Wayne Jones, chief sales officer at MAN Diesel & Turbo speaks to Pipeline Magazine about increase efficiency and lower the environmental footprint of hydrocarbon production and processing
Wayne Jones, chief sales officer at MAN Diesel & Turbo speaks to Pipeline Magazine about increase efficiency and lower the environmental footprint of hydrocarbon production and processing
How long have you been involved in the oil & gas sector?
MAN Diesel & Turbo has been a strong partner of the oil and gas industry for almost 40 years. Across the Middle East, we are able to look back on numerous projects with EPC contractors, as well as with state owned and international oil and gas producers. More than 450 of our machines are installed in the Middle East region. I personally have been working in this sector for over 25 years.
What area do you focus on?
Our product range includes compressors and expanders, as well as industrial gas and steam turbines for downstream, midstream and upstream applications. This unique range of portfolio makes us a system partner for the industry where we can support through the entire life cycle of the asset.
Where are you located within the Middle East / GCC region?
Dubai is our regional centre for all business operations in the Middle East and Africa. In 2017, we opened our new office increasing our local workforce to over 100 employees. We are also operating MAN Primeserv workshops in Dubai, Fujairah, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Kenya and three in South Africa and we are expanding our network in the region with a new workshop in Oman which will open in the next few months. We want to be able to offer maximum flexibility to our customers as local as possible and we will continue to invest to support this goal.
What is your outlook for the oil and gas sector?
I still believe that the industry will be under severe pressure for the next two or three years. Therefore, from an economy based on oil and gas, we are developing towards a largely decarbonised future. With oil prices under pressure, efficiency will become even more important for all companies operating in this sector. This trend works to our benefit, as efficient technology is what the MAN brand stands for since 1758.
Our groundbreaking subsea technology for instance has just been awarded the Platts Global Energy Award. It reduces the carbon footprint and increases the efficiency of exploration. Furthermore, we offer technologies like the modular and scalable ReTPac® (Refinery Train Package), which addresses the increasing need for flexibility and cost efficiency of the refinery industry.
On the way to a carbon neutral global economy natural gas will, without doubt, fuel the first phase of that change, significantly lowering the carbon balance of energy generation and global transportation.
A good example of this is how the oil and gas industry is increasingly investing in the processing of accompanying gases, which until now have often been ‘flared off’. Along with the clear economic advantages of this process the environment obviously benefits greatly from reducing flaring and venting. For this purpose, nine MAN compressor trains will be deployed in Kuwait’s Burgan Field for the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), enabling to process accompanying gases and improve the quality of the oil produced.
In future we will further fortify our position as transformational partner of the industry offering solutions to increase efficiency and lower the environmental footprint of hydrocarbon production and processing.
What are you looking towards in the coming year, in terms of your business outlook?
Overall the market situation will remain challenging, but we expect a solid year. With regards to the Middle East region, MAN will further expand its local connections and continue to be a strong partner for the industry in this region. Also we will continue to play a leading role in decentralised energy generation, e.g. in Saudi Arabia where we are engaged in many projects.
Source: Pipeline ME
