Guest column: The best is yet to come

It has been a good past fewyears in the oil and gas sector. The industry is still growing and technological advancements are being made, creating more and more demand for innovative offshore equipment and solutions. The increase in demand is definitely noticeable at Huisman: our order portfolio is well stocked, we are currently building a Brazilian production facility and we have recently opened up a new office in Norway with a new office in Australia on the way. Many other companies active in the offshore sector are expanding and receiving numerous new orders as well, like IHC Merwede, SBM Offshore, Heerema, Allseas etc. and it pleases me to see that many of these companies are Dutch. The Netherlands has always had a strong position in the maritime and offshore industry and I think we can all be proud that we have managed to sustain this position.

Can we maintain this position in the future? I like to think so. I even think that we have a lot more to look forward to in the coming years. Projects are becoming more technically complex and drilling activities are taking place in increasingly remote areas, creating opportunities for all of us to develop new and better technologies. Anyone who knows me and Huisman will understand that we find such an outlook very exciting. At Huisman we are driven by technology and providing innovative solutions. In the past it has sometimes been a challenge to get our innovative products accepted in the market. Companies can be hesitant to buy a new product that has not yet proved itself. But we trust that this rise in project complexity will give the sector that extra push to accept and look for high quality products and technological innovations and that it will mark a new period of creativity, innovation, quality, skill and courage in the sector. That is why we believe that the best is yet to come.

That being said, the growth in our sector should not be an excuse to be less careful with the costs of projects. Several field development projects have recently been put on hold for this reason. So let this be a warning to us all. Besides that, we are facing an important challenge of how to create a suitable and large enough workforce. Lecture material and practice don’t always align and technically schooled staff in the Netherlands is scarce. For example, we at Huisman especially find it difficult to find technically skilled labour; as a result most of our welders in Schiedam are from abroad. How we attract, train and attain talent in the years to come will most certainly have a big influence on how the Dutch offshore sector will foster their position. We have to start making people enthusiastic for technology and our sector. Hopefully then they will see the exciting, challenging and rewarding industry that we serve.

Joop Roodenburg
CEO Huisman