The second day of the Egypt Oil & Gas (EOG) 2nd Upstream Operational Excellence Convention took off on December 3 with a strategic discussion on the implementation of the Ministry of Petroleum’s Modernization Program in all Egypt’s joint venture (JV) companies.
The panel, entitled “JV Company Modernization,” was moderated by Eng. Layla El-Hares, GM Development Egypt and East Mediterranean at Shell. Panelists included Eng. Abed Ezz El Regal, Head of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC); Eng. Osama Mobarez, Undersecretary for Technical Office at the Ministry of Petroleum; Eng. Mark Konecki, Region Operations Director at Apache; Eng. Alaa ElBatal, Bapetco Chairman; and Ms. Dina Fouda, Transformation and Value Capture GM at Shell.
Eng. El Regal opened the section remarking that the modernization of JVs is the first step to achieving modernization across the entire sector. “Bapetco is a good model to start with, as it took the lead on this issue,” he advised.
Commenting on Bapetco’s journey through modernization, Eng. ElBatal said the company has already implemented many of the steps recommended by the ministry’s program. “If we want to continue competing in the sector, we have to go through modernization. I advise all JVs to follow this model, as it is very important for the future,” he said.
According to Eng. Mobarez, the Modernization Program was created from the willingness to make successes achieved before 2016 sustainable.
In order to achieve this goal, Eng. Konecki stated that JVs should heavily invest in their human resources. “The industry here must develop leaders for the future,” he said.
Building on this, Eng. Mobarez emphasized that people and human resources are at the core of any reforms made to the sector. “We are talking about a transformation that is going to have a long journey, so we need the collaboration of all stakeholders,” he added.
For Ms. Fouda, “the ministry’s vision is all about unlocking the sector’s value.”
This value, however, cannot be unlocked without serious health, safety, and environment (HSE) management, Eng. ElBatal argued. “I want to ensure that Bapetco is giving a lot of attention to HSE, and we are willing to stop any business if we are not achieving our HSE requirements. We are not celebrating any success without HSE,” he said.
Eng. El Regal stressed his positive expectations for the future of JVs in Egypt: having companies fully digitalized, with everyone in the company having a clear vision for modernization and career paths.
By Mariana Somensi
