Interview
Interview
M
Marcelo Nacif
arcelo Nacif, Business Director for the South American Market of Swire Oilfield Service, addresses the company’s perspectives to the investments in assets for the construction of the group’s first plant in Latin America. Swire Oilfield Service is a great company focused on providing offshore containers, baskets and tanks to the oil & gas field, and chosen Macaé as its basis for meeting its clients portfolio in Campos and Santos Basin, as well as the pre-salt demand.
Macaé Offshore – Swire disclosed in March an investment of R$ 10 million in the construction of its first plant in the Country. Had the company been acting in Brazil before such disclosure? Marcelo Nacif – The company had already closed container units
rental contracts with companies like Statoil, Shell, Devon, Chevron, Repsol, Petrobras, Seadrill, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Brasco Logística Offshore and Nitshore. But the products used to come from the plant in England. After the pre-salt discoveries and the further expansion of the offshore logistics market, we decided to invest in Brazil by building a plant, optimizing time and cost to the local clients besides generating business and income. This year, we opened the Macaé office, and we are also with another office in Niterói, State of Rio de Janeiro.
MO – What is the company’s profile, origin and position in the market? MN – Swire Oilfield Services largest geographic activity field is still the
Northern Europe, with eight bases already established, four of which in the United Kingdom and Norwegian, with partners in Denmark and Netherlands. It is also acting in Australia, Nigeria, Angola, Russia, USA and Trinidad & Tobago. Swire Oilfield Services’s segment is the oil & gas logistics and it is a division of the giant conglomerate Swire Group, including, among others, Swire Pacific (US$ 2.6 billion profit in 2009) and John Swire & Sons (US$ 6.6 billion revenue in 2008). It has more than 35 companies in six continents, focused on the Asian region, acting in the aviation (owner of 40% of the shares of Cathay Pacific, one of the world’s best and safer air companies), beverage (it bottles more than 40% of the Coke products worldwide), marine, industrial, trade, services (including tourism) and properties segments.
MO – Considering that pre-salt has attracted the company’s investments to Brazil, what is the company’s plan to meet such market demands? MN - Pre-salt will create new opportunities to the supply chain, as the
provision of offshore containers, baskets and tanks for transporting chemicals. This is a critical service for the perfect operation of the supply chain in this industry. As Brazil adopts a policy intended to the adoption of strict standards and procedures in the HSE (Health, Safety and Environment); Swire Oilfield Services strategy is just offering units certified by the DNV Standard 2.7-1, known worldwide by offering full integrity to the equipment transported as well as total safety to the people operating them.
MO – Why Macaé, in Campos Basin, for the plant’s headquarters, while the market turns to the pre-salt area in Santos Basin?
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The group expects for 2015, when the Brazilian plant will be in full operation, to raise the income to US$ 420 million.
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MN – Macaé concentrate the great clients requiring offshore logistics and whose already have contracts with us. They are the same exploring the pre-salt layer, acting in the oil & gas field. But we may open offices in Santos or Vitória in the future.
MO – As far as the plant regards, what is its mainspring and average production? MN – Our goal is making 6,000 units of offshore containers certified
under DNV 2.7-1 by 2015, an average of 1,000 units per year. These containers are the mainspring, but we will also make baskets and tanks, both certified as well.
MO – What is the schedule to start works and to start the production? MN – The works are scheduled to start in December and we expect
to be in full operation by March 2011.. The plant will have a hangar structure and comply with all certification standards required, as all of Swire’s efforts.
MO – Considering the importance of the project to the region, there will be employment generation, both in the construction and to assemble the staff. What will be the labor demand? MN – We have no estimate yet, as the plant construction will impact on a huge production chain, ranging from contracting labor for the very construction to the employment and income generation from all market niches the business demand, through the production, logistics and generation of a whole economy in the plant’s surroundings. This survey is still in process.
MO – And what policy does the company apply to contract its labor? MN – We choose local and qualified labor, within the group’s
corporate governance. Regardless of qualification, all the new hires are trained, as each phase of the process must be under the international certifications, and some of them, as the DNV 2.7-1, for example, are not known in Brazil, since our containers are ones of the only having such certification.
MO – What about the social and environmental responsibility? MN – Swire Group has a world corporate governance management.
The social and environmental issues are paramount, including the workers’ safety, their health and the preservation of the environment where they live. Our DNV 2.7-1 certification, known worldwide as the strictest in HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) evidences it.
MO – What are the company’s strategies and goals for the next years in your investments plan? What was your income in 2009 and what is the estimate for the years to come? MN – In 2009, Swire Oilfield Services had an income of US$166 million, which represented a growth of 18.17% compared to the previous year. In the last ten years, the income grew 300%. The group expects for 2015, when the Brazilian plant will be in full operation, to raise the income to US$ 420 million. As to the strategy, we will be dedicated to our quality differential, the DNV-2.7 standard and the HSE policy – a distinguishing feature.