The modernisation of marine offshore services in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

Ahmed AlQadeeb, managing director of Rawabi Energy, talks to The Energy Year about the company’s embrace of new technologies to optimise efficiency and support sustainability, as well as its recent digitalisation and plans for deploying hybrid propulsion across its fleet. Rawabi Energy provides offshore services, oil and gas services, and safety and field risk management services.

How is the company embracing new technologies to optimise efficiency?
Innovations are a strong part of our alignment with Saudi Vision 2030 and the Made in Saudi strategy. We are technology market leaders because we constantly introduce new technologies that support our performance while increasing safety, efficiency and sustainability. We believe in partnerships. Since the company’s restructuring in 2000, we have formed numerous joint ventures in order to transfer knowledge and technology into our own company.

What are Rawabi Energy’s most recent examples of digitalisation?
Rawabi Vallianz Offshore Service (RVOS), a subsidiary of Rawabi Energy, is the first offshore services company in Saudi Arabia to launch a digitalised solution for the Saudi national oil company’s drilling activities. This enabled us to be proactive, cost effective and more efficient, which results in us having a better response and an enhanced quality of services for our customers and a safer environment for our employees.
The implementation of our digitalised fleet monitoring centre, located at our headquarters, has also put us ahead of the competition. The first phase is designed to monitor the fleet’s operations. The second phase will directly intervene with the operations and increase their efficiency, and a third phase is planned to introduce artificial intelligence technologies that can help us safely support our fleet.

What is the company’s strategy for enabling hybrid propulsion across its fleet?
So far, we have converted a platform supply vessel and an anchor-handling tug supply vessel into hybrid propulsion vessels powered by electric batteries and diesel. This type of conversion had never been done before in either type of vessel. RVOS was the first company in the world to do it at this size. The conversion was performed in-house with the co-operation of the Finnish manufacturing company Wärtsilä, which developed the hybrid retrofit solution.
All of our newly built vessels are designed with the capability to be converted at any time to hybrid propulsion. The government and our clients have supported these initiatives by giving incentives to operators that convert older vessels into hybrid propulsion vessels, providing a competitive advantage for the operator. As a technology leader in the market, we are also helping other marine contractors in the country develop hybrid propulsion.

What are the environmental benefits of your fleet’s fuel management solutions?
We have applied a fuel management solution through our partnership with the US company Fueltrax. This allows us to monitor the fuel consumption in our vessels and optimise throttle performance, which has resulted in a 7.8% reduction in fuel consumption without disrupting operations.
As of October 2022, we had 23 vessels equipped with the Fueltrax system. This reduction in fuel use means we reduce our fleet’s CO2 emissions by 4 million kg a year. These emissions are equivalent to the amount of CO2 that 984 vehicles emit per year, or what a 737 aircraft emits in 50,000 hours of flying.
The vision of the company is to have this solution installed across the entire fleet. Multiplying this by the 150 current vessels in our fleet will give you an idea of how environmentally friendly we aim to be. Carbon-dioxide-reduction KPIs are an essential part of Rawabi Holding Group’s ESG report, and we are putting in place every possible tool and means to achieve and measure them.

To what extent can Rawabi Energy expand its fleet to meet the market’s growing demand?
We are capable of increasing our fleet at any time and growing the business to meet the national oil company’s demand for marine services. We are ready to invest and to capture any expansion whenever there is an opportunity. As an example, during 2022, 50% of the offshore support vessel acquisitions in the MENA region were made by us. We started in the marine business in 2012-2013 with two vessels. Ten years later, our fleet is about to reach 160 vessels. This is an indication of our plasticity and our company’s capability to grow its footprint in the marine business.

Why is it important for Saudi Arabia to localise its marine capabilities?
We are a Saudi company and own and operate our entire fleet. We align with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 by localising the marine industry and related services and our advanced technology in Saudi Arabia. Throughout the pandemic and lockdown, we distinguished ourselves by keeping all our vessels operational, demonstrating our commitment to consistent delivery. This underscores the significance of a localised marine industry for Saudi Arabia and reinforces our position as a reliable service provider.

What is Saudi Arabia’s advantage in geographical terms?
Saudi Arabia is in the centre of the world. We are situated at the heart of the logistical hub for worldwide trade. It is a great strategic advantage, as we can provide an essential link between Asia, Europe and Africa. We are looking to create a transport corridor through land, air and sea.
The development of the kingdom’s logistics strategy is aligned with this, and a great example is the establishment of free zones in the east, west, south and centre of the country, which will have very attractive corporate tax rates and investment opportunities.

What are some of the initiatives driving Saudi Arabia’s economic development?
As a country, we have ambitious goals to improve our economic standing and attract investors. As the kingdom aims to be among the top 15 global economies, the combination of government spending and investments is planned to reach SAR 27 trillion [USD 7.19 trillion] by 2030. To achieve this, we have undertaken various measures to create an investor-friendly environment.
Some of these steps are ensuring the transparency and clarity of our accounting practices, adopting International Financial Reporting Standards, having a clear taxing structure, providing clear regulations that allow foreign investors to have 100% ownership and establishing designated free zones to facilitate their operations. The kingdom has also implemented an electronic government system to make it easier for businesses to operate.
To support the growth of local companies, we have empowered them to collaborate with foreign counterparts through financial assistance and funding programmes, which promotes localisation efforts. These initiatives were previously absent, but now entrepreneurs can open their companies within 24 hours without unnecessary bureaucracy, eliminating unnecessary delays. Previously, such opportunities were limited, requiring a complex approval process.
The government is committed to facilitating the journey for investors by offering guidance and financial support based on their project’s cash flow and profitability without the need for immediate upfront payments.

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