We asked Leandro Brusque, Supply Chain Manager at Ocyan, about 4 things: Industry Challenges, Opportunities, Transparency, and Change. Here’s what he had to say:
Challenges
- In your opinion, what are the current challenges facing the offshore Oil & Gas industry in general and project logistics management/supply chains more specifically?
The main challenge ahead is the question mark regarding the world economic recovery, its impact on oil consumption, and its market price.
Companies must maintain their operational excellence while keeping the pace on home office policies as well as the rigid health and safety protocols dictated by COVID-19.
On the other hand, SCM and Logistics shall revisit their suppliers and logistics network considering the new configurations on raw material lead time and closed borders around the world. We cannot forget to mention that increasing transparency, reshaping operations, and managing a sustainable process will contribute to a quick adaptation for the years ahead.
- How do you view the worldwide energy transition? What impact does this have our your business?
We still have the challenge to consider the “greener” energy matrix without disregarding the key role Oil & Gas has on our life, thus planning the best application of the overall alternatives and offering the best outcome to the community.
The Brazilian Matrix includes a significant portion of renewables and still requires the Oil & Gas industry to support demand growth. We are continuously facing challenging criteria on sustainability within our market. We make it real at Ocyan by consistently presenting great KPIs on operational performance fully aligned with our sustainability values.
- Do you foresee/long-term permanent changes in offshore supply chains as a result of Covid-19?
COVID-19 has reminded us of the risks of being too dependent on a few suppliers and a less flexible logistics configuration. Despite the fact that it is still hard to predict a crisis like this, risk analysis should be broader and more accurate to cover additional mitigation measures.
The driver on the medium / long term shall be a more regional SCM that challenges some centralized supply policies, allowing agility on eventual source changes. Likewise, such chains shall allow different logistics alternatives as well as “out of the box” exercises to offer supply as planned.
My advice is: design an intelligent, responsible and smart operation to maneuver the world of uncertainties that are ahead, every company should mitigate risk and avoid future supply chain disruptions.
Opportunities
- What opportunities exist in offshore projects worldwide? And in South America in particular?
The world is moving again! We may discuss oil price, recovery pace and spending cuts but projects that has been put on hold are back on the table. Hotspots will be East Coast Africa, Guyana, and Brazil.
Brazil will be the protagonist in the process of attracting most of the FPSOs and related subsea installations and further O&M in the coming years with a great appetite, providing good quality oil at competitive rates thus presenting ourselves as a strategic place for companies to be.
- How can the industry and companies capitalise on these opportunities?
Entering new markets with complex law and tax regulations may be challenging but that is the ticket one must pay for the risk/return equation. Companies must work on scale gains, focus on its core business, and look for local expertise on picking the right partnership to cover client and market needs by synergic activities. Knowing the local environment should be an important part of the feasibility study to mitigate risks and increase success chances and here there is a great opportunity in finding the right Brazilian partner.
Transparency
- At BBN, our aim is to open up the breakbulk market and make the industry more transparent. What is Ocyan doing to foster greater transparency in the offshore industry? In your opinion, can more be done?
Developing partnerships is the key point on redesigning supply chain and logistics networks and transparency between all players shall be the basis for this exercise. The role of all players will be revisited as a strategic role (aggregating value) instead of just adding cost.
We interact with the market on an early stage sharing as much information as possible, inviting them to propose alternative solutions to our studies, bids and projects, and providing the feedback whenever possible.
In addition, Ocyan has an open registration process that is easily accessed by any partners worldwide. In this new scenario, more important than “how much” we must address “how to do it” and how to engage all stakeholders including clients, partners, suppliers, employers, employees, community.
Change
- In your opinion, what needs to change to improve the offshore industry?
Technology and innovation have provided the grounds for the Oil & Gas boom during the last decades, mainly after the pre-salt discovery in Brazil. They show their strength in the overall chain and within the companies supporting operations and sustainability at the core. SCM and logistics will be perceived as strategic to companies’ development and growth while leadership enforces transparency at each step to provide safety, trust and commitment to society.
“Optimize your process, restructure the supply chain to target value added operations, supply chains need to be see as strategic for the entire organization and industry.”
- What can we do as professionals working in offshore and the associated industries to impact the change? What skills will be relevant to impact the change?
Leadership, communication, overview, and negotiation skills will be key! We need to be more responsible, creative, flexible and adaptable to reflect it directly into our deliverables. We should drive the process instead of just being “passengers”, thus leaders need to enable the team to actively work on such revisions as the SCM configuration.
Balance between experienced professionals and the new generation will be paramount as while the experienced ones will share the lessons learned from past projects, “newcomers” will show which are the best tools to make it happen! We are now experiencing a new time of capitalism with the engagement of all stakeholders in our O&G industry.
About Ocyan
Ocyan is a company with a sustainable attitude and high technical capacity to offer solutions for the oil and gas industry in Brazil and abroad. Its main values are safety, the partnership of trust built with customers, and the commitment to society, always with ethics and transparency. Our purpose is excellence in the search for the energy that drives the world. The company encourages diversity and inclusion inside and outside the company. Ocyan has seven active and operating contract. For more information go to: www.ocyan-sa.com
