Gulf foothold for tech firm
BREAKTHROUGH technology company Tracerco is to open a base in Abu Dhabi - the financial powerhouse of the oil rich United Arab Emirates - as it strengthens its foothold in the Middle East’s oil extraction and processing sectors.
In what Billingham-based managing director Andy Hurst described as a vitally important strategic move for the company, Tracerco will open a technology centre in the Mussafah industrial district to speed up delivery of its services to clients in the region, previously supplied by Teesside.
Tracerco opened an analytical centre in Oman two years ago, but its arrival in Abu Dhabi signals an aggressive pitch for new business in a region cushioned from the worst effects of the global credit crunch.
Mr Hurst, who was about to embark on a tour of Middle Eastern states, said: “Abu Dhabi is a good launch pad because it is not only fairly well endowed with oil and gas reserves in its own right, but it’s a good conduit for business in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and even Iran.”
He said it was easier to do business with Arab states if they perceived you to be a “local firm”.
“By being local we will be much more attractive to some of the national oil companies that dominate in the Middle East.
“The move takes us right into the heart of the world’s largest centre for oil and gas production and, increasingly, petro chemicals processing because Middle Eastern national oil companies have been determinedly investing in petro-chemical facilities to take them further down the value chain. They are producing more and more hydrocarbon products,” he said.
Despite oil prices falling to $60 a barrel from a high earlier this year of more than $120, and new Middle Eastern drilling projects reaching a plateau, Mr Hurst said he believed the sector was insulated against a downturn.
“Oil and gas will stand up better than most other sectors because, in the long term, the fundamentals of supply and demand dictate that there will be upwards pressure on oil price.”
He said ongoing demand from China and India would ensure expansion as these countries “are not going into recession - they’re just slowing down from double digit growth”.
The Abu Dhabi office will be managed by Tony Hood, Tracerco’s business development manager for Middle East and North Africa and Middle East regional manager, Hamdan Saleh. They will be joined by about half a dozen scientists and engineers seconded into the region while the company recruits and trains local staff.
Last month, Tracerco, part of the much larger Johnson Matthey group, announced it had won a £1m contract on the back of a breakthrough development in subsea technology, which will be used for the first time by Aker Solutions in the StatoilHydro-owned Ormen Lange gas field in Norwegian waters of the North Sea.
The company specialises in developing bespoke measurement technology for bulk fluids and process systems.
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