Services to match momentum

Egypt

TOGY talks to Mohamed Mostafa, chairman and managing director of Egyptian Petroleum Services Company (EPSCO), about opportunities for services companies in Egypt’s expanding hydrocarbons activities and how the company plans to develop as a regional services player. EPSCO is a services provider working mainly in the oil and gas industry.

How are services companies taking advantage of the momentum in Egypt’s oil and gas industry?
The services that we provide can be divided into traditional and technical services. Some we do by ourselves, especially the more traditional services. As for the technical ones, we have a protocol with some specialised contractors that we work closely with, entering tenders with them to win contracts. The higher the oil price, the more activities there are – activities that require more of our services. Most Egyptian services companies try to match their service provision to oil price fluctuations.
We can offer most of the services needed to support exploration and drilling operations, for both oil and gas. We can also offer other services concerning production and refining, maintenance of electrical and mechanical equipment and also maintenance of oil wells, drilling and the implementation of the well itself. We also work in transporting petroleum in trucks – both crude oil and gas, but mainly crude oil.

How do you assess the Ministry of Petroleum’s modernisation strategy?
The petroleum minister is open-minded concerning the reorganisation of the sector, both for upstream and downstream, areas that need a lot of service provision. This strategy is also to position Egypt as an energy and services hub. This is tangible already. The first meeting of the recently established East Mediterranean Gas Forum was held here in Cairo in January. We can see these efforts are paying off by attracting investors from all around the world.
The modernisation plan also concerns Egypt’s petroleum services sector, for instance the availability of oil products such as petrol. We previously had a severe crisis regarding fuel products, but this was solved in 2014 and will never happen again. Now we have a strategic fuel products reserve and energy security is assured, for example if natural disasters occur.

What are the key points of EPSCO’s vision for 2030?
Our vision for 2030 is to be one of the major companies rendering petroleum services in Egypt and in the Middle East, delivering the very highest quality to all of our customers, through our technical and human resources. In order to achieve this vision, the first point is to have the appropriate human resources and working environment.
Secondly, we have to develop our profits and our resources. Third, we have to be able to respond quickly to market changes. Fourth, we have to expand our activities outside Egypt, to build new and powerful relationships with our internal and external customers and increase customer satisfaction. Fifth, we will build a powerful network of strategic, long-term relationships and co-operation with our subcontractors, partners and colleagues in the sector.
Beyond completing work professionally, we need to take care of risk management, economic sustainability and social responsibility. This is our vision, mission and strategy for 2030. We started work on this already by getting four ISO certificates in 2018.

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