James Dodgson, general manager, Byrne KSA, discusses the equipment rental company’s activities in Saudi Arabia and future prospects
Can you tell us a bit about Byrne’s presence in Saudi Arabia, how you view the market currently and your plans for the future?
Since launching our KSA operations over 20 years ago, the company has expanded its footprint across the entire kingdom. Headquartered in Jubail, with offices and depots in Dammam, Riyadh, Turaif, Jeddah and Yanbu, we have wide coverage across the kingdom enabling us to service our clients effectively and efficiently.
Today, Byrne is one of the largest single sources for plant and equipment rental in Saudi with an extensive rental fleet of over 5,000 units of equipment which is growing rapidly to meet the current and anticipated future demand.
The KSA market is in one of the strongest positions we have seen since the start of the pandemic two years ago. Increased government spending on infrastructure, construction, events and oil and gas production is bolstering the pace of activities in the country. With Byrne’s presence and coverage across all these sectors within the kingdom, we are confident on the immediate and future demand for rental equipment. Construction, events and oil and gas will play a huge part in Byrne’s growth in the coming years. The Red Sea and Neom developments have presented a need for us to expand our bases to new territories in the north west regions of the country. This area is also showing promising signs of a big upturn in events and construction, for which we anticipate opportunities that will come our way.
Oil and gas has always played a big part of Byrne’s strategy in the region and has been a stable base for the rental market in the past. Our focus here remains relatively the same; we will continue to listen to our customers’ ever changing needs and evolve in line with demand. We will continue to promote ourselves as the single largest equipment rental company in the region with our single source supplier motto and continuously look to grow our fleet and exposure to support this.
Can you outline your services for oil and gas camps, and the prospects for development in Saudi Arabia?
We have established ourselves as one of the leading camp and service providers in the region. In recent years, we have witnessed a significant shift in our clients’ requirements, changing from general plant and equipment supply to a turnkey service provider. Our clients want to reduce the time and resources spent on managing the support services related to their core operations. With the ability to design, construct and operate camp facilities, Byrne is well equipped to fully support the increasing demand in the market.
Upstream oil and gas production is increasing at a rapid rate within the Kingdom; this, coupled with Saudi Aramco’s recent announcements of releasing of new well sites, will predictably accelerate the demand for remote off-site camps and camp-related services. We have our sights firmly set on supporting this growth and increasing our exposure in this field and to support this, we have expanded our fleet of accommodation and camp facilities, set to arrive in the first quarter of this year.
You can see the full interview in the latest edition of Oil Review Middle East https://www.oilreviewmiddleeast.com/current-issue
