| By John Funnell |
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| March 17, 2010 07:00 AM EDT |
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The MENA region has lead the way in the global oil and gas industry for some time now, but has this level of dominance made them complacent? Are they still in a position to compete with the emerging APAC region?
Well this week leading oil and gas executives from the APAC region met at the illustrious NG O&G APAC summit at Sentosa to discuss new technology and innovation which will allow them to close the gap on the Middle East supply.
2009 saw the biggest pullback in oil demand in history and the economic downturn saw oil consumption drop by 3 million barrels per day (bpd). 2010 has seen the global market splutter back towards relative normality, offering investment opportunities across the industry, which has been capitalized on by the attendees at the recent NG O&G APAC summit hosted by GDS International.
Industrialization and population growth in developing countries drive demand in the oil and gas industry, but a stable economy is a necessity for development, something that is finally beginning to appear on the horizon.
Growth also needs support, a good infrastructure and the harnessing of new and emerging technologies, a debate which will be key at the NG O&G MENA summit set in April.
The consortium looking to maintain the Middle East's hold on the market is chaired by Ali Singab, GM Exploration & Production at Emirates National Oil Company; Farouk Hussein Al Zanki, Chairman, Kuwait National Petroleum; Yousef Al Taher, Board Members, Operations; Dr. Mirza, Minister of Oil & Gas for Bahrain and Nabi Mukhtar, Head of Drilling at BAPCO. They are all looking at how we can improve business and operational performance while transforming data into actionable intelligence.
Business and operational leaders face a number of challenges related to diverse and non-integrated technologies and informational systems. Quite often they are overwhelmed by data overload and technology obsolescence issues. Such scenarios can lead to low ROI and missed business opportunities. In addition, emerging technologies and enhanced regulatory and safety compliance are adding to the complexity at a time of dwindling skilled resource bases.
“Consolidation in the sector is inevitable as larger companies take advantage of strategic opportunities. The positive trends that we have seen in recent months are likely to continue this year and the outlook for oil and gas transactions is healthy in upstream and oilfield services. This is a pattern which emerges globally by the Middle East, Africa and Asia – Pacific” Summit Director
Economically, more cooperation between the oils and gas sector's ‘big businesses’ would reduce the economic costs for the Asia–Pacific region thus reducing their reliance on the Middle East.
John Funnell has worked in online media for over ten years, after achieving his First Class BSC Hons Degree (BBC Sponsored), John won Bos 18-21 Princess Trust Entrepeneur of the year at 21, setting up Clean Living Records Ltd (including www.BeatReview.com) with great success having many acts that charted in Europe and Canada.
After selling the business John looked for a new challenge and joined GDS International, having a successful career in sales and Delegate acquisition, he worked up to Event Director EMEA, forging contacts with some of the biggest technology names in the world, this lead to John having a lead role in the creation of MeettheBoss.com and MeettheBoss.tv – the worlds largest business IPTV channel.
John then took over as Marketing and Communications Director and ran a multifaceted global Marketing team for GDS International in New York, Sydney, Kuala Lumper and the UK..
John joined Global in 2011 with the challenge of supporting its growth by developing a solid Marketing foundation through various Digital, PR and brand initiatives.
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