FACE TO FACE
WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM 3 - 30 AUGUST, 2019 CONSTRUCTION WEEK 27
and operations; he ultimately wants
NPCC to transform into an EPC major
across the energy industry, including
both downstream and renewables in
additional to its traditional focus on
upstream projects.THE FUTURE WITH RENEWABLES
“When I look at the future of the company,
we are planning to develop many sectors,
many areas,” Al Dhaheri says.
“We want to expand in downstream
and to have a bigger share in executing
onshore projects, and we are looking at
renewable energy, especially offshore
wind farms.”
Al Dhaheri says that NPCC has already
acquired a minority stake in a French
renewables company, and that the company
is currently identifying potential engineering
companies to acquire.
Although integration will be a large
part of the company’s future, NPCC’s
projects are primarily in the upstream
offshore segment, with onshore projects
taking around 10% of its total projects,
which he wants to boost to 20%.
While he aims to continue expanding
across the industry and geographies, he
admits that in the short term, the company’s
core markets will continue to generate
of NPCC’s revenue. After all, shifting
to an entirely new market segment will
come with its own share of challenges.
“It requires a completely new mindset,”
Al Dhaheri admits, noting that established
players already exist in this market.
“Working out of our comfort zone is
not going to be an easy journey, but with
the resources we have, I believe that we
can really penetrate this market.”
He is developing a dedicated team to
focus on renewables, with a set of targets
that differs from the rest of the company.
“We are embarking on a journey that will
involve many challenges, but it will enable
the company to grow to reach different
heights, to enter new markets, and to
develop new sectors,” Al Dhaheri says.
He believes that having the right strategy,
in addition to the right resources, will enable
the EPC company to maximise its share
in the market, which he characterises as
increasingly challenging and competitive.
“We cannot focus on the model that
we are used to, because the industry is
changing, and we have to adapt.”Umm Lulu is one of NPCC’s UAE
projects [image: supplied / OGME]. “All of these are challenges that any
EPC company would have to face.”
Every company in the oil and gas sector
has to take into consideration different
localisation requirements across the region.
Despite the fact that NPCC already has two
engineering centres in India, Al Dhaheri
says that the company will have to do
more than just that in the Asian country.
“I believe that you always need to be
agile, especially if you are operating in
different markets, because there are new
requirements being introduced by national
and international oil companies.”
In Saudi Arabia, as part of Saudi Aramco’s
Long-Term Agreement, which hastens
the bidding process for its partners, with
a focus on offshore brownfield projects,
NPCC has won 10 contracts worth a
combined $2bn.
In October 2018, NPCC signed an
agreement with Saudi Aramco to establish
a 50ha integrated fabrication yard worth
$42m in Ras Al Khair.
“Yes, we have the largest fabrication
yard here in Abu Dhabi, but in order to
have sustainable operations with Aramco,
we need to establish another yard in Saudi
Arabia,” Al Dhaheri explains.
“We are well-positioned for [Adnoc’s]
ICV programme, but when it comes to
operating in other countries, like Saudi
Arabia which has Iktva [In-Kingdom Total
Value Add programme], to maintain or
strengthen our position there we need
to do things differently.”
That includes investing in technology.
As the company looks towards North
Africa and Southeast Asia, it will have to
face deepsea projects. Al Dhaheri notes
that this is why the company has invested
heavily in offshore assets that can lay
pipes as deep as 2,000m.
But he has not overlooked digital
technology – NPCC has partnered with
industrial software specialist Aveva
and is entering into an agreement with
Microsoft Dynamics to work on digital
transformation in the back-office. For
a company with complex operations,
including its engineering and supply chain
management, this could mean savings.
“Today, it is all about managing every
single activity efficiently, managing resources
properly, and controlling costs,” he says.
To Al Dhaheri, growth means more
than localising and digitalising assets