A catalyst for change

The coronavirus pandemic has hit every sector, but the energy industry has seen resilience and innovation come to the fore as businesses remain agile and evolve to the changing environment. Jonathan Dyble asks, so, is it possible that while challenging, COVID-19 has been a catalyst for change for many companies?

It is safe to say that the energy industry has experienced a turbulent time since the middle of the last decade.

Owing to a supply glut back in 2016, the price of crude oil plummeted as low as US$26 per barrel – less than 25% of the US$106 that would have been taken back in mid-2014.

In the same year, the Brexit referendum saw the UK commit to leaving the

European Union, adding further uncertainty to an already highly volatile cocktail within the energy sector. And that is before we even mention the growing advocacy of environmentally friendly and sustainable practices that had begun to place pressure on the operating models of many industry stalwarts.

Amid such chaos, however, arguably no single incident has had a greater impact on the energy sector during this period than the COVID-19 pandemic.

The past 18 months may prove pivotal in the sector’s history. Not only did 2020 see oil slip into negative pricing for the first time in its history, but businesses of all shapes and sizes had to rethink, transform, and adapt almost overnight, simply to survive.

Dealing with the difficulties and disruption

Indeed, many sector players can reminisce about the challenges they have faced, the EIC’s latest Survive & Thrive report presenting a raft of stories faced by individual enterprises.

Take the experience of AAL Shipping (AAL). As a marine transportation services provider, the company’s operations became brutally restricted back in March 2020.

“We witnessed extreme disruption of crew change plans for our seafarers; severe delays in ports worldwide due to elevated safety restrictions and cargo readiness;

and a signifi cant reduction While COVID-19 customers by reducing in non-renewable energy cargoes being transported, caused adversity for costs and time to completion. with traditionally busy many, it equally “Equally, we’re now trade lanes unable to yield sustainable cargo volumes,” explains Felix became a key catalyst for more procedural and process driven, utilising data to better understand Schoeller, the company’s innovation, and communicate project General Manager. Turbine, generator, compressor and ingenuity, and fundamentally performance.” Iain Smith, Senior Vice President of controls transformer service positive technology provider provider EthosEnergy, meanwhile, highlighted improvements Proserv Controls off ers a similarly positive outlook, its own pandemic-induced paying tribute to the obstacles in the form of delayed maintenance eff orts of the company’s team during a activities, its customers having opted to challenging 18-month period. “They have conserve cash and delay projects due to the been outstanding, innovating solutions and impact of COVID-19 on energy demand. demonstrating fl exibility, yet always meeting

At the same time, the company began to targets and deadlines,” he says. grapple with the eff ects on its team, many Such solutions include the having found working from home to be both introduction of remote alien and challenging. equipment testing, using live

Subsea oilfi eld serviced company Deep video conferencing to allow Down also saw its projects grind to a halt in Proserv’s customers to see tests the face of travel restrictions and exacerbated take place without needing to visit logistical issues, resulting in a 32% drop in the site. “This has been so effi cient, saving 2020 revenues year over year. time and travel costs,” Smith adds. “We will

“It was a sobering experience,” reveals continue to off er it moving forwards.” President, CEO and CFO Charles Njuguna. Shipping, logistics and marine services “With contracts having to be renegotiated, provider GAC UK adapted by expanding its the company was in a position where it had presence in sustainable energy – a move that to reflect and re-strategise.” has enabled it to capitalise on a wider variety of energy transition opportunities, Adapting amidst the adversity not only in the UK, but also globally. Njuguna’s mention of re-strategising is noteworthy. While COVID-19 caused adversity for many, it equally became a key catalyst for innovation, ingenuity, and fundamentally positive improvements.

Such is the experience of AAL, EthosEnergy and Deep Down’s experiences, the three companies having adapted to maximise their successes in the new normal. Yet, there are many other similarly inspiring stories.

Hunt Thermal Technologies, for example, found its own silver linings after stumbling upon the benefi ts of fl exible working and data-driven planning.

“We had to think of new ways to ensure third-party inspectors could still provide assurance without needing to visit a site,” explains Managing Director Chris Howard. “We therefore introduced inspection by video conference, which in the long term should benefi t our

An industry energised

Amid the hardships, there have thus emerged a number of positives for many organisations.

While the pandemic has arguably made for the toughest period in the histories of many fi rms, a sizeable number have successfully paved a brighter path by embracing new ideas and opportunities.

As global vaccination eff orts gather momentum and societies and economies begin to reopen, many industry players are now in a better position to grow than they were during the early months of 2020.

In many instances, the pandemic has been a catalyst for change, inspiring renewed resilience in operating structures and instilling an enhanced appetite for innovation in products and services that will serve to uplift industry optimism in the long run.

Reimagining the future of work post-COVID-19

The pandemic has forced the adoption of new ways of working. Whatever a company’s workspace looks like in the future, Adrian Wakeling, Senior Policy Adviser at Acas, advises Wakeling, Senior Policy Adviser at Acas, says businesses to redouble their eff orts across businesses should redouble their eff orts three areas: across three areas:

Communication and consultation. It is not just employment contracts that have It is not just employment contracts that been reviewed in recent months; the whole have been reviewed in recent months; the notion of the psychological contract has whole notion of the psychological contract shifted dramatically. It’s time to listen to has shifted dramatically. It’s time to listen what staff expect and value about work and to what staff expect and value about work life. and life.

Equality and inclusion. The pandemic has . The pandemic had an unequal impact on many groups, has had an unequal impact on many groups, particularly carers and those from black and particularly carers and those from black ethnic minority communities. We need to and ethnic minority communities. We need rebuild fairer workplaces that embrace and to rebuild fairer workplaces that embrace celebrate diff erence. and celebrate diff erence.

Wellbeing. Mental health has been described as a shadow pandemic. It has become a ‘runaway issue’ for many organisations. Now is the time to deliver on the long-promised goal of achieving parity between physical and mental health. Make wellbeing part of every business decision. He adds, “The worst mistake we can make is “The worst mistake we can make is to to impose old templates onto evolving impose old templates onto evolving working environments. There are signs working environments,” he says. “There that technology is creating fl atter are signs that technology is creating hierarchies with quicker decisionfl atter hierarchies with quicker decisionmaking processes, which is a good sign. Be bold!”

Melanie Leech, Chief Executive,

British Property Federation, said: “Offi ce workers underpin our town and city centre ecosystems – many high street businesses, from cafes to gyms, depend on footfall from nearby offi ces. Data collected by Remit Consulting shows that people are returning to the offi ce in increasing numbers and this trend is likely to continue now that Government guidance has changed and once the holiday season is over. Whilst offi ces will need to adapt to more fl exible working patterns they will remain a vital hub for collaboration, creativity and productivity for the future as well as playing an important role in allowing people to develop their skills and knowledge through personal interaction with their senior

British Property Federation, says: “Offi ce is likely to continue now that government guidance has changed, and once the holiday season is over. While offi ces will need to adapt to more fl exible working patterns, they will and productivity for the future, as well as colleagues, peers and mentors.”

Advertising feature

European water specialist harnesses nature to keep water fl owing for large chemical complex

Evides Industriewater has now been working in partnership with one of Europe’s largest chemical production sites for 20 years to introduce water conservation and circular economy concepts. Dow Chemicals at Terneuzen is Dow’s second largest site globally and manufactures essential chemicals such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene and benzene.

The drought in Europe in 2018 was a wake-up call for industry, and water abstraction for cooling was restricted. Chemical companies are aware of just how important fresh water is to their operations, but targeting growth means more water will be needed. In addition, some routes to decarbonisation, such as biofuels, hydrogen and lithium batteries, will also increase water consumption. Lack of water has huge potential to derail the economy, as well as eff orts to combat climate change.

At Dow Terneuzen, 10 billion litres of water are used each year for cooling and steam production, and since 2001, the production of the water for these processes has been outsourced to Evides Industriewater with a long-term ambition to reduce the site’s reliance on the region’s freshwater resources, which are also required for public supply and agriculture.

Water reuse

The fi rst step introduced at Dow was to analyse the wastewater streams from the site. Evides introduced new wastewater treatment that made it possible to reuse some

(Left) Dow Chemical site at Terneuzen

(Right) Evides wetland pilot at Dow Terneuzen

water from wastewater fl ows, which were otherwise being discharged to the sea. Other on-site water sources were then introduced: condensate from steam production was recovered and treated to be reused again, and rainwater falling on the site was intercepted, cleaned, stored in large tanks and used to re-supply the site.

After all the on-site sources were maximised, a publicprivate partnership was set up between Evides and the municipality of Terneuzen. In this partnership Evides fi nanced a new sewage treatment plant for the city’s urban wastewater. The MBR (membrane bio-reactor) designed, built and operated by Evides produces a much cleaner effl uent than traditional wastewater treatments, which makes it possible to take the effl uent and reuse it. Project developer at Evides Bas van Eijk explains, “We are treating 20% of the city’s sewage through our MBR and we have a dedicated pipeline to Dow 11km away to transfer the clean effl uent. Once it reaches Dow, our treatment plant there produces demineralised water for Dow’s processes.”

Despite these innovations, Dow still requires 4–5 billion litres of fresh water every year from the Biesbosch – one of the last extensive freshwater tidal wetlands in Europe. Now Evides and Dow have committed to expand water reuse on site to reduce this reliance on fresh water to zero. The idea is to replace it with more treated wastewater from the city of Terneuzen, as well as more of its own effl uent and rainwater.

Constructed wetland

The concept and potential of constructed wetland is illustrated by Colin Robinson: “Whenever water is treated you get two fl ows, a clean fl ow and a reject fl ow. The effi ciency of your water treatment is measured by the ratio of clean to reject fl ows. In order to achieve our and Dow’s goal of 100% water supply from reuse, we need to improve the effi ciency of our water treatment. The fi rst step in this project has been to carry out a two-year pilot of using a constructed wetland to pre-fi lter water before it enters our treatment plant.”

“The wetland does not use energy or chemicals and it actually supports biodiversity in the area. By passing the wastewater through the roots of the wetland, the plants soak up nutrients to benefi t their growth. What the plant calls nutrients, we call pollutants, and we would otherwise have to remove these mechanically or chemically to clean the water.

With the water pre-fi ltered by the wetland, our treatment plant can achieve a much higher effi ciency of water treatment, since less water needs to be rejected, more of it is recovered for reuse.”

Following successful deployment of water reuse at Dow Terneuzen, Evides now has a number of other pilot schemes in Europe to reuse industrial and municipal effl uent as industrial process water. “These local industrial reuse solutions are much easier to deploy than city-wide water reuse projects, and they have a huge impact on preserving water resources. Every litre of reuse water supplied to industry is a litre preserved in a river or reservoir that can support biodiversity or protect drinking water resources.”

For more information contact:

Colin Robinson Business Manager UK & Ireland M: +44 (0) 7455 721 799 E: c.robinson@evides.nl W: www.evidesindustriewater.nl

Evides circular concept for water treatment and reuse

Terneuzen city wastewater

Constructed wetland Rainwater collection

Industrial water reuse

Dow Terneuzen wastewater