upstream partners
Technology
Overdrive
OTM Consulting’s general manager Crispin Keanie
on how to stay competitive and maximise your
R&D and technology investments
E
veryone wants more for their money, but sometimes
we don’t realise how much more we can get for it.
It can take a specialist advisory firm like OTM Consulting to really uncover the value of investments in
research, development, and technology.
Headquartered in the UK, the international consultancy is dedicated to advising the oil and gas
industry on technology management. It was
only in the summer of 2011 that the company opened its Middle East office to
service its local clients.
For OTM’s general manager,
Crispin Keanie, there are three
types of clients in the Middle East.
The first are the national oil companies in the region who, “almost
without exception, have been significantly growing their research
and technology activities over the past
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Oil&Gas Middle East March 2013
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five years.” The second are
the international oil companies which were the company’s principal client base until
a few years ago. Finally, there
are the technology developers who see the Middle East
as a large potential market
to launch their technologies
but are unclear on the specific technology needs of the
region.
Keanie’s exposure to the
technology market in the Middle East has afforded him
some valuable insight into
the major trends. First among
these, is the “shift in momentum within the global oil &
gas industry with new hubs
of focused research/technology activity taking-off away
from our traditional innovation
centres of North America and
Europe,” he reveals.
He highlights Brazil as an
example of a very exciting area
at the moment for its Deepwater technology with huge
investments in local R&D from
Petrobras, its production partners and key suppliers.
“In the same way, the Middle East is realising that it can’t
wait for others to tackle some
of its very specific needs and
requirements and is starting to
develop significant expertise
here in the region,” he says.
Secondly,
Keanie
has
noticed that the regional GCC
governments are all determined to advance the intellectual capital in the region to provide long-term sustainability to
their hydrocarbon dominated
economies. He suggests that a
key factor to achieving this will
be to continue the growth of
R&D, technology and innovation capabilities and capacities.
“This is a slow process, particularly as there still remains
the problem of growing local
capabilities fast enough and
so there will continue to be a
hybrid approach, linking into
leading institutes and companies around the world,” he
explains. “But all the GCC
countries are moving in the
right direction, driven by proactive government initiatives.”
Abu
Dhabi’s
Technology
Development Council, Oman’s
Technology and Research
Council and Qatar’s Science
and Technology Park, are all
examples of this shift in Keanie’s eyes.
Thirdly, Keanie believes
that there has been a change in
attitudes from external parties
within the industry towards
research centres in the region.
“In the past, some companies
have merely shown lip-service
to Middle East R&D and tech-
“The Middle East is realising
that it can’t wait for
others to tackle some of
its very specific needs and
requirements and is starting
to develop significant
expertise here in the region”
OTM general manager, Crispin Keanie
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Keanie says real technology development is now taking place in the region.
“Now, people are starting to
realize that serious R&D and
technology development is
being done and can be done
here in the Middle East”
OTM general manager, Crispin Keanie
nology centres, with the cutting-edge work still done back
in Europe and North America,” he remembers. “Now,
people are starting to realise
that serious R&D and technology development is being
done and can be done here in
the Middle East.”
Fourthly, says Keanie, as
with any technology development, there has to be significant end-user pull if any progress is going to be made. In
this regard, until recently, the
region hasn’t had the best
track record for application
of new technology. “However,
we’d see this as simple market
forces at work: if you can pro-
duce production quotas without the need for new technology, then why take the risk on
new technology?” he asks. “I’m
pleased to say that we’re seeing this attitude pushed out of
many companies with a growing realisation that technology
is and will continue to be a key
factor in providing long-term
stewardship of their resource
base,” he says.
The result has been an
increased interest in applying
new technology and an adoption of the necessary mechanisms to promote the uptake
of new technology. “Indeed, in
focused areas, such as onshore
seismic interpretation, aspects
March 2013 Oil&Gas Middle East
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Upstream Partners
OTM Consulting will be
exhibiting at MEOS for
the first time this year.
“With Saudi Aramco as the
leading player in the region in
terms of R&D and technology,
we’ve always found MEOS to
be an exciting venue with lots
of attention paid to the sorts
of things that we’re interested
in,” says Keanie. “And given
that we’ve now worked or
have contracts progressing in
all of the GCC, it seemed like
the natural move to raise our
profile at the regional level
with existing and potential
clients,” he adds.
of EOR, ICDs, large scale reservoir simulation we can confidently say that Middle Eastern oil companies are leaders
within the global industry,”
says Keanie.
Keanie believes that ultimately, the regional oil and gas
R&D and technology landscape
is currently going through a
significant growth period that
will continue for many years to
come. “It has a long way to go
to compete with traditional oil
and gas technology hubs,” he
says. “But the intent is there
and we’re already starting to
see some interesting outputs
as well.”
To meet the changes in the
oil and gas technology sector,
OTM Consulting offers four
key service areas:
The first is in providing
focused E&P technology market intelligence. “As clients
look to engage with and invest
in E&P technology they often
want a wider perspective than
they can obtain internally, or
via partners, so they turn to
OTM for an independent view,”
says Keanie. From R&D capabilities to state-of-the-art and
technology benchmarking the
company deals with technical areas from subsurface and
wells through to subsea facilities and gas processing.
The second is in providing technology and research
and development strategy
advice. As technology programs evolve, they can become
increasingly difficult to manage effectively, both in terms of
content and processes.
“Indeed, OTM’s analysis
shows that it isn’t how much
you spend on technology that
brings increased value, but
rather it is how effectively you
mange technology that dictates
“As clients look to engage
with and invest in E&P
technology, they often want
a wider perspective than
they can obtain internally,
or via partners, so they turn
to OTM Consulting for an
independent view”
OTM general manager, Crispin Keanie
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Oil&Gas Middle East March 2013
“I’d suggest the need to
clearly understand and
define the role of technology
for your company and
remain focused on followingthrough on the strategy to
deliver it”
OTM general manager, Crispin Keanie
how much value you realise,”
says Keanie.
The third is in supporting
clients as they commercialise
technology through reduced
time-to-deployment,
better
quality of technology application and better IP management.
“As the region develops, for the
first time, unique areas of IP
and technology, then the challenge of how to commercialise
effectively and how to maximise its value becomes an issue,”
he explains.
Finally, OTM Consulting
provides the unique service of
being proactively engaged with
technology practitioners and
actively facilitates the adoption
and uptake of technology via
25 pan-industry networks and
collaborative initiatives such as
standards development. Keanie
argues that the region is starting to collaborate more around
technology development but
there is still a long way to go,
and a key thing for OTM is to
ensure that the ME oil companies, as well as working well
together, are engaging effectively with the wider industry.
As a technology consultant,
Keanie does have some valuable advice for operators in the
region as they seek to maximise the value they gain from
R&D and technology:
“First I’d suggest the need
to clearly understand and
define the role of technology
for your company and remain
focused on following-through
on the strategy to deliver it,”
he says. In the technology and
R&D business, it is very easy
to get excited by an interesting
technology or a charismatic
champion, but if it doesn’t
align with your strategic direction then it can just be a distraction and potentially a large
drain on resources, explains
Keanie.
“Secondly, I’d suggest the
need to empower staff in R&D
and technology. There has
never been a more important
time to get and keep our best
people in R&D and technology as we seek to tackle the
ever increasing technical challenges within our E&P business,” he adds. But this is only
possible if they feel inspired
by management’s vision for
the role of technology within
the company, valued through
rewarding career pathways,
and encouraged as assets and
central research and technology groups work effectively
together to develop, adopt and
deploy new technology.
Two very simple suggestions for a very complex industry segment.
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