6 minute read
Building bridges
Sander Vergroesen, Managing Director of IRO.
NAME CHANGE IRO
DUTCH TRADE ORGANISATION IRO RECENTLY DECIDED TO CHANGE ITS INTERNATIONAL BRAND. INSTEAD OF ‘ASSOCIATION OF DUTCH SUPPLIERS IN THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY AND OFFSHORE RENEWABLES INDUSTRY’, THE ORGANISATION IS NOW NAMED ‘ASSOCIATION OF DUTCH SUPPLIERS IN THE OFFSHORE ENERGY INDUSTRY’. ALTHOUGH THE NEW NAME IS A LOT SHORTER AND LESS COMPLEX, THE DECISION FOR THE NAME CHANGE IS NOT DUE TO PRACTICAL REASONS, AS IRO’S MANAGING DIRECTOR SANDER VERGROESEN EXPLAINS TO OFFSHORE INDUSTRY.
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF IRO.
Our association originally focussed on the oil & gas industry”, Mr Vergroesen tells. “The organisation was founded in 1971, representing government, education, and a broad range of sectors in oceanology such as mining, coastal engineering, oceanological instrumentation, and research institutes. The goal was to stimulate Dutch collaboration to gain a strong position in the development of offshore oil & gas fields. It was decided in 1991 to form an association existing exclusively of suppliers for upstream oil & gas activities and in 2016, as more and more of those suppliers also became involved in offshore renewable energy, this became part of our scope as well, resulting in the somewhat forced name ‘Association of Dutch Suppliers in the Oil and Gas Industry and Offshore Renewables Industry’.” “
Relevant now and in the future Mr Vergroesen continues, “We distinguish a number of segments in the offshore industry today: oil & gas, renewable energy (wind, marine, solar), decommissioning and reuse, CCS, and hydrogen. Our participants, on average 400, are all active in at least one of these segments. For IRO it is evident that all those activities are relevant now and in the future. Despite the energy transition, oil & gas will remain important sources until at least 2050. What we notice today in our country among stakeholders at various levels is a reluctant attitude towards fossil fuels. When looking at Dutch trade missions for example, oil & gas are no longer automatically on the agenda. Instead, innovation, IT, and sustainability are in favour, which is a shame, especially considering the fact that in many competing countries energy is still a spearhead industry, resulting in dedicated ministries for energy, among other things. Sometimes we seem to forget that the Dutch industry and knowledge centres have a lot to offer and are internationally leading, based on their yearlong experience in oil & gas, as well as other offshore segments. This is something we should continue to promote abroad.”
Mixture of companies Because of the aforementioned, the IRO decided to change its international branding in January. “As we represent the entire scope of offshore activities, we have decided to change our name to Association of Dutch >>
Sander Vergroesen with VP and GM Procurement & Supply Chain Management of Saudi Aramco (Mohammed Al Shammary and Nassir Al Yami).
Suppliers in the Offshore Energy Industry. Despite this name change, our mission remains the same: to facilitate networking among our members and initiate export promotion activities. As a mixture of large global market leaders and smaller, though highly innovative companies, our members need each other and therefore need to know each other’s capabilities and needs. We help them by organising various events such as the so-called member meets, member meetings, and workshops. We also work on export promotional activities such as organising the Netherlands Pavilion at international offshore-related exhibitions and trade missions. It is hence important that we keep a constant eye on market developments, challenges, and opportunities. We have furthermore built a large international network to help promote our industry. In many countries, the offshore industry is more or less controlled by governmental organisations or governmentowned companies. One of our tasks in the export promotion is to facilitate our participants in building bridges towards those national governmental entities. For this effort, we work closely together with many Dutch embassies abroad. They are usually very collaborative in this matter.”
Unique position Next year, IRO will celebrate its 50 th anniversary and by then, Mr Vergroesen will be at the organisation for 10 years. Plenty of reasons to celebrate. But before that, Mr Vergroesen prefers to concentrate on daily practice. “The North Sea is currently used by many Dutch companies in the industry for ample innovation projects. This yields a unique position towards the competition. We are involved in the Nextstep project that focuses on the reuse of North Sea offshore oil & gas assets. These assets could play an important role, for example in the storage of CO 2 , the production of hydrogen, and renewable energy.” Mr Vergroesen continues, “Together with HHWE (Holland Home of Wind Energy), NWEA (the Netherlands Wind Energy Association), NMT (Netherlands Maritime Technology), and RVO (the Netherlands Enterprise Agency), we initiated Wind & Water Works, reflecting the expertise and professional approach of Dutch companies and government in the field of offshore wind energy. We are very active abroad in the area of export promotion. For instance, together with the Dutch embassy in Saudi Arabia we recently organised a trade mission to the IKTVA and Bahrain. During this event, we were one of the few delegations that had a chance to meet and talk with the Vice President and the General Manager Procurement of Saudi Aramco, which was a unique opportunity. We are also making preparations for the World Expo in Dubai, which will be held from October 2020 until April 2021. Since the focus of the Dutch pavilion will be sustainability in Water, Food, and Energy, our industry will be present to show our capabilities in this matter. Our presence will be combined with the participation of our Netherlands Pavilion at Adipec in Abu Dhabi.
Vulnerable situation COVID-19 and the decreasing oil price have a great effect on the industry, and the IRO is keeping a watchful eye on what is happening. “This morning, before our interview, we were consulting our members on the options that were provided to us by the OTC organisation in Houston [this was before the announcement from the OTC Houston organisers about postponing the event until Q3 of this year; editor]. Together with them and our board, we made the well-considered decision to postpone the participation of our Netherlands pavilion to next year. Looking at the current world economy, Mr Vergroesen is cautious about his thoughts. “Last year, and even in the first quarter of this year, we witnessed a slight recovery of the industry. Companies in the entire supply chain were optimistic again and willing to invest. Proof of this are evident, including oil developments in Surinam and Mexico, offshore gas in Mozambique, the new offshore wind projects in Europe, Asia, and the US, the various initiatives taken in the area of hydrogen and CCS, and the upcoming decommissioning industry. This obviously still remains a highly vulnerable situation and unexpected issues such as the coronavirus, oil price decrease, and their impacts on the worldwide economy could sway this optimism. Just let us all hope that these effects will only be short term and will not lead to a new crisis in the industry, as this would be a disaster for many companies.”
