Innovation is vital for the future of the energy industry, something which oil and gas services and solutions company Al-Rushaid recognises. The firm works with international partners to adapt new solutions and technology and transfer them to the Saudi Arabian market. Drive across many oil and gas fields of Arabia and you’ll see a distinctive bright orange plume whooshing into the sky from a specially designed vertical pipe. Unfortunately, these plumes often leave smoke trails that can be seen for miles around. Oil and gas flares, as these flames are known, are a common aspect of production to release a build up of pressure in the plant.
Yet despite their prevalence, the flares really represent wasted resources and environmental damage. Increasingly, oil and gas production facilities are looking at ways of capturing this excess gas or dealing with it in a more environmentally-friendly manner.
A newly-developed “smokeless flare” is one solution to the problem. The technology enables excess gas to be released but reduces the waste and environmental impact of traditional methods. The technology was initially developed by an engineer from Saudi Aramco, and then licensed to US-based Zeeco, who in-turn partnered with the multi-faceted oil and gas conglomerate Al-Rushaid to bring the technology to the Saudi market and around the globe. Under the joint venture, Al-Rushaid has established a production facility in Saudi Arabia to produce the technology and ship the product to markets around the world.
The arrangement is typical for Al-Rushaid in many ways. For a start, it is constantly searching for new technologies to improve oil and gas extraction, refining, and energy management. It is also characteristic of the company’s structure; Al-Rushaid has more than 30 different joint venture and wholly owned subsidiaries.
Innovation and diversity
Al-Rushaid’s focus on innovation and development of new technologies neatly complements the company’s continual growth and diversification. The company began life in 1978 when Sheik Abdullah al-Rushaid, formerly an employee at Saudi Aramco, started his own business. From the beginning, many arms of the company were joint ventures with partners from around the globe.
Today the company partners with dozens of international companies and institutions to bring specialised products and services to Saudi Arabia. Often Al-Rushaid will supply the plant facilities and assist its international partner with access to capital, local and global manpower resources, and the Saudi Arabian and Gulf States marketplace of business.
“Because of our long-sustained relationships with the Saudi government and Saudi Aramco, we have access to market which many other companies outside of the region would not have,” explains Abdullah Al-Rushaid.
“The flipside is that many of these companies have interesting technology that can be deployed to this geographic region. Our company’s key value proposition is to transfer and deploy technology in energy and information technology industries to the Saudi Arabian and Middle East region,” says President and Vice Chairman Rasheed Al- Rushaid.
This arrangement means that Al-Rushaid maintains an integral place at the forefront of new technological developments. It continues to explore new areas of development, new technology and new partnership possibilities.
Again, this is characteristic of the company, which has barely sat still since its earliest days. After an initial 10 years focusing primarily on the oil and gas industry, Al-Rushaid began to branch out into related areas. Today the group has a diverse set of related enterprises including Arabian Rockbits & Drilling Tools, Al-Rushaid Trading Company, Ensco Arabia, Global Al-Rushaid, Cameron Al-Rushaid, NATCO Al-Rushaid, Weatherford Saudi Arabia, Flowserve Al-Rushaid, Al-Rushaid Construction, Cleveland Bridge Group, Dresser Al-Rushaid Valve & Instrument, Whessoe Oil and Gas, Al-Rushaid Petroleum Centre, and others.
Energy production remains Al-Rushaid’s core business, however, and it continues to form new partnerships and explore other areas of technology transfer. And while Al-Rushaid is primarily focused on energy from oil and gas today, the whole domain of renewable energy and efficient energy management is also part of the vision of the company, says Rasheed Al-Rushaid.
Saudi Arabia, has some of the largest reserves of hydrocarbon energy in the world and there’s a much greater consciousness here about conserving energy, conserving natural resources, more than there is anywhere else in the world, says Rasheed Al-Rushaid, President of Al- Rushaid.
“Even the resources which would appear to be in abundant supply, we treat them as a treasured resource. So we are putting a lot of investment into maximising utilisation and conservation of those resources.”
Al Rushaid’s partnership with Zeeco is a good illustration of this culture. Demand for this product is strong and will continue to increase in the Gulf States region and around the globe.
Another important new link-up for Al-Rushaid in this area is its partnership with the newly-opened King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to explore areas for future research and development. KAUST is a research university which is emerging as a leader for technological innovation and will be an incubator of new commercial applications and business relevant to our company, Rasheed Al-Rushaid says.
“We are collaborating with them to help identify areas to go into, to use some of the facilities of KAUST which will be used as technology labs to spin-off new joint ventures, and so on.”
Al-Rushaid is also a founding member of a technology transfer partnership with the university that will examine ways of commercialising academic research that comes out of the institution.
Growing industry
The oil and gas industry is picking up again after the last 12 months, Abdullah Al-Rushaid believes, although he notes that overall Saudi Arabia and Middle East was much less affected by the downturn than the rest of the world.
Today the price is still not close to previous years’ highs (July 2008) of around $125 a barrel. But, it has now increased to a level where oil and gas companies could feasibly fund new exploration and this can be seen happening throughout the region.
“If the price continues to hover in the 70s and 80s and continues its climb, I think you’ll see hydrocarbon exploration and production gradually increase again during 2010 and beyond,” says Chairman Adbullah Al-Rushaid. “With products like Zeeco and others, we are continuing to come up with innovative products and solutions which I wouldn’t say are entirely recession-proof, but at least we have a balanced portfolio of subsidiaries and joint ventures now which mitigate risk.
Al-Rushaid is now looking to the future and planning for its next thirty years, and beyond. The company’s evolution will continue, with some highly positive changes set to be introduced,” says Rasheed Al-Rushaid.
“We are recognising the importance of being a global player in the market place for our unique portfolio of energy industry related solutions and services for now and into the future.”
For further information tel: +3893 3333; www.al-rushaid.com
