Special CEO Feature
Looking back on 2011, what lesson(s) will you take into your business planning for 2012?
“2011 was a watershed year for us. We took over our asset in East Africa 14 months ago, so 2011 has been a year of consolidating that asset, cleaning it up and putting it on a platform that we can move forward with it, and we think we’ve achieved that now. In this business, which I’ve been in for 50 years, you can’t replace patience. Especially dealing in an international theatre and being a junior O&G company like we are, you just have to keep your head down and keep going. We have an extensive drilling program, but what will be the hurdle in 2012 is financing. The world is not a happy place and equity financing will be very difficult to come by in 2012. We have to manage the resources we have and not get too ambitious. We’re operating in a theatre that is very active and high profile; Mozambique & Tanzania. It’s going to be hard for us to keep up with the big boys, I have to say and not get caught up in the tsunami.”
What do you foresee for 2012 with respect to your business?
“I think we’ll see a lot of M&A in 2012, rather than equity. It’s happening in Calgary now and will happen in London. We just listed on the AIM exchange which gives us a whole new source of liquidity, but it’s not going to be easy, and I think we’ll see a lot of M&A.
We have a lot ahead of us – three exploration wells this year and a huge seismic operation in Mozambique in 2012. We have the potential for getting a production base set up in Tanzania where we have to deliver 200mcf a day to pipeline within 18 months, so we are pretty focused on that. If we weren’t focused on that, something would slip.”
Why have you come to The Oil Council Assembly today?
“We’re on the AIM, so The Oil Council Assembly gives us the opportunity to introduce ourselves to the London market. It’s a huge market with a lot of potential.” … Bo
b Mc e n, Exc t e C a mn, We Ba euiv hir a ntw t ===============================================
What challenges do you see the oil and gas industry facing in 2012 and beyond? “As businesses look to the next 5-10 years, businesses are going to be constrained by a number of things, one
of those is likely to be human capital – I believe there isn’t enough coming into the industry, and that’s an industry issue to resolve. Companies need to make sure they have the right access to human capital to drive their business forward. It’s all very well having a growth plan, but how are you going to implement that if you don’t have the people to drive that growth?
The industry needs a many-pronged strategy: you need to build form the bottom up, bring up the right amount of young talent, entice people to join the sector, and you also need to develop that talent and nurture it.
A number of the panel speakers talked about cherishing your employees, treating them well, growing them and developing. These are things you need to do to ensure your talent stays with you, because it is a competitive market and if you don’t do those things, others will take them away from you. There have been a number of reasons for it. There are significant demographic issues counting against the industry. Particularly in the west, the number of young engineering graduates has reduced.
The Western workforce is ageing and cycling out of the working population. Also, the Oil and Gas industry has reacted in a boom bust way to the cycles of price which has resulted in extremes of hiring and firing – that needs to change, there needs to be a longer term perspective on attracting and retaining talent.
I’m very positive about the oil and gas sector, the dynamics are very strong. There is a lot that is not positive about the global economy, but within oil and gas, things are still very strong, so I expect a busy 2012. We will be recruiting for a broad range of clients, and in very technical disciplines – unconventional oil and gas and shale gas expertise has been asked for in Europe as we start to exploit those resources. We and our clients will be challenged to find enough of the right talent in those areas.”
… I in Ma n, Sni a nso e or C e lint P rt a ner, K n Frry I or e nte rnat nal io eou e
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Drillers and Dealers :::
::: December 2011 Edition
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