The rig builder of Sharjah

"Climatically, we're much better off here than building in Europe, for instance, where you have severe weather conditions. We have a heat condition here for three months, but generally for most of the year you have a benign climate to work in."

Convery sees a lot of potential in Dubai for maritime services.

"The area is very well-serviced. If you need to buy something - components for replacement - Dubai is a great trading base for that. We're doing architectural refits on this rig and the market here is well-supplied and very supportive of that," he says. He adds that the UAE's infrastructure is very beneficial to the oil and gas industry.

"People will come here from all over the world to get their projects done because the area is well-supported in terms of sub-contract capability or support capability, of anything from outfitting to the fabrication and engineering work we're currently doing."

Bidding for projects never stops for Convery. Aside from the new-build rigs, the company has a large refurbishment project and a rig that needs repair and refit, to mention two.

Likewise, acquisitions. Last year, MIS bought a stake in Abu Dhabi's Gulf Marine Services. "Their customers are almost entirely in the oil and gas sector, so we acquired a 7.5% shareholding in that company," says Convery.

More acquisitions are certainly planned but the CEO declines to elaborate on potential targets.

"Acquisitions are part of our plan," he says. "We want to continue to grow all our business groups, to achieve new rig owners and to continue to maximise our growth in our traditional business lines both here and elsewhere."

But maximising growth might prove to be more challenging than expected. While the price of oil continues to rise, Convery explains why this is both good and bad news for him.

"It will put an increased burden on us. There must be a threshold where it will begin to bite in world economies in general. It will create more production demand, so it will bode well for us in that respect, but in terms of overall burden on cost of fuels and power supplies, it's going to be a burden.

"It's a bit of a two-edged sword. It will create more demand, but then the demand is already there at this price."

Convery has worked for MIS for over 20 years. His experience tells him that increasing capacity may not be the simple panacea that is needed to solve the world's oil problem.

"Production isn't something you can increase that easily. You have to go through the whole chain of having extra wellhead production right downstream, to extra refinery production.

"They can produce all they want in terms of raw oil, but do you have the refinery capacity? To build that kind of infrastructure would have a gestation period of at least a couple of years."

But that's not his problem - unlike the rising cost of steel and labour and space to grow his business, all of which are his problems.

"Adequate space to do work and adding resources - that's the same challenge that anyone in this industry faces. Resources include experienced tradesmen, and experienced engineers."

Like the rest of the land-based construction industry, MIS is feeling the strain from rising material costs and a shortage of the skilled welders, fitters and engineers it relies on to build its rigs.

But at least as long as oil remains over $100-a-barrel, the orders are likely to keep flowing for MIS and the fledgling rig building industry of the region.

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