Proserv: Challenging convention with ingenious simplicity

Proserv: Challenging convention with ingenious simplicity

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By Laura Mullan
With the decommissioning sector booming in the Far East, Proserv has established itself as a market leader in the industry...

Sometimes the brilliance of a business is in its simplicity and no one understands this better than Proserv.

As a leading global energy services company, Proserv provides products, services, and bespoke solutions to clients across the drilling, production, and decommissioning sectors.

Aiming to be the fresh alternative in the industry, Proserv combines technical ingenuity with design, engineering, manufacturing and field services expertise, to support clients throughout the lifecycle of their assets, with a focus on maximising operational performance and efficiency.

“We are really trying to challenge the conventional views, processes, and thinking which has been in the industry for years,” says Mathieu Al Kharfan, President for Asia-Pacific. “‘Ingenious Simplicity’ is not just our company tagline, it is an ethos embedded into everything we do and stand for; from the way we approach our design & engineering right through to how we implement our work processes and support the delivery of projects.”

Ingenious Simplicity

Proserv’s company ethos is a unique and refreshing approach which is helping clients minimise cost, risk, and liability.

“Historically, the industry has often over-engineered,” Al Kharfan says. “Companies tried to show how smart they were by creating something complex and allegedly more technologically advanced, but all of that complexity means added risk and unknown things go wrong. Our tagline that we lead by is ‘ingenious simplicity’ and by that, we always ask ourselves ‘what does our client need?’, ‘what are they trying to achieve?’ and ‘how can we achieve it in the simplest way possible with minimal amount of risk and cost?’ That’s what makes us unique.”

The idea of engineering simply is a new concept to energy services but it is one which has brought Proserv numerous successes. Sam Hanton, ‎Vice President for Proserv’s Subsea Services division, says: “The whole industry is having to get its head around this different approach. It’s a completely different mindset.

“We really strive not to over-engineer solutions because nowadays the energy infrastructure isn’t going to be there for 25 years, it's going to be decommissioned in six months. It doesn't need that kind of longevity or complexity so we're helping to educate our clients and also the contractors to help them get efficiencies that maybe they haven't realised that they could get.”

Leading in the decommissioning sector

The industry’s decommissioning sector is booming and nowhere can these reverberations be felt more than in the Asia-Pacific region, where the market was almost non-existent a couple of years ago.

Thanks to its expertise, track record and reliable brand, Proserv has positioned itself as a leading global partner in decommissioning services. In recent months, it has worked with Premier Oil in Indonesia; Chevron, through Baker Hughes, in the Gulf of Thailand; BHP, through Fugro, in Western Australia; and PCPP Operating Co., through Sapura Technology Solutions in Malaysia. But why has the company been so successful?

“We are seeing that a lot of operators are planning much further ahead,” explains Al Kharfan. “They want reliable partners with track records and experience who can consistently provide reliable, high-quality work for them. A lot of operators now understand the market more and the risks they're taking. It's not just about costs - it's about making sure that when decommissioning is done there is no liability for them because that is where the biggest problems lie. There’s been a change in mentality and that's been very favourable to us and our approach and we expect that to continue.

“The market in Asia-Pacific is growing quite significantly. Right now there are at least 150 platforms which we know are already due or scheduled to be removed, so we've positioned ourselves very well with those contracts to be the leading technology solutions partners for decommissioning in the region.”

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An extensive, reliable supply chain

The main challenge facing Proserv is keeping up with demand and developing the extensive supply chain it needs to deliver high-quality services.

“Our supply chain is critical to helping us deliver sustainable, reliable and quality services because we need to find partners who can support us as a global leader with an international footprint,” Al Kharfan says. “Alternatively, we also need to find people who are very well established in the region where we’re working and who can provide us with a high quality of product very quickly.

“Without our supply chain, there's no way we would be able to deliver the recent US$4mn projects we won in Asia-Pacific, and so the challenge for us has been to build and further that supply chain. We've got a very good problem to have in the industry in that we've got more demand than we can actually cope with - that's the biggest challenge we face.”

Investing in talent

In the belief that people are at the core of Proserv’s success, the company has invested heavily into developing the expertise and knowledge of its staff. This belief is manifested in the Proserv Academy - a virtual learning resource which aims to facilitate, support and encourage aspirational learning within the company.

“You can have the equipment in the world but if you don't have the best people then you're not going to have the same level of performance,” notes Hanton, and it’s an opinion that Al Kharfan echoes.  

“I have been with Proserv for seven years and I've really grown with the company,” reflects Al Kharfan. “It’s important that we help our employees grow to allow them to reach their fullest potential. This is something that I have experienced first-hand myself at Proserv, and I want to be able to offer these opportunities to my team because they can only achieve the best for themselves and for the company if they're given the chance to develop.

“If you offer flexibility and space for people to grow you can unlock their true capability. You don't always have that in larger organisations but this is very much alive in Proserv.”

Thanks to its global expertise, technological innovation, and a unique company ethos, Proserv has thrived in the booming decommissioning sector. The Asia-Pacific region has proved a promising market for the company and it’s one where Proserv aims to be a major player for years to come. 

Mathieu Al Kharfan, President for Asia-Pacific.

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