NESR’s strong local presence as a national home-grown energy services provider has enabled it to weather the challenges posed by the current crisis in the Middle East, while others have floundered

Speaking to Oil Review Middle East at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London, where energy security and energy resilience were at the top of the agenda, NESR’s CEO Sherif Foda explained how right at the beginning of hostilities the company had put plans into action through its crisis management team to ensure business continuity and prepare for any possible disruption.

“What helped us a lot is that we have built a very strong and competent local workforce so we don’t need to rely on expatriates to come in to execute the jobs. The other aspect is to ensure you have the products you need to operate. We shipped everything we needed immediately, in some cases taking a conscious decision to air freight or incur more costs to be able to have ready equipment, people and products in country in case of conflict. So we actually grew during the conflict despite those challenges.

Foda cited the Jafurah unconventional gas project in Saudi Arabia as a case illustrating supply chain resilience.

“We worked with our technology partners and suppliers to ensure we can blend the surfactants in country, for example. We have sourced most of our needs locally, such as the pipes, infrastructure, and sand, with some of the products made in Saudi Arabia. As a result of that resilience, we continued with our frac performance in unconventional without disruption, and are marching ahead as we speak and into the coming months. No one would have believed 10 years ago that Saudi Arabia would have a competitive play that rivals the Permian or Delaware. Today it is second to none, a world-class unconventional play, developed with the latest technology and 100% local crew. So there has been no need to evacuate workers, giving us a competitive advantage.

“So we are growing our projects despite what’s happening in the region.” Indeed, NESR saw second quarter revenues grow 59% year on year, with a tripling of net income, as the company was able to execute all its contracts and maintain a presence in all operating units, with no interruption to any of its customer activities.

Logistics has been the biggest hurdle posed by the crisis by far, Foda said. “Logistics has been very, very complex. We planned the logistics at an early stage, deciding to truck goods from Jeddah to Dammam rather than going through the Strait, at considerable cost.”

Opportunities throughout the region

Discussing the company’s growth plans, Foda said he sees strong opportunities throughout the region.

“We see fantastic growth in the UAE and Kuwait, and we’ve been increasing our footprint and business in Saudi Arabia,” he says. In Kuwait, NESR in August announced multiple contracts totalling US$300mn over five years, including an agreement to establish a research centre that will focus on several challenge-specific innovations in multiple disciplines across upstream, sustainability, and unconventional resources. NESR will pioneer innovation and bring best-in-class technologies from around the world, tailoring them to the upstream ecosystem in Kuwait. While back in March the company announced it had secured US$300mn worth of cementing contracts in Kuwait and North Africa.

“North Africa has enormous potential because of its gas, offering the scope to replace Russian gas supplies to Europe,” Foda says. “Then you have what they call the new frontier – Syria has come back, Iraq post-conflict will offer a lot of opportunity.

“That is why the region offers so much, and it’s a very unique opportunity for a company like us, because you need to be very locally established. The current situation has shown that is cost prohibitive to employ expatriates, who come and go. You have to be locally made, homegrown, while conforming to or surpassing the top international standards.”

Others should be building local capacity, as NESR is, he said, while conceding that certain products will still need to be imported or locally assembled. “You’re not going to be able to build a high-pressure wellhead in every country. It won’t be cost competitive. But for the products that are used a lot, the main components of those items should be sourced locally. The local structure also has to be done extremely well.”

Decarbonisation technology potential

NESR has always had a strong ESG focus. Discussing decarbonisisation, Foda said this is not seen as the flavour of the day right now due not only to the conflict but also due to the stance of the US administration.

“But it will come back; it is a must. We cannot as an industry continue to produce oil and gas with the same level of emissions, especially as demand is increasing. We need to eliminate emissions as far as possible. ESG is a good business path. And as the CEO of Aramco has said, this region produces oil and gas at the lowest cost with the lowest emissions. That means projects will happen.” He added that now is a good time to invest counter-cyclically in ESG and decarbonisation technology, as NESR is doing, as there are companies with very good technologies that are currently available at a low cost due to lack of demand. “It is a very good opportunity to invest and make acquisitions to get ready with your portfolio of decarbonisation implementation technology.”

NESR is spearheading environmental innovation on multiple fronts, deploying technologies across water management, flare elimination, emissions detection, heat capture, and energy transition (CCUS & Hydrogen) and now pushing into minerals for the energy transition, recently signing an agreement with Aramco for the region’s first direct lithium extraction (DLE) project.

Foda sees the greatest potential for technology breakthrough in decarbonisation, in particular addressing the economics of decarbonisation. For example if recycling produced water were made economically viable, it would be much more widely practiced. “We need to break through the economics of materials, for example DLE technology to extract lithium,” he said.

At ADIPEC, NESR will be focusing on unconventional development and minerals, such as rare earth minerals. “We have a very cool technology we want to present at ADIPEC,” Foda said. Watch this space!

Concluding, Foda declared himself “super positive” about the future, seeing “the post-conflict box of opportunity”.

The recent European Norm 17975 addresses ‘grey zone’ energy-related risks during machine and pipeline interventions and proposes a task based framework for safe and efficient work. The norm can further increase the safety and efficiency of Lockout/Tagout programmes in a wide range of industries

A task based safety framework

10%-15% of fatal workplace accidents in Europe’s industries are related to maintenance operations according to data from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. Many of these result from underestimating risks involved in specific tasks such as machine greasing, sensor adjustment or a quick cleaning that are not always seen as ‘maintenance activities’. They are kept outside the scope of Lockout/Tagout programmes even though workers are exposed to similar risks. European Norm (EN) 17975 addresses these grey zone risks by using task based risk analyses as a starting point.

“EN 17975 does not require an energy zero state for every machine or pipeline during every intervention”, said Mustafa Ekseri, EMEA Safety Engineer at Brady Corporation, a supplier of quality Lockout/Tagout solutions.

“Not having to halt an entire production line for every intervention can save valuable time - if it is possible in a safe way. To achieve this, EN 17975 proposes a layered approach based on risks related to specific tasks on specific machines and pipes. These risks are to be highlighted in a risk analysis. In absence of a risk analysis, machine zero energy states remain the safety standard. In that sense, EN 17975 builds on ISO 14118 by providing more options for compliance with European workplace safety legislation. Impacted activities can be defined using EN 17007 and EN 13306 and are also listed in EN 17975.”

Risk analysis guidance

With machine and pipe intervention safety hinging on identified risks, industries will need thorough task-based risk analyses. Guidance can be found in other standards. “ISO 12100, primarily intended for machinebuilders to take into account their customers’ workplace safety, can be used as a basis for machine intervention risk analyses. ISO 31000 provides guidelines for managing risk in general, including 8 core principles, a framework and a process.”

“EN 17975 proposes 6 steps to analyse the risk in any machine intervention task, starting with the identification of the task, all the way to a feedback loop for continuous improvement. That includes a thorough energy source inventory and identification. The standard also requires a risk analysis update before applying Standard Operating Procedures, and during maintenance activities. In addition, EN 17975 advocates clearly identified degraded situations that may deviate from the standard risk assessment.”

Task-based isolation

EN 17975 uses a task based risk approach that was captured earlier in the French norm X60-400. Based on a task risk analysis, the European Norm proposes four types of risk control processes:

• Neutralisation: a process that, through design of the control systems, shuts down an item of equipment so that a list of predetermined tasks can be conducted in safety.
• Standard isolation: a process that results in the removal – by locking in position a single or double isolating device – of all energies & fluids where the presence, accidental retention, unexpected appearance does not have hazardous consequences for workers, the environment, and items.
• Reinforced isolation: a process that results in the removal – by separation or by a combination of isolating and opening devices (e.g. valve, tap, etc.) – of all energies & fluids where the presence, accidental retention, unintended appearance does not have hazardous consequences for workers, the environment, and items.
• Specific provisions: a process that results in the implementation of organisational or technical measures enabling observation, diagnostics, testing activities and work on settings for the item in service to be carried out safely, with energies & fluids present.

“All four risk control processes require an inventory of energies and fluids per machine with their effects on people, property and the environment, a mapping of the isolating devices and an identification sheet of energies, fluids, components and lockout devices. It also requires a shared risk assessment grid and process. EN 17975 describes the aim, application conditions, type of activities and other relevant factors for each of the 4 risk control processes.”

Lockout/Tagout guidance

Complying with EN 17975 requires a human, organisational and technical approach, all of which are outlined in the norm.

EN 17975 identifies 9 steps to carry out reinforced and standard isolations by Lockout/Tagout of energies and fluids. Steps involve separation of energies and fluids, isolation, lock out, tagout, identification, dispersion of energies, check, contain and inspect. “The ‘check’ step in EN17975 is already widely known in the industry as the ‘Tryout’ in Lockout/Tagout/Tryout or LoToTo. It is a vital step to help make sure that measures are implemented correctly and that they are still effective.”

“Brady safety engineers can help industries implement isolations by writing machine- and task specific lockout procedures. These can include all nine steps from EN 17975, and they must be based on company task risk assessments. In addition, we can offer the right Lockout/Tagout tools for procedure compliance, set up a hands-on demo by locking out a specific machine, and provide training to relevant employees. Alternatively, a gap analysis can be made that identifies steps to be taken from the current state to arrive at compliant, best practice Lockout/Tagout.”

Impact on existing safety programmes

EN 17975 is not a legal requirement. “The standard however considerably facilitates compliance with EU workplace safety legislation. It sets a clear expectation for any machine intervention: if no risk analysis for the task is available, a machine zero energy state is required.”

“Because many safety programmes already involve complete machine isolation from every energy source, for every task, it is likely that the new norm will impact existing Lockout/Tagout-programmes. Based on the risk analysis, machine zero energy states may not be needed for every type of intervention.”

“Adversely, some tasks that were considered ‘small and safe’ may unveil more risk after a thorough risk analysis. This means a single machine could have several Lockout/Tagout procedures. The right procedure can be included with, or communicated via a QR-code on a work permit for example.”

“Some forms of automated safety may not be sufficient for every task without an underlying risk analysis. Take a safety cage for example, equipped with sensors that deactivate moving machine parts the moment someone enters the cage. Do these nullify any residual energy that may pose a risk? Is gravitational, and other potential energy taken into account? The goal of EN 17975 is to prevent accidents, and to avoid a false sense of safety that does not provide any real protection.”

With the European Norm 17975, industries in Europe can now rely on a common standard for compliance with EU and national safety legislation that involve risk control processes of energies and fluids in maintenance activities.

Get the Brady EN 17975 Lockout/Tagout webinar recording

Go from zero machine energy to zero intervention risk with task based Lockout/Tagout, driven by the European Norm 17975. Get your copy of the  EN 17975 webinar from an experienced, worldwide Lockout/Tagout solution provider.

Discover more about:

• the unique European framework EN 17975 provides to achieve safety and efficiency
• how EN 17975 focuses on task-based safety, rather than machine zero energy states
• how EN 17975 can be used to address ‘Grey zone’ risks
• Four risk-based energy isolation levels presented by EN 17975
• Six steps to control risks
• Lockout/Tagout procedure writing
• Lockout/Tagout device and padlock types

Get the webinar recording now >

Draw inspiration from our free guidebook on how to best implement Lockout/Tagout. . Download the free guide >

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Mustafa Ekseri works as a Safety Engineer for Brady Europe, Middle East and Africa. He is involved in planning, writing procedures and rolling out Lockout/Tagout programmes at manufacturing and logistics workplaces throughout Europe. He is a Prevention Advisor Level 2, a Belgian legally regulated curriculum that equips professionals to handle safety and health risks in businesses.

The Strait of Hormuz crisis shows how vulnerable the supply chain is to geopolitics, making agility and resilience impossible to ignore, writes Nayef Bou Chaaya, vice president, Middle East, Turkey & Central Asia at AVEVA

The oil industry began the year determined to boost crude production to cover a looming global supply-demand gap. Yet on February 28, that challenge became far more acute than anyone could have predicted.

The onset of the US-Israel-Iran war and the ensuing Strait of Hormuz crisis has completely changed the mood inside the oil industry. The world is facing prolonged higher-for-longer oil prices where every barrel suddenly matters more, and every operational inefficiency starts eating directly into profits.

At the peak of the disruption, the market was dealing with the loss of around 12 million barrels per day of crude supply, according to Rystad Energy. That is roughly 11% of total global oil demand. On an annualized basis, it equates to more than four billion barrels of supply either trapped, delayed or prevented from reaching the market efficiently.

Oil prices had jumped from around USUS$80 per barrel before the conflict to above US$100. Some analysts project prices could still edge to $180 by the end of the year. That has created a rare profit window for producers outside the Middle East, who are trying to strike while the iron is hot and get as much as possible out of existing infrastructure while conditions remain favourable.

This is not just about drilling more wells

As time is of the essence – both for countries keen to get more supply and for oil majors who want to make the most of high prices – the focus is now on optimising every drop.

Small improvements in uptime, throughput or refinery performance that might once have had limited commercial impact can now translate into millions of dollars in additional revenue. A compressor failure or unplanned shutdown that was once a routine maintenance headache is now enormously costly.

This is where predictive analytics can have an outsized impact, enabling producers to constantly monitor assets and catch problems before they escalate into equipment failure or shutdowns. The current geopolitical environment has only turbocharged this shift, accelerating the move towards industrial AI and integrated operational systems across the sector.

Rystad Energy estimates AI and digital technologies will create close to US$500 billion in cumulative value for exploration and production (E&P) companies between 2026 and 2030.

Not all crude is equal

Refiners are also dealing with another major challenge: crude availability has become much more unpredictable.

Refineries use blends and slates sourced from multiple regions, which all have different properties and refining characteristics. Texas crude behaves differently from Saudi crude. Saudi crude behaves differently from Abu Dhabi crude. Venezuelan crude behaves differently again.

In stable market conditions, those crude slates are relatively predictable. However, refiners are now forced to change their crude oil slate because certain crude streams are no longer accessible. This creates a much more complicated optimisation problem.

Historically, engineering teams would run a limited number of operational scenarios manually. Now industrial AI systems can run thousands of crude blend combinations simultaneously while incorporating crude prices, refined product prices, electricity costs, operational constraints and regional market demand – determining in near real-time exactly which combination will generate the highest profitability possible.

AI augments human strategy

Importantly, the industry is not treating AI as some magical black box replacing engineering expertise. Inside oil and gas, there is still a very strong understanding that AI is only as good as the underlying engineering models feeding it.

AI is extremely good at interpreting data, however, the actual engineering calculations still need to come from first-principles engineering models and thermodynamics.

I like to use a comparative aviation analogy. For example, let’s say passengers boarded a plane and someone announced that AI would be flying the entire flight. Most people would probably get off right away.

Yet, modern aviation already relies heavily on automation. Pilots still handle take-off, landing, direction, speed and oversight while automated systems manage most of the journey in between. Industrial AI is evolving in a similar manner.

Human operators still define objectives, constraints and desired outcomes while AI handles huge amounts of analytical work and scenario modelling faster than humans can manually. This practice matters in a conservative industry where operational mistakes carry enormous financial and safety consequences.

Counting the cost

Production accounting systems are also becoming strategically more important because relatively small discrepancies in incoming or outgoing shipments can seriously affect margins when oil prices are high. If a company purchases one million barrels but only receives 990,000, the financial implications suddenly become much more significant.

In sum, what this all means is that the market is increasingly rewarding operational integration as much as production scale.

While longer term, the industry will continue investing in energy diversification, right now the challenge is more immediate: keeping the world moving during one of the most volatile commodity environments in decades – and making every barrel count.

No one knows when this window will close – or when the next one will open.