Giovanni Valenza , 迪茨曼技术公司
Release Date: 2010-09-16
Giovanni Valenza, Dietsmann’s Country Manager for Russia, has been interviewed by Russiaenergy.com for a Russia Special report for Oil and Gas Financial Journal to discuss Dietsmann’s operations in Russia, its priority for Dietsmann today, in the context of its global operations, and the company's future projected for the next two years.Dietsmann has had a long and successful history across the globe, starting in the Netherlands in 1977. Could you tell our readers a little about the start of Dietsmann’s operations in Russia in 2002?
Dietsmann always approaches its entry into new markets in the same way - through cooperation with its largest international partners. Russia was no exception. As soon as the company decided to take its first step into the Russian market, it began to negotiate with its major partners for maintenance contracts on their major projects within the country. Dietsmann’s first contract in Russia was with Total for the Kharyaga project. Dietsmann started at a very early stage by implementing a Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and assisted in the complete build-up of the maintenance management system. After this, as in many projects, the company was then asked to bid on the maintenance service contract for the plant. This bid was won, and works began in 2002. In this case, Dietsmann partnered with PSN, a British company, and this relationship has been continuing fruitfully. PSN is responsible for operations at Kharyaga, and Dietsmann is in charge of maintenance.
Dietsmann’s second step in Russia came through a partnership with Shell on Sakhalin II project. The tenders available at the start of this project were focused on the four main scopes of work. Dietsmann bid for the maintenance contract on two of these: the LNG part of the project and the pipeline system and marine terminal. For this bidding, a joint venture was formed between Dietsmann, Fluor and Dalelektromontazh JSC. The tender was completed in Europe, and the company established its operations on Sakhalin once the tender was won.
The third project in Russia to involve Dietsmann was through ENI, another major client of Dietsmann. The company became involved in the reconstruction of gas treatment plants in Samburgskoye which belonged to Arctic Gas, a company acquired by ENI in 2007. In 2009, Gazprom exercised the option to take a controlling stake in Arctic Gas, and today the company runs the daily operations. Dietsmann began working for the company in 2008, in cooperation with Nova, a Russian construction company based in Samara. With Nova, Dietsmann is carrying out inspection and preservation of Arctic Gas’ assets, and determining the best ways to proceed.
By 2008, Dietsmann had projects in Russia with the three of its major partners. Kharyaga and Sakhalin are very prestigious projects. How much of a priority is Russia for Dietsmann today, in the context of its global operations?
Russia currently accounts for around 5% of Dietsmann’s annual revenues. Although the turnover of Dietsmann’s Russian operations is quite a small part of its global turnover, Russia is a strategic market that Dietsmann is dedicated to develop through acquisitions.
Dietsmann is currently searching for assets and opportunities in the sphere of its core business in Russia, which is maintenance. As an operations and maintenance company, it does not require assets like workshops or machine builders because such assets are almost always available through its clients. However, Dietsmann is actively looking at companies fully dedicated to maintenance in the oil and gas sector and in the power industry. The results of this search will be clear in the next two to three months.
To be owned by private interests gives the company the opportunity to be very fast in its decision-making processes which brings a lot of added value, especially comparing with multinational corporations. This is of particular advantage in Russia, and it matters in the competition for new assets.
How have Dietsmann’s experiences been so far in working with the Russian partners?
The most interesting collaboration with a Russian partner has actually been the project with ENI. Although we are dealing with an international oil company, Gazprom now owns 51% of Arctic Gas, and is deeply involved in the company’s management. This will be Dietsmann’s first chance in Russia to deal directly with a Russian client. As well as this, Dietsmann is working with Nova, another Russian company. Through this project, the company hopes to gain a lot of insight into its future in the Russian market.
This is precisely what Dietsmann sees as its challenge on the Russian market: to deal directly with Russian companies and to present itself as a Russian company. 95% of the Dietsmann employees in Russia are Russians. Although Dietsmann will always rely on commercial support from its head office in Monaco, it is important for us here to be able to operate basing on our own resources. This will allow Dietsmann make the right and quick decisions on the Russian market.
Dietsmann has been successful globally as a result of the trend towards outsourcing operations and maintenance. However, in Russia, many of the larger national oil and gas companies outsource these operations to their former subsidiaries. How difficult has it been for Dietsmann to penetrate this market?
Semen Danilov, Business Development Manager: Outsourcing in Russia has not been a popular trend for as long as it has been in other markets across the world. During the Soviet and post-Soviet era, Russia’s largest oil and gas companies were state-owned and completely vertically integrated. Restructuring in the oil and gas sector began in early 1990s, and today outsourcing is a more familiar trend amongst these companies.
Dietsmann is looking to grow in Russia through acquisitions. In some respects, the market is perfect for a service company like Dietsmann: the idea of global servicing has already permeated both the energy industry and the oil and gas industry. In this environment, Dietsmann is working in Russia to challenge the market with its efficiency and knowledge, based on its experiences across the globe. Direct experience in maintenance gives Dietsmann much added value on the Russian market.
There is, of course, a desire to see either increased revenue or lower costs as a result of outsourcing, and this is a reasonable request, but not the only benefit to be gained from outsourcing. Bringing Dietsmann onto a project allows the client to focus more completely on their core business. In Russia, it has taken a long time to propagate the opinion that maintenance is not just about repairing. However, this has not been as large a disadvantage as you might imagine: it means that our competitors are not yet ready to provide the same level of service that Dietsmann does all over the world.
It sounds like there are some very interesting times ahead for Dietsmann in the years to come. You are playing a long-term strategy here in Russia looking for opportunities. What is in the future for the company in the next two years?
In two years’ time, Dietsmann wants to acquire a Russian company in the maintenance segment. From a technical point of view, we would like to be fully autonomous from our mother company. The connection to the corporate structure is important, but in order to be most successful on the Russian market, we need the autonomy in solving technical issues. The other major aim for the next two years is to win a major tender with a Russian company, in order to break from the traditional way Dietsmann had been operating in Russia so far.
What would be your final message for our international and Russian readers about why they should choose Dietsmann?
Dietsmann is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural company, but what is most important in this business is the capability to adapt to different environments. When it starts the maintenance of a new plant, the company asks for six months to get familiar with the facility. This is not a long time, and Dietsmann is able to do this thanks to the experience acquired from different countries and markets. This is the added value that Dietsmann can bring to its clients.
| Company: | 迪茨曼技术公司 |
| Position: | Country Manager for Russia |
| Country: | 荷兰 |