Energy review

zoom

Remy Valerino, VP Marketing - Schneider Electric.

Remy Valerino, VP marketing at Schneider Electric, discusses the opportunities available in the region and what new technologies will be coming to market in 2009.

What is Schneider's global presence?

We are multinational company. Our operations are primarily in the field of electrical energy and process control. Schneider Electric has over 130 offices worldwide, so we are present in almost every country. Our main fields of application incorporate everything from residential and industrial building automation, right through to energy and infrastructure data centres. In the Middle East we cover all those market sectors and are active in all the GCC member countries. Here in Abu Dhabi oil and gas naturally dominates, but we are active in Qatar too, and have a very strong presence in the construction and building sectors in Dubai.

Are you expecting to grow in the Middle East?

We continue to monitor market developments and we try to introduce our innovative solutions to take advantage of the energy efficiency opportunities - which has a big focus in the region. Our plans are generally in line with the thinking of the region by doing more with less cost, and we can help companies achieve this through intelligent energy management, and be much more aware of their environmental impact, and help reduce that. A good example is what we are doing with the Masdar in Abu Dhabi, where we are engaged in providing building management solutions.

What are the challenges facing you in the region?

The challenges are very much the same with what we expecting in any part of the world in this current downturn. We have many constraints in terms of liquidity in the market place, and keeping projects moving at a reasonable pace. Another area where we have to put a lot of efforts is human resources purely in the Middle East. People tend to come and go more here, so maintaining high level and high quality people is very important to us, and that covers people retention activities, training and development. People have become a primary focus at this time for our company.

In what way have your core operations been impacted?

We try to anticipate where our services would be most beneficial to the society where we operating.  In the oil and gas business and petrochemical, we closely follow the market in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. We continue to bring the latest technologies for safety and security systems to all these markets. We are looking at bringing video surveillance systems to the region for perimeter security, as well as  asset safety and security solutions as well. We are also looking for more business services, such as increasing the life expectancy of installed equipment. We aim to be a key player among the energy management in the oil and gas, and increasingly the petrochemical sector, around the world. Overall, we want to help clients in the design and the development of management for their energy business.

Is there anything new you'll be bringing to the Gulf?

Internationally we have a strong focus on the safety and security business as well as in process automation. I believe we can bring new technologies and expertise to the oil and gas and wider downstream industries. Schneider Electric is the provider of the security systems for the nuclear industry in France, so we have a deep knowledge in terms of security and information. As you know, security is a principal concern of the oil and gas related industries, because if you stop your operation you face huge losses, and we can help avoid that through the utilisation of our knowledge, experience and systems.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM