Localising chemicals while enhancing oil production

Angola

Frecissimo Sarmento, district manager of ChampionX Químicos (CHXQ), talks to The Energy Year about how the company has expanded in Angola and its key clients and operations. ChampionX Químicos is the local Angolan entity of ChampionX, a chemical solutions and services company providing chemistry, technology and engineering support for upstream and midstream oil and gas operations.

How has CHXQ evolved its footprint in the country?
Our mission is to improve lives. We do this by unlocking energy in the countries we operate in, and we have been present in Angola since 2004 doing just this.
All of us at CHXQ live by our operating principles – always acting as customer advocates, working with a people-oriented approach, leveraging our robust portfolio of technologies to make an impact with our customers and always working to continuously improve. Together these principles are the secret ingredients to the success of ChampionX as a whole, and CHXQ’s evolution in Angola.
In the last 12 months, we have worked hard to deliver great results for our clients and retain our customer base. In doing so, we also achieved sales growth. The chemical industry has experienced significant challenges over the past few years, including challenges in procuring raw materials and the localisation of many services.
As the global energy industry continues to look for more environmentally sustainable operations, we are constantly seeking better, more efficient ways to deliver the solutions our customers need while also reducing our own environmental footprint.
In Angola we have sought to reduce the importation of chemicals by increasing our manufacturing capacity, blending more chemicals for our highly specialised formulations in-country and expanding our portfolio to meet the growing requirements of our customers.

Who are CHXQ’s key clients, and what are its key business operations?
Our primary operational facilities are in the northern region of Angola, primarily in Luanda and Viana, and our operating capacity is growing rapidly. As we continue to develop in the region, our workforce is expanding to manage the increased volume and support our ongoing commitment to local content.
In Angola we provide a full range of upstream and midstream chemistry products and services to IOCs and regional NOCs. We also have several supply agreements locally as a result of our supply chain efficiencies.
Our supply chain is extensive, efficient and well organised. We maintained an ample supply of chemicals to our clients and partners throughout the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic and were even able to support new customers. CHXQ is uniquely positioned in Angola, and we’re capable of delivering products for critical operations that demand immediate solutions.

What are the innovations the company is looking to bring to the table for its future development?
It is well understood in our industry that as fields mature, it becomes increasingly challenging to extract oil and gas and that production enhancement can be costly, both for the operator and for the environment.
As a global leader in production chemistry solutions, with decades of expertise, ChampionX provides industry-leading technology, unparalleled supply assurance and critical problem-solving in a safe, cost-effective and environmentally focused way. At a country level, a great example of this is a client in 2022 who used our emulsion viscosity reducer technology to increase production, leading to greater revenue.
With improvement in global oil prices, there is growing interest in chemistries that have the potential to capitalise on the industry’s positive momentum, supporting optimum operational efficiency while mitigating risk. A critical component of our innovation strategy is the identification of molecules that support operators to produce in a safer, more efficient and expedited manner.
We are actively engaged in multiple initiatives, working in collaboration with customers and partners to develop innovative solutions. We are enhancing our chemicals production by blending and finalising products locally, which serves to further strengthen our competitive advantages.
Furthermore, our digital tool offerings – which enable remote monitoring of process behaviour, enhanced comprehension of operations and timely troubleshooting – constitute a significant stride towards the future and will undoubtedly assist our clients in achieving their goals and requirements.

What are your expectations for the company’s growth, and what is the strategy you aim to implement to achieve it?
As a business, we are closely aligned with the endeavours of our customers. We tailor our short-term and long-term strategies to align with their business requirements, including our ongoing localisation strategy, which is well underway.
Our personnel are the determining element in all we do. Last year there was a special emphasis on people development at CHXQ, as well as safety and maintaining quality in the industry in which we operate.
Central to our strategy were internal trainings available to all business leaders that covered a wide range of technical aspects, such as phase separation, asset integrity, continuous improvement, digital capability and the principles of production enhancement. This dedication to developing our leaders and teams consistently yields benefits to our customers and the wider industry, ensuring that we continue to go from strength to strength in Angola and across the world.
We are optimistic about the future in light of the forthcoming midstream and downstream developments in Angola, and we have made some substantial in-country investments over the past few years to capitalise on the tremendous growth opportunities that we see here for our organisation.

What are your key goals for 2024?
“Goal Zero” for HSE is at the top of our priorities. We aim for zero accidents, incidents and environmental releases every day.
Ensuring we do everything possible, as a business, to secure the safety and wellbeing of our employees, we empower our employees with the right tools, programmes, procedures and training to protect themselves and each other. Our primary objective is to establish a safe working environment that benefits not only our organisation but also the communities in which we operate and the people who depend on us.
We intend to continue developing more environmentally acceptable formulations and our sustainability initiatives.
ESG initiatives will be an important part of 2024, with the aim of promoting greater welfare within our local communities. In pursuit of this, we have allocated resources to projects that support improvements to the supply of electricity and water, as well as establishing a community garden where individuals can procure fresh vegetables to enhance their self-reliance.
Finally, we are on track to build on the success of our technical exchange sessions in 2023 with the deployment of certain technologies to our clients in 2024, which for me and the rest of the Angola team, makes for a very exciting year to come.

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