Taking ICV to the next level

Abla Al Riyami was appointed to head the new In-Country Value (ICV) Directorate in Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) in the summer of 2014. She and her team are playing a key role in creating job and training opportunities for Omanis in the oil and gas sector, supporting the development and growth of local businesses and ensuring more of the industry’s wealth is retained in the Sultanate. Here, she gives a review of the directorate’s role and performance after its first year.

How has the first year of the new ICV directorate been in terms of successes and challenges?

Becoming the first In-Country Value Director was a totally different challenge to my previous positions, especially my last one as Gas Director. The first thing was to integrate the team seamlessly: ICV, which was new, and the Super Local Community Contractor/Local Community Contractor aspect. As part of our team building and focus, we spent time off site to develop the 2015 ICV Business Plan which provided the focus we needed to drive ICV this year. In parallel, we reviewed what was or not available in terms of ICV procedures and guidelines: these foundations are needed to ensure alignment and compliance in the organisation to what we wish to achieve.

What have your main priorities been?

Building team spirit and trust in each other was my first priority. Secondly, we had to prioritise what we were
going to focus on, having considered the entire multitude of ICV opportunities, requirements and challenges. Thirdly, there was a need to get smarter at how we organised ourselves in the various ICV sections and to proactively look at the work ahead of us with the limited resourcing available. In order to do this, we took the output from the Petroleum Economic Evaluation Programme 2015 and assessed all the expected ICV interactions with the business in terms of ICV strategy development and ICV tender evaluation, to name but two. That identified the workload ahead of us and assessed how many additional resources we would need if we were to address everything. It was quite apparent that we needed additional resources.

I also focused on getting closer to key directorates on helping them identify and agree their ICV strategy and plan and to measure their performance against plan. To date, I have been having regular 1-2-2 monthly meetings with the Well Engineering Director, initially Khamis Al Saadi, and then Mohammed Al Rashdi when he took over, and Husam Al Jahdhami, Contracting and Procurement Manager.  Most recently, we have started monthly one-to-ones with Engineering and Operations Director Abdullah Al Shuely and External Affairs Director Abdul-Amir Al Ajmi. Next year will see us work more closely in the same way with other directorates.

Another focused area was on stakeholder engagements. This entailed engaging not only government bodies such as the Ministry of Oil and Gas, Ministry of Commerce and Supreme Council of Planning, but also visiting a number of contractors both in the concession area and other industrial areas.

What are your personal targets in your new position?

There are many but here are the main ones:

•  To deliver the opportunities that the ICV blueprint (developed for Oman’s oil and gas industry) has identified to ensure we maximise the value retained within Oman

•  To work with key relevant stakeholders to ensure that our companies are sustainable and competitive now and in the future

•  And to encourage companies to propose truly innovative solutions for the Oman oil and gas sector and support these companies to ensure they commercialise any such opportunities and become part of Oman’s sustainable industry base.

We need to ensure that all our ICV activities are executed with total transparency and 100% integrity and that we build an ICV capability in PDO so that we can be recognised as a true centre of excellence for our industry and beyond.

In addition, we are seriously addressing how we can best support the introduction of new SMEs and help existing ones to ensure they are given the best opportunity to become commercial successes both locally and internationally.

Last but not least, we will work very closely with our colleagues in our National Objectives team to ensure that we maximise all training and employment opportunities for Omanis.

What can SMEs and entrepreneurs add to PDO?

The oil and gas industry is highly specialised. However, it provides indirect business opportunities for SMEs to participate in the value chain and they can add value in many ways. For example, some of the opportunities they could explore include:  the provision of office supplies, catering services, communication and technology services, construction, transportation, fabrication and welding services, to name a few. Moreover, SMEs can add value by
bringing new technologies and innovative solutions to address key challenges in the industry, as well as introduce efficiencies in operational activities.

How important is it to attract nationals to the oil and gas industry?

It is very important as every year thousands of youngsters come on to the jobs market.

If we look at the core strategic opportunity in ICV, it is to create jobs for skilled and unskilled Omanis. Much as our immediate focus is on delivering skilled Omanis to our contractor workforce and we are also investing time, money and effort in upskilling existing unskilled members of the Omani workforce. I would like to make it very clear that this is not PDO working in isolation; we rely on the on going collaboration and excellent co-operation with other oil and gas companies, and the unfailing support of the Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Higher Education and Ministry of Oil and Gas. We want Omanis trained to international standards, which will enable them to work not only in the Sultanate’s oil and gas industry but also GCC or anywhere they wish internationally.

We are gratified and proud that Oman is being singled out for praise although I will be much more happy when we can truly demonstrate consistent and widespread delivery of all the opportunities identified and yet to be identified. The successful countries are those, which have created sustainable industries, and therefore sustainable jobs, principally in the SME sector. We all know that a strong SME sector is the backbone to every successful economy, and so we need to invest and support our Omani companies to ensure they are sustainable and competitive locally, regionally and globally.

How much of a challenge is it to ensure that PDO gets the balance right between implementing ICV initiatives that make financial sense?

This is particularly challenging. We have said from the outset that ICV in certain circumstances will mean paying a premium and that this may have to continue in the short to intermediate term. We have also said it is not ICV at any cost and we look at this on a case-by- case basis and in certain instances we may have to award not to the lowest bidder, but, based on tenderers’ ICV plans, to the one that has offered the highest ICV over the contract period.  Naturally, we will monitor closely all such cases to ensure ICV is delivered.

When we look to the countries leading in what is commonly called ‘local content’, such as Norway, we see that they now have exceptionally robust local supply chains and a world-class oil and gas workforce, which are both being exported globally. This is our objective: to build a sustainable industrial/private sector base. We have cases within PDO where we paid a premium, but we are already seeing items manufactured in Oman and supplied to us now at significantly lower cost.

How is the Super Local Community Contractor initiative coming along?

The SLCCs, which carry out essential oilfield services, have provided an opportunity to spread the benefits of our industry to local communities in terms of job, training and investment opportunities. The combined capital value for the five SLCCs now stands at more than RO 23,210,893 million and they have 9,385 shareholders. During 2014, RO 90 million worth of work was executed by SLCCs and other Local Community Contractors and two SLCCs – Al Haditha and Al Sahari – were able to pay shareholder dividends last year.

We cannot rest on our laurels and we must sustain this success and I’m happy to say that a fifth SLCC is now being created for locals residing in the wilayats of Haima and Al Jazir.

What would be your message to young women looking to work in the sector?

Follow your dreams, follow your instincts. Everything is possible so long as you are willing to put the effort and focus into it. Success comes through hard work and challenging oneself to do your best; as you move up the ladder you need to create a good team to deliver and care for them as  your family; the only difference is the living environment. It is an exciting industry and there are many challenges all the time – you will never get bored if you like challenges!

(Source: Al Fahal, PDO)

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