In a recent interview with Indian Infrastructure, Christian Cravedi, Senior Vice President and Head of Oil Gas and Chemicals, India Middle East and Africa, ABB shared his views on key trends and technologies relevant to Indian oil and gas companies, challenges in deployment and outlook for the oil and gas sector. Excerpts…
What are the key trends or technology developments in this area that you think are particularly relevant to Indian oil and gas companies?
When oil and gas prices are very high, the focus is on technology that helps produce as much as possible and as soon as possible. Every company wants to reach its peak production when you have the window of high prices. Everything is focused on the production side. When you face current market conditions – as in low oil, gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices – then the requirements change dramatically and efficiency becomes important. So, the trend in India and the rest of the world is to work on efficiency and flexibility. To increase the life cycle of the plant. In the past, the focus was on growth and expansion. Today, customers are much more focused on trying to extend the life of the plant, on preventive maintenance and on the flexibility of the system.
The other major trends are digitisation and IOTSP. With Data Analytics we can derive immediate benefits of predictive asset maintenance approach.
What do you see as the biggest challenges for the deployment of these technologies in India?
I think India has a lot of positives, in the sense that the average knowledge of the Indian customer and the average knowledge of ABB India to serve the Indian market is very high. We have very professional people with strong knowledge of engineering. So the big challenge is to give all customers the clear perception that the added value of ABB is unique. And this is a big challenge. We have the experience, we have the researchers, and the knowledge, but to develop the right solution at the right price point is key.
I think that India is very well positioned for the future because IT is going to be the major focus going forward. India has a strong infrastructure already in place in the IT sector and I think that this is going to make a positive difference for the country.
Which are some of the organisations in India that are currently your clients in the oil and gas sector?
I feel the market in India has two sides, both positive. One is the domestic market and the other the exports market. We have two different kinds of customers. One is the end-user segment. And among them we have clients such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation Limited and LNG companies. We have one of our biggest production SCADA and IT Network worldwide that has been developed in India and for India.
And then we have the engineering, procurment and construction companies that are serving Indian and global markets. We are very focused on cooperating with them.
What is unique in terms of ABB’s offerings? In which ways are you more relevant or better than your competition?
Let us start with automation. ABB is the only automation company serving the oil and gas market that on a single platform can offer to the customer safety, and power management systems, and meet all supervision, automation and management needs. We have a single platform for everything.
And then we have the electrical portfolio that has been developed over the 120 years of ABB’s history. We have the most integrated automation and electrical system. We have our own solution for telecommunications that we are now promoting strongly – that can be used for wireless applications that will be the future. So the range of solutions that can be integrated is ABB’s biggest differentiator.
What is your outlook for India’s oil and gas sector?
In the near future, it is about gas and LNG.But further in the future, I do see increasing investments to meet the growing requirements in the energy sector. Overall, the oil and gas market in India is stable and well managed.
