plus and minus (more plusses than minuses if possible), with the occasional multiply or divide for good measure.

Despite its tatty appearance, when I bring it out in meetings with other engineers, it becomes a talking point. Everyone seems to have a trusty old calculator lurking in a desk drawer! The older generation of engineers are like that, really fond of our old calculators, even though there’s now more processing power in a mobile phone.

Me and my ‘FX-82’ – we’ve been through so much together. I really ought to give it a clean – and perhaps a change of batteries!


BREAKFASTAROUND THE GROUP

Everyone starts their day in a different way – and with Petrofac people based right around the globe,here’s how some of your colleagues start theirs…

Barry SnowAberdeen

My Friday Special – a sausage, egg, hash brown and haggis roll served up with a side order of baked beans.

Camilla Winther Aberdeen

Yoghurt with muesli because it’s nutritious and healthy. Ryebread (with cheese) because as a Dane I just can’t live without it! Coffee goes without saying…

Rebeca RodriguezMexico

For breakfast I usually have a sandwich with healthy bread, ham, cheese or eggs – and a fresh fruit juice for vitamins.

Mohd Hadzrul Bin ZulkafiMalaysia

A traditional Malaysian breakfast called Nasi Lemak. The meal contains rice, a fried egg, cucumber and a spicy sauce.

Matthieu BillesMexico

A sandwich with wholegrain bread, ham, my favourite Mexican cheese called panela and Dijon mustard. I usually add grapefuit or melon too.

Mohd Dhiyauddin Assiddiq Bin Mohd ZaidMalaysia

Puri, an Indian dish made of rice flour and eggs, with a dhall curry with chick peas and beans and a fish curry to add some spice.

Kayvaan KermaniAberdeen

Since returning from a Floridian holiday, I now have waffles, with the usual maple syrup and vanilla sauce. My level of exercise has had to step up!

Yatish Thakur from Mumbai, may be 47 years old, but he has proven he’s still got what it takes to succeed. In May this year he won the coveted gold medal in the veterans’ discus throw at the 33rd Masters National Athletics Championship held in Kerala. He competed in four other events – the 100 m sprint, javelin throw, long jump and the 4x100 m relay race – but it was his impressive 25.96 m discus throw that brought home the gold!

Barrie Probert, a Principal Structural Engineer for OPO in Manchester, is undertaking a ‘Year of Challenges’ from which he and his family aim to raise £10,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

Since last November, they have completed:• a 10 km urban assault course around the Etihad Stadium in Manchester• a 67 mile cycle ride from Wattan-at-Stone to Hackney• The 5 km GOSH Race for Kids • a 75 mile cycle ride from the London Eye to Brighton• a 50 mile cycle ride from Liverpool to Chester

Barrie also took part in the London to Surrey bike race (page 48).

So far they’ve raised more

than £9,000 which includes a generous donation of £935 from colleagues in the Manchester office.

The Probert family were inspired to embark on their epic fundraising quest after Barry’s grandaughter Jayla had life saving heart surgery at GOSH at just 12 weeks old. Jayla, now one, has also been part of the fundraising efforts – completing the GOSH race for kids in her pushchair!

A YEAR’S EFFORTS

ENGINEERING FOR EXCELLENCE

“We’ve been working in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) since 2009,” says Louise Ferguson, Petrofac’s Head of Organisational Development. “From this, the Petrofac RAE Fellowship Programme was formed, initially to create 18 Fellowships over three years. Now in its fifth year we continue to provide: £9,000 as a contribution towards fees and living expenses; mentoring; a company-sourced project and a work placement to each individual selected to pursue a one-year Masters programme. 22 Fellows have been appointed, and eight have gone on to work for us.”

They join a growing list of Petrofac alumni (see right).

“This programme cemented our partnership with the RAE and it’s gone from strength to strength,” adds Petrofac’s Head of CSR, Gwen Folland. “We’ve sponsored the RAE’s Awards Dinner for three years

Jayla enjoying the GOSH race

and honoured five rising stars from within Petrofac who have made exceptional engineering contributions early in their careers.”

In an effort to make transformational changes around STEM – to influence young people’s views on these subjects and engineering in particular – Petrofac is sponsoring the RAE’s STEM Teacher Network. A national network of support for STEM teachers will be created; this will focus on engaging pupils aged 11 to 13 in STEM at a time when their interest is developing to help shape

their future choices.Gwen says: “We’re

beginning this programme in a small way in the UK with the appointment of two teacher co-ordinators. Each teacher co-ordinator can potentially influence around 850 pupils so the impact is potentially significant.”

“So far we’ve spent more than £400,000 with the RAE to develop internal capability and promote engineering. With skilled capability in short supply, and increasing demand, it’s been a good investment in our industry’s future,” concludes Louise.

2013 Mustafa Aljaf, Sean McKirdy Syed Shah, Chukwuka Maduekah, Abdul Zafar

2012 Oliver Seelis, Tania Alvarez, Samuel Lisney, Isaac Afonughe

2011 Sidney Abiodun, Alistair Bridges, Ali Izzidien, Hippolytus Zama

2010 Steven Riddell, Carl Asibey, Obiageli Iwugo, Swetha Nama, Ali Abdi, David Ntoko

2009 Fidelis Mugabe, Liesel De Temple, Elaine Donegan

Peo

ple

GOLDEN YEARS

Hemant GorSharjah

My breakfast keeps me energetic and fit for my job. It consists of local dates, walnuts and homemade chapatti. I drink around 1.2 litres of water before breakfast.

Petrofac’s RAE Fellows:

In the next edition, we’ll find out how colleagues travel to and from their workplace. If you’d like to be featured, please send a short description of your work journey along with a photograph of yourself and your usual mode of transport to [email protected] before 30 November 2013.

People


WORKING WITH A VISIONcuriosity and engineering know-how alive.”

He has worked on some of the world’s heaviest offshore lifts and largest pipelines, for companies such as Micoperi; Saipem (where he worked on the Saipem 7000); and Saibos, where he managed the new-build of their first multipurpose deepwater vessel, the FDS.

In 2010, Kimon was appointed Senior Vice President at Saipem, managing their entire offshore fleet and more than 4,000 employees. And he has worked in locations including Europe, West Africa, Brazil and South Africa.

“But apart from some previous visits to construction yards,” he says, “this is my first time working in the Middle East.

“People here are curious

about deepwater offshore, because it’s not yet a big ‘brand’ for us in the Middle East. But it will become so, and I’m bringing the experience and knowledge to make it so.

“There’s a great atmosphere in the office here – and also, really good weather!”

After 30 years in the industry, Kimon still loves his job. “It’s very, very nice work,” he says, “being in front of challenges and problems.”

He’s particularly interested in innovation, with several patents pending as an inventor in his own name. “You have to have a vision,” he explains, “to see something that other people have not thought about.”

And his current vision? “For our new vessel to still be an industry leader in twenty years’ time.”

Vice President of Subsurface in the IES Technical Directorate, Sayma Robbie has now relocated to Bucharest to become the Country Manager for Romania. Sayma is now responsible for leading and managing all aspects of our Romanian business including our important production enhancement contract (PEC) at Ticleni.

Three years into a 15-year contract, Petrofac is applying its subsurface capability to grow production at Ticleni, and Sayma’s strong background and expertise in petroleum engineering will be key in helping further unlock the potential of future production.

Sayma said: “Ticleni is fascinating because of its age,

complexity and unique challenges. With PEC contracts we squeeze maximum production from older assets and create value for our customers who are free to concentrate on larger fields. We’re paid a tariff per barrel for production [above a particular quota], so it’s crucial we maximise performance because that’s what creates value for Petrofac.”

Sayma is relishing the challenge of using her experience in her new role, having spent the last 18 months establishing and developing a high quality sub-surface function aimed at supporting our global IES projects’ portfolio.

Her previous role at Dubai Petroleum, leading a team halting the decline of a giant

mature oil field, will stand her in good stead.

“It’s great to be able to move between roles where you are helping develop the company’s expertise to support an evolving growing business offering, and then you’re able to put that into action in an operation, in a way it benefits both the customer and ourselves.

“As importantly, the role of Country Manager is also about forging long-term relationships with our customers, communities and key stakeholders in ways that cement our integration into our host countries as a long-term partner.

“This is a new dimension for me, but one that I look forward to developing over the coming months.”

Kimon Ardavanis has been appointed to the role of Senior Vice President, Offshore Assets and Marine Operations, based in Sharjah.

Initially, his role will be to lead the build of our new top-end deepwater combination vessel once it has been ordered, and to grow a first-class team to do so.

Kimon has had a distinguished, 30-year career in the oil and gas industry, with extensive expertise in the offshore sector, encompassing both deep and ultra-deep waters.

He graduated (with honours) in Genoa in 1982 as a Naval Architect – the same career as his father, and one he had wanted to pursue himself since school.

“I am still very passionate about engineering,” he says, “and I continue to keep my

BACK IN THE FIELD

‘This is a new dimension for me, but one I look forward to developing’

‘It’s very, very nice work, being in front of challenges and problems’

A local community training programme developed by our CSR team in Saudi Arabia was recently recognised at the 2013 CSR Peer Awards in London. The project, which involved training more than 200 young unemployed men and women in Saudi Arabia, was one of 12 finalists from more than 300 entries.

The team, led by Daniel-Brian Murteza and Bashar Ghrawi, designed and sponsored a six-month training programme, delivered by the local Chamber of Commerce, to develop HR and administration skills.

Around 50 women completed training and 12 are now working for the company. Some of the young women were physically challenged and the training helped to develop their self-esteem.

At the conference and awards ceremony, Daniel talked to attendees about how providing this training and helping Saudi women to enter the workforce is dispelling stereotypes, changing perceptions, developing people, and changing lives.

BLOOD, SWEAT AND GEARS

A desire to improve the lives of children and young people inspired four colleagues from the UK’s Woking and London offices to get out from behind the desk and onto the saddle. “I had a fantastic day yesterday,” writes Mike Cannavina, in an office email to his Petrofac IES colleagues in London after completing the 100 mile cycle ride from London to Surrey – the same route taken by some of the world’s best cyclists who competed in last year’s Olympic road race.

The event, which took place in August, started at the Olympic Park in London and

Mike CannavinaHead of Facilities Engineering and Asset Integity, IES, LondonFinish Time: 7 hours 45 minutesFunds raised: £2,300 for Whizz Kids, a UK charity that helps children with mobility difficulties.

“I had never cycled more than 10 miles before! I started training in April and it was difficult, but the highlight was the sprint finish down the Mall to the cheering crowds.”

Nigel BlairCivil and Structural Consultant, ECS, WokingFinish time: 6 hours 01 minuteFunds raised: £1,000 for Eikon, a Surrey-based charity that provides support to vulnerable young local people and their families.

“I’m the Chair of Trustees for the Eikon Charity so I was delighted to support them by participating.”

Lisa LewisPA and CSR Coordinator, ECS, WokingFinish time: 8 hours 35 minutesFunds raised: £1,700 for the Richard Cloudesley School which supports children with educationally significant physical disabilities and special education needs.

“I’m so pleased I completed the race, I had two punctures and my chain come off, but I didn’t let it deter me!”

Matthew AllenSenior Project Engineer, IES, WokingFinish time: 7 hours, 02 minutesFunds raised: £1,100 also for Whizz Kids. “I raised over £3,000 by cycling for children in Romania earlier in the year, so I wanted to do something similar closer to home.”

SAUDI AWARD

around 20,000 cyclists rode through the City’s traffic-free streets before heading out into the surrounding countryside of Surrey. A gruelling 100-miles later, the finishing line was in sight, and cyclists were inspired to complete the last few miles as they sprinted down the Mall towards London’s most famous address: Buckingham Palace.

Each cyclist was individually timed using an electronic tag attached to their bicycles. Mike, and three colleagues from our Woking office, all finished the race and raised funds for charity. We asked them about the experience:

Nahida Basu receives the Award for paper recycling

Nigel Blair from the Woking office – our fastest finisher

WASTE PAPERWIN FORSHARJAH

A team in Sharjah has won recognition at the 2013 Emirates Environmental Group’s Annual Waste Management Awards.

Nahida Basu, HSSE and CSR Adviser started a responsible recycling initiative in Sharjah in 2006 – and over 300 tonnes of waste paper

have since been recycled.Roger Carter, Petrofac’s

Group Head of Environment, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for our Sharjah team. They have shown a real commitment to reducing paper waste and to sustainable environmental practices.”

20,000 entrants in a 100-mile London-Surrey cycle race included several riders from Petrofac

Success for the CSR team

People


2013 EVE FINALISTSANNOUNCED

More than 160 applications were received this year and now 21 teams and individuals have made it through to the final stages of our annual EVE awards programme. The winners will be unveiled at a ceremony held during our annual leadership event in November.

Safe:– Controls and Instrumentation

Team, OEC– Environmental Response

Consultancy Service Team, PTS– Control of Work Team, OPO

Ethical:– Prasad Kadam, Quality

Assurance, ECS– James (Andy) Slater, Deck

Foreman, OPO– Woking Mentoring Team, ECS

Innovative:– Euan Cameron, Rotating

Equipment Engineer, OPO– Harweel CRA Trunkline Team and

Weld Overlay Valves Task Force Team,OEC

– MS Kamalakannan, Lead Engineer – Telecommunication, OEC

Responsive:– Manohar Muniasamy, Senior

Engineer – Telecom, ECS– Apache Flowlines Team, OPO– In Salah Gas Evacuation Team,

OEC/Corporate Services

Quality & Cost Conscious:– Himanshu Chanchal, Senior

Engineer – Civil & Structural, OEC– Bekok C Restoration Team,

ECOM Malaysia– Electrical Task Force Team and

Team JI-2015, OEC

Driven to Deliver: (indivdual) – Mantosh Bhattacharya, Technical

Specialist – Rotating, OEC– Katrina McLaren, Customer

Operations Manager, PTS– Jack Douglas, Head of Design,

OPO

Driven to Deliver: (Team)– PM304 Seismic Acquisition Team,

IES– Berantai Field Development Team,

IES/OPO/OEC– Zadco Smartplant Enterprise Team

BEHIND THE LENSOnce again you’ve proven we have extraordinary photographic talent in our midst. It was difficult for the judges to choose from the 2,500 images submitted to the Picture Petrofac competition with these entries being shortlisted at this stage of the competition. The final 13 winners will be announced later and their images will be used in our 2014 calendar.

A chance encounter at the tender age of 12 with a library book on engineering, while waiting for a lift home from school, set the course for the career of Rachel Hodges.

Throughout her teenage years, Rachel rebuffed attempts to dissuade her from a profession no one else in the family had ever entered.

And her tenacity paid off when, in July, Rachel, 38, was promoted to managing director of specialist energy and environmental consultancy TNEI, part of Petrofac’s Engineering & Consultancy Services.

An electrical and mechanical engineer, Rachel held posts in design of wave energy devices, household switchgear and washing machine controls, before a three-year stint in New Zealand, where she ventured into power engineering.

A highlight of her work there was an award-winning redesign of a cable-laying ship from telecoms to power cables, delivered and ready to sail in just four days.

She joined TNEI in 2005 as a technical consultant. Roles have also included project manager of the hydrogen mini-grid project, and technical delivery consultant

for a high-profile project in offshore wind, sponsored by the Carbon Trust and five of the big offshore developers.

Rachel has been offshore wind lead at TNEI for the last four years and most recently was business development co-ordinator, managing strategy for TNEI.

Rachel said: “I love a working environment where you have the freedom to innovate and learn. This is the culture at TNEI, and which Petrofac has also encouraged since it bought us in 2010.

“The team is very supportive and I realise at least once a week how fortunate I am to be working in a job I love so much.

“My objective as TNEI’s MD is to build on TNEI’s excellent reputation and fantastic team to win and deliver interesting work and create a strong position for Petrofac in offshore renewables.”

MAKING WAVES

‘I love a working environment where you have the freedom to innovate’

Lake Fewa in Pokhara, Nepal, a Picture Petrofac entry from Lucy Pinkstone, a PA in the Jermyn Street office, London. “The combination of early evening light and lingering mist really added to the tranquil atmosphere at the lakeside.”

This taster of the standard of this year’s entries, along with other spectacular images, can now be found on PetroNet

Rachel Hodges, now managing director of TNEI

ShortlistAkshay GajendragadkarAlagar RamanujamAlex MolyneuxAmer KahwajiAmit Ashok AtakAndy MaddrickAndy MalcolmBhavesh PanchalDave JonesDave SmethurstDavid StanierDeepak TanwarGiridar RamaiyengarIan ChalmersJayson SedaJeffrey Gamby-BoulgerJivendra PatilJon RogersJulianto Djati WaluyoKelvin TingKhaled Al RamadanLuanne TanLucy PinkstoneMahdi MuhsenMairita JonikaneMark Yacoub KaramMichael FullerMohammad TibiMohd Pasha Bin Abd RazakMuhammed Basheer VaikilerintavidaMuhannad AssafNithyaChellappanPaul HamletPeter WoodwardQiong WangRadhakrishnan LakshmiI PrabhaSeema ChatterjeeSharifa Hamed Al QasmiShirish Gopalrao ShuklaShrikant GajendragadkarTom McLarenTony BurgumVinu V ThadikaranWan Muhd Fahmi Wan ZakiZaidi Bin Che Li

1 | Petrofacts October 2013

Our island story‘Shetland finds itself hosting one of the UK’s biggest construction projects since the London Olympics.’

Farewell from a founder‘I went through the ranks, always a hard hat job, lead and manage from the front.’

The Tigers who took on El Merk ‘It’s a jewel in the desert, and we can all be very proud of what we have achieved.’