Lenar Nazipov: Entering New Markets Is One Of The Development Priorities Of TAGRAS
The General Director of the TAGRAS Holding shared plans for developing the international market, voiced the competitive advantages of the oil and gas service group and spoke about the countries interested in the Holding’s presence on the world stage.
– Lenar Limovich, the Holding is one of the leaders in the Russian oil and gas services market. Obviously, there are all the prerequisites for TAGRAS to expand abroad on a large scale. Are there any plans to move from regional to international activities?
– Such a transition is not just plans, but one of the priorities of our development. “TAGRAS” already has significant experience in foreign markets. We offer modern and technologically advanced products and services not only throughout Russia, but also in countries near and far abroad. The key sales markets now are the Volga region, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and India.
– Perhaps, in today’s unstable conditions, international activities have become much more complex and risky? The holding plans to geographically expand its zone of influence, what will be given special attention in this context?
– Any business, especially such a large one, is associated with risk. The manager should be faced with the task not only of reducing risks and their consequences to a minimum, but also of predicting the emergence of new ones. In particular, in our Holding, in order to distribute risks between different areas, it is necessary to systematically work on business diversification. It is important to note that this process can be expressed not only in the implementation of new activities and products, but also in entering new regions. And here we understand perfectly well that the market for providing oil and gas services is not limited only to Russia – foreign projects are becoming increasingly important. We are actively working in this direction.
– 2023 passed under unprecedented pressure from sanctions; many domestic oil and gas companies found themselves cut off from the capital market and technology supplies. How does the Holding manage to operate in such conditions?
– Perhaps the whole point is that the Holding itself is interesting for foreign partners. Our divisions “TNG-Group”, “Sistema-Service”, “TMS Group” are quite successfully implementing a number of projects in international markets. For example, in September 2023, TNG-Group won a tender for reprocessing seismic data announced by PDVSA PETROMIRANDA in Venezuela. Not long ago they signed a cooperation agreement.
Over the past year, we have welcomed guests from the largest companies in India, Iraq and Azerbaijan. At the International Forum “Russia – Islamic World: KazanForum” we held negotiations with the plenipotentiary representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and discussed the prospects for cooperation in the provision of oil services in the fields of Jordan. There we also met with representatives of KEZAD GROUP (UAE) and raised the issue of promoting the production and service potential of TAGRAS in the Middle East.
At the beginning of October, a delegation from Oil India Limited visited TAGRAS on a partner visit, during which members of the delegation were able to become more familiar with the activities of the divisions. A little later, their example was followed by the delegation of the Arab Well Logging Company. Iraqi colleagues perform well logging and data interpretation, repair, calibrate, and update equipment. Based on the agreements reached during the meeting, the possibility of supplying equipment produced by the Holding is being explored.
– It is very significant that foreign partners themselves come to Russia – this really speaks of their high motivation for cooperation.
– Of course, this is very important. Last year, TAGRAS took part in major industry events in the United Arab Emirates and China. In the fall, we visited the 16th International Chinese Exhibition of Petroleum and Petrochemical Technologies and Equipment, where work was actively underway to build business relations with Chinese partners. The ADIPEC 2023 conference in Abu Dhabi provided an opportunity not only to negotiate with the Vice President for Procurement of the national oil company ADNOC, Said Jassem, and the Deputy Minister of Industry and Advanced Technologies of the UAE, Osama Fadhel, but also to sign a Cooperation Agreement between TAGRAS Holding and Al Ghaith Energy.
Representatives of our divisions visited Iran, Qatar and Oman. At the International Exhibition “Eurasia” in Tehran, representatives of the Holding discussed the details of mutually beneficial cooperation and agreed to sign a memorandum regarding the provision of services to Iranian oil companies. Iranian partners are interested in seismic exploration, geophysical, field and office work, as well as in carrying out hydraulic fracturing operations in developed fields.
Everywhere we saw interest in our products and services. And since demand creates supply, it is now more important than ever for divisions to focus on developing their international presence.
– Lenar Limovich, why is participation in foreign projects so important for the Holding? What is the feasibility of such projects?
– The market in Russia is quite competitive. We see that we have already occupied a certain niche in it. Customers, represented by foreign countries, have changed their attitude towards the Holding for the better: both in terms of requirements and level of interest. Companies from Russia are now receiving a lot of attention, as there is a great need for their presence abroad.
A striking example of such interest is the UAE. Previously, to interact with them, it was necessary to comply with the API standard. Fortunately, work is now underway in the Russian Federation, together with the UAE, to synchronize standards. To date, about 6-7 standards have already been synchronized. This is a big and important job for the entire industry, which will help expand horizons.
– What is the reason for the increase in the level of interest of foreign partners in the Holding? What is the main competitive advantage of TAGRAS abroad?
– We see that customers are increasingly interested in complex projects, where several types of services are combined “under one umbrella”. This, in my opinion, can be a significant competitive advantage of TAGRAS Holding. Therefore, it is very important that divisions participate in projects together with each other.
The quality, cost and production time of our products are often in no way inferior to imported analogues, and in some cases even surpass them. I am sure that each division already has something that will be in wide demand abroad. For example, TMS Group has the ability to organize the supply of pipe products, fittings and pump drives. Sistema-Service can enter the international market with submersible pumps and motors, PDC bits, OLKS equipment, cable and wiring products.
I am confident that the international business development strategy will allow the Holding to increase production and financial performance, as well as gain access to the best global practices and experience.
