News

Delighted to meet the ContiTech Industrial Fluid Solutions team of Jan Egil Hjelle, GM Middle East & Africa, Jakob Høier Nielsen, Sales Excellence Manager and Danko Sumonja, Program Manager, at International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) 2024 in Dhahran. ContiTech, a subsidiary of Continental, offers a comprehensive range of industrial, hydraulic and fire-rated hoses designed and manufactured for the demands and performance requirements of the petroleum sector. Its regional base is at Jafza and a sophisticated network of distributors operate in the Kingdom. The overall Continental Group has sales in the region of €40 billion, 200,000 employees and operations in 57 countries.

It was also a pleasure to meet with Stefan van Diessen, MD and Maarten van Geuns ✔, Sales and Marketing Manager of VertiDrive this week, following a kind introduction by James Telford who leads our clients, Schmidt Abrasive Blasting of the USA, in the Kingdom. VertiDrive is a robotics company based in the Netherlands, specialising in the design and manufacture of advanced abrasive blasting robots. Their robots are used in a variety of industries to automate the blasting process, resulting in increased efficiency and productivity.

VertiDrive was acquired by BlastOne International in March 2023, a global leader in the design and manufacture of blasting and painting equipment and supplies. With over 50 years of experience, BlastOne serves the marine, oil and gas, and industrial sectors from its branch offices in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and USA and now also starting from Europe.
 
Highlights from Day 3 of IPTC included a keynote session “Fuelling the Future with Innovation” moderated by Eithne Treanor, Media Trainer and Communications Expert and a powerful panel of speakers: Ali A. Al Meshari, Senior Vice President Technology Oversight & Coordination – aramco, Ian W. Campbell, VP of Innovation & Economic Development and Executive Director of Strategic Projects – KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology), Fahad Al-Sherehy, VP of Innovation & Economic Development and Executive Director of Strategic Projects, Fahad Al-Sherehy, Vice President Corporate Sustainability – SABIC.

HFI’s SAVI - Saudi Arabia Ventures Initiative supports advanced petroleum technology and energy transition technology ventures in Saudi Arabia, supporting clients to address key challenges including foreign ownership laws, local partner agreements, technology licences, manufacturing facilities contracts, corporate taxation, IKTVA and Saudisation We are privileged to work with our local law network partner Dr Bader AlBusaiyes, FCIArb on these ventures, and 2024 marks 5 years of our collaboration arrangements.

Next stop in the Kingdom is EIC Connect Saudi Arabia on 27 February.