Ziad Jeha, Managing Director, Schlumberger KSA • Interview

Schlumberger in Saudi Arabia is strategically positioned to offer new technologies to help the Kingdom explore new challenges and ensure improved efficiencies.

What does Schlumberger’s manufacturing facility here indicate about the future of the oil services sector in the Kingdom, and what other localization plans do you have?

Our commitment to IKTVA continued with high momentum during 2020. At the beginning of the year, we inaugurated a new manufacturing center in the King Salman Energy Park (SPARK) in which we started producing downhole tools that were previously made elsewhere. We are proud that Schlumberger was the first tenant in SPARK and the first company to produce locally manufactured oilfield tools in the park. As of today, we are already using tools manufactured in SPARK in our local operations, and we are developing the potential to start exporting tools from Saudi Arabia. Perhaps the most important highlight is that we are training (in SPARK and in other manufacturing centers abroad) a number of Saudi young engineers and technicians. This is a clear demonstration of our commitment to localization and the goals of Vision 2030. In addition, we also have a Center of Reliability and Efficiency (CRE) in Dammam Modon 2 Industrial City that plays a critical role in supporting our operations in Saudi Arabia and the neighboring countries. The center hosts hundreds of our local employees that acquire specialized techniques for the maintenance of a broad variety of oilfield tools. CRE is a state-of-the-art facility in which we give consistent maintenance to ensure reliability of Schlumberger tools that translates into superior reliability while performing services to our customers in many countries. CRE currently hosts around 1,000 employees, and more than 75% of them are Saudi nationals. The pandemic and the associated travel restrictions represented an opportunity for us to expand the responsibilities assigned to some local employees while CRE continued operating at full capacity to provide maintenance solutions that became critical to our business continuity.

Saudi Arabia has pursued a technology-first approach in its public policy. Does this extend to the oil and gas sector, and what technologies do you provide here?

Saudi Aramco is constantly looking to explore new frontiers, and Schlumberger is strategically positioned to offer new technologies that are tailored to fit Saudi Aramco’s objective to explore new challenges and to ensure improved efficiencies in their operations. We will be celebrating this March the 15th anniversary of our carbonate research center in Dharhan. Schlumberger has historically been the undisputed leader in technology research and development in the oilfield industry, and we will continue to lead in this aspect despite the challenges the industry is facing. I am convinced this will remain a key differentiator in our industry in the years to come. In one of our integrated drilling projects, we used a DrillPlan well construction planning solution combined with DrillOps, our automation and orchestration well delivery solution, to achieve consistent and faster drilling rates, reducing costs, and capturing contractual performance incentives. In a recent operation, adoption of this technology allowed us to drill 8.5 % faster than planned, delivering wells 5.8 days ahead of schedule.

What initiatives does Schlumberger have to create a greener tomorrow?

Schlumberger’s commitment to protecting the environment has been embedded in our corporate culture for many years and we have developed a robust environment, social, and governance (ESG) program. As part of our HSE culture, we are committed to minimize our impact on the environment through pollution prevention, reduction of natural resource consumption and emissions, and the reduction and recycling of waste. In Saudi Arabia, we have lunched different environmental initiatives. To give an example, we have been collaborating with Saudi Aramco in an initiative named “Green Sites” intended to identify opportunities to reduce the environmental footprint in our field locations. The initiative has produced positive results through the implementation of goals like reducing the consumption of single-use plastics, installing solar power lighting solutions to replace diesel generators, composting organic solid residuals to be transformed into fertilizers that have been donated to public gardens and parks, among others.