Arthur D. Little joins Dubai Dewa and Saudi Aramco co-operation talks

Top representatives from management consulting firm Arthur D. Little have joined delegates from Saudi Aramco and Dubai Electricity and Water (Dewa) for recent discussions between the GCC organisations on forming closer strategic ties.

Senior figures from oil colossus Saudi Aramco, including Khalid Al Salouli, Aramco director and head of its Energy Industrial City project, have visited their counterparts at Dewa in Dubai – led by Dewa’s managing director and chief executive Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer – for round-table discussions on the potential for closer cooperation between the companies on key development projects.

Joining them were representatives from global management consulting firm Arthur D. Little, with Jaap Kalkman, UAE managing partner and global head of Arthur D. Little’s Energy & Utilities practice, in attendance along with Dubai-based senior Energy & Utilities team-member Lukas Vylupek, a principle with the firm and global lead for its Digitilisation & Innovation Competence Centre for Utilities.

Discussions between the energy companies of the neighbouring GCC allies centred on the mutual benefits in strengthening cooperation and forming strategic partnerships on key development projects in the power and water sectors. Dewa’s Al Tayer expressed the organisation’s desire for improved performance, productivity and quality of service in line with the objectives set out by the UAE’s governing heads-of state, including Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE prime minister and ruler of Dubai.In turn, Saudi Aramco’s visiting party briefed the Dewa heads on its Energy Industrial City project – a development across 50 square kilometres which aims to improve the Kingdom’s energy security and reduce the cost of products and services through the centralisation of energy sector industries such as refining, petrochemical, traditional electric, and water treatment and production operations – with Aramco outlining its enthusiasm for the expertise in generation, transmission and distribution a greater association with Dewa could bring to the table.

Jaap Kalkman and Lukas Vylupek, the Arthur D. Little representatives in attendance at the meeting, have between them over 35 years of consulting experience, latterly with a focus on the global energy and oil & gas sectors, and including lengthy recent tenures in the Middle East. They joined the consulting firm, which has been operating in the region for over 30 years with offices currently in Dubai, Riyadh and Beirut, in 2014 and 2013 respectively.

According to a recent study by The Boston Consulting Group, the Middle East petrochemical sector is ripe for increased collaboration and even consolidation, as the industry is seeing a range of forces, including technology-led innovation, disrupt operating models and value chains.