TOP-20 expatriated who have made significant contribution to the development of local content

On the eve of the Oilman Day Petrocouncil.kz presents an overview of the TOP-20 expatriated who have made and are making significant contribution to the development of local content in the oil and gas industry of Kazakhstan.

For two months, Petrocouncil experts studied in detail the profile of foreign specialists. Since 1992 expatriates have started working in Tengiz, since 1997 in Kashagan and since 1999 in Karachaganak.

Over the years, foreign experts have made a huge impact on the development of the oil and gas industry, bringing industry development to the successful level.

Our list which was compiled for the first time includes top expats managers of O&G operators and business leaders.

Tim Miller was promoted to non-executive director to KazMunayGas National Company and serves as executive director of IGS Kazakhstan service provider. Tim served as General Director of Tengizchevroil company and Managing Director of Chevron Eurasia Unit from 2010 to 2018.

Over the years of Tim’s work in Kazakhstan payments to the Republic of Kazakhstan (wages and Kazakhstani goods and services, tax payments and royalties) exceeded $ 100 billion. Also, with Tim’s direct participation the Future Expansion Project was started with budget of more than $ 40 billion and more than 45 thousand new jobs. He also supported the international appointments program which allowed hundreds of TCO’s Kazakhstani employees to undergo long-term international internships in Chevron units around the world and supported a program for replacing foreign employees with Kazakhstani specialists including management positions. Under Tim’s leadership, TCO was awarded the Grand Prix of the Republican competition for social responsibility of business “Paryz”. Tim supported an increase in the budget of the ‘Igilik’ program to $ 25 million per year aimed at the construction of schools, hospitals, sports facilities and other social infrastructure in Atyrau region. Tim is the only leader from Chevron who fluent in the Kazakh language throughout the history of TCO’s existence and maintains relations with many stakeholders in Kazakhstan. Since 2021, he has been invited as an independent director to KazMunaiGas National Company.

Michael Kraly is the FGP project manager for last several years who has ensured inclusion and growth of Kazakhstani Content. With his direct support FGP project staff increased to 47,000 people, 93% of which are Kazakhstan nationals. In addition, around 1 185 contracts awarded to over 320 Kazakhstani companies-SMEs. To date, FGP project has spent over $10 billion on Kazakhstani Content. Michael was appointed as Manager of Capital Projects in TCO.

Oleg Diakonov is the chairman of LUKOIL company in Kazakhstan. Prior to that, Oleg Diakonov was General Director of JV Arman LLP (Aktau), General Director of Karakudukmunai LLP (Aktau), Director of LUKOIL Overseas Karachaganak B.V. in Astana. Oleg Diakonov supervises the activities of the Kazakh assets of LUKOIL company in Nur-Sultan, Kyzylorda, Atyrau, Aksai, Almaty. He is one of the key general managers of LUKOIL in the joint projects Karachaganak Petroleum Operating, Chevron, Tengizchevroil, Shell, PetroKazakhstan.

Since 2019, thanks to the support of Oleg Diakonov LUKOIL’s long-standing initiatives to participate in new offshore projects have found concrete actions. There were held negotiations with KazMunayGas and the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan to finalize the assessment of blocks and the commercial terms of new offshore projects in the Caspian Sea. Contracts for exploration were signed which will attract additional investment to Kazakhstan.

With the support of Oleg Diakonov cooperation with the International Scientific Center Astana started in 2018 and project of creating a Scientific and Educational Center in Kogalym (Russia, Western Siberia) with Nazarbayev University. During the visits of the President of LUKOIL Alekperov under Council of Foreign Investors new initiatives were proposed for the development of projects in Kazakhstan as the construction of a LUKOIL lubricants production plant in the Republic of Kazakhstan. LUKOIL has been a sponsor of the KAZENERGY Association Youth Forum for several years.

Oliver Lazar was Shell Country Manager in Kazakhstan. As Shell Country Manager Olivier Lazar actively promoted and supported the concept of “in-country value” (maintaining and creating value within the country). Thanks to his personal support, the employees of PSA LLP, as well as experts from NCOC and KPO had the opportunity to exchange experience with colleagues from other countries of the world on the issue of a qualitative increase in local content. Oliver Lazar provided comprehensive support to the intergovernmental commissions “Kazakhstan-Netherlands”, “Kazakhstan-UK”, “Kazakhstan-USA”, “Kazakhstan-EU”, including on issues of local content and improvement of the investment climate in Kazakhstan. He took a very active position in promoting local personnel both in Shell Kazakhstan and NCOC, KPO. Since the appointment of Oliver Lazar in Shell the number of Kazakhstani specialists in various fields at Shell Kazakhstan increased by 55%. Under the leadership of Lazar Shell’s policy in Kazakhstan had been focused on developing the potential of local personnel experienced at Shell projects in Kazakhstan and abroad to become competitive for replacing foreign employees of the Shell and operators.

Marcel Van Berkel is Manager of Contracts and Procurement in NCOC, he has been contributing actively to the Kazakhstani Content Development. Under his leadership there have been achieved:

  • Development of NCOC Long Term Procurement Plans and publication into the public domain allowing KZ companies to identify tender opportunities early in line with their core businesses.
  • Inclusion of “favorite local arrangements” into NCOC Tender Procedures which facilitate tender opportunities and development of Local KZ companies, local goods manufacturing, long term contracts and sustainability
  •  Mandatory Implementation and commitment of localization plans for manufacturing of goods with OEM Suppliers.
  • Placement of Trial Orders with Local KZ companies to test and demonstrate their technical capabilities for NCOC requirements.
  • Program of Early Tenders implementation with Local Suppliers for newly produced goods resulting in long terms Supply Agreements.
  • Creation of JVs between international Suppliers and local KZ manufactures as a pre requisite to tenders.
  • Exploring and visiting local manufacturers to identify the potential and existing capabilities and support development and accreditation to NCOC required standards.
  • Unbundling of larger scopes to work volumes accessible to local companies.
  • Developing, training of local staff and progressing local staff into managerial Contracting & Procurement positions.

Hisham Kawash, CCEP country manager in Kazakhstan. The company is one of the leaders of the local content support. The company under Hisham Kawash’s leadership spent more than $1 billion on local goods, services and also nationalized 97% of personnel. Hisham pays attention to developing the capabilities of local workers. More than 15000 Kazakhstani personnel were trained in accordance with international standards, 2500 people received vocational training at the CCEP vocational training center. The company works with more than 700 Kazakhstani subcontractors and 350 Kazakhstani suppliers of goods. While supporting charitable activities, Hisham and his team supported more than 30 events to tackle coronavirus crisis as well as over 80 events to support corporate social responsibility in the region.

Stephen O’Callaghan, General Director of KKTS has spent over 35 Years in the Oil and Gas industry. Prior to joining KKTS, Stephen held senior positions with Kentz & SNC Lavalin in Australia, Canada, Africa and Middle East.

In 2014 Kentz were acquired by SNC Lavalin. In August 2021, KKTS acquired the Oil and Gas business of SNC Lavalin, bringing the workforce from 3,500 employees to 10,000 and with it, a hugely expanded talent pool.

Stephen joined KKTS in 2019, during his first year, the company was awarded the System Completions Scope for the 3GI FGP Project operated by Tengizchevroil.

Stephen as leader of KKTS has made a considerable contribution to the development of Local Content in the Oil & Gas Industry in Atyrau Oblast, Zhyloy District. Since the award of the 3GI FGP Systems Completion contract, the Local Content of KKTS works, services, goods achieved 68% accounting to over $100 million. This percentage will further rise as the Project ramps up.

KKTS has been showing its commitment to the development of local community by building the local capacity and capabilities of Kazakhstani businesses. Currently, National Specialists around 94% of the overall professional staff of KKTS and 70% of management roles are taken by Kazakhstani employees. This has been achieved through KKTS in house training resources and mentorship programs, as well as third party suppliers, resulting in specialist training being delivered to approx. 2000 national employees during just the last 1.5 years.

During times of the pandemic, KKTS through Stephen has joined several charity initiatives to support local community. For the last two years KKTS has allocated over $270,000 for sponsorship and other charity events in Atyrau Oblast, Zhyloy District.

Shaun Doherty is Kazakhstani Content Adviser for Tengizchevroil. Shaun was Chevron’s global subject matter expert who transferred to TCO in 2015.   Previously he managed supplier development centers in Angola and Uzbekistan and designed economic development programs for development agencies and oil and gas companies. Over the past several years TCO has steadily increased its Kazakhstani Content to where Kazakhstani Content (KC) % has more than doubled from 2017 through the first half of 2021.

Shaun has provided global best practices and better integrated local content into TCO’s strategic planning and processes.  Over the past several years TCO has steadily increased its Kazakhstani Content to where KC% has more than doubled from 2017 through the first half of 2021.

Shaun has been the architect of the TCO approach to negotiating with international OEMs to invest in Kazakhstan.  This has resulted in successful localization from: Cameron valve center in Tengiz, Klinger gaskets in Atyrau, BakerHughes blending chemicals with local KZ partner, Schneider Electric large-scale pilot and modular substations, World class Honeywell and Schneider training centers in Atyrau and Almaty.

Shaun has managed the supplier qualification program and the program has identified, analyzed, and qualified many new Kazakhstani companies to do business with TCO, including waste and recycling providers including glass waste, plastic waste and cardboard waste, tank fabrication, modular buildings and others

Renato Maroli is the Managing Director of Agip Karachaganak b.v. and oversees the development of the Karachaganak project from ENI (Italy).

Renato served as KPO General Director from 2015 to 2017. In early 2021 Renato returned to Kazakhstan as Managing Director for Karachaganak. Renato has been involved in the management of many large projects, both in Italy and abroad, for example in countries such as Libya and Egypt. In 2017 by the Decree of the President of the Kazakhstan Nazarbayev, Renato Maroli was awarded the Kurmet Medal for his merits in the management of the Karachaganak project which supports the economic development of the West Kazakhstani region. Renato Maroli also made a great contribution to increasing the Kazakhstani content which is one of the priorities for KPO. In 2017 Kazakhstani employees made up 95% of professional workers and supervisors and 76% of the management team. In general, since the signing of Karachaganak PSA, KPO has invested over USD 200 million in training Kazakhstani specialists where Renato was actively involved in the development of Kazakhstani content.

Gian Romano Andena is Maintenance Manager of KPO. Gian Romano has been working for the past 40 year in the Oil &Gas in different countries (Egypt, Norway, South Korea) and mostly in Africa. He spent 12 years in Kazakhstan contributing to the startup and development of two of the major Oil & Gas Company operating in Kazakhstan.

In 2001 he joined the new project KPO in Kazakhstan, then worked as NCOC maintenance execution manager. He actively contributed to the startup of Bolashak plant and Kashagan field as well as Karachaganak. In 2018 he joined KPO as maintenance manager contributing to oilfield development. In particular, provided assistance to place early tender for localization of oil and gas equipment (valves, filter elements, gaskets, etc.).

Giuseppe Rodelli is Director of SICIM company which is a large Italian EPC contractor working on Tengiz, Karachaganak, Kashagan projects. Founded in 1962, it is one of the world leaders in design, procurement and construction in the oil and gas sector. SICIM and its subsidiaries operate in 25 countries, including countries such as Kazakhstan, Iraq, Canada, Congo, Peru, Mexico. Kazakhstani branch of SICIM S.P.A. has been working in the oil and gas sector of the country for over 20 years. It employs 5,500 skilled workers and more than 1,000 special machinery and equipment.

Under the leadership of Giuseppe the company pays attention to the development of local content. The company employs more than 95% of local employees. It is one of the leading employers in the Atyrau and West Kazakhstan regions. Over the years, SICIM has invested heavily in Kazakhstani operations under Giuseppe’s management and owns/operates 3 large industrial bases in Aksai, Karabatan and Tengiz to support its projects. Sicim S.p.A. is one of the largest taxpayers in Kazakhstan, in 2018 the company was in 65th place with 13.8 billion tenge.

Serhat Puturgeli is the head of a large Turkish EPC company in Kazakhstan. GATE works on FGP Tengiz and Kashagan projects. The activities of GATE Construction in Kazakhstan began in 2003 with the reconstruction of the Atyrau refinery. Under Serhat’s leadership GATE was able to achieve over 90% of local content which is significant for the market and more than other international contractors in the region.

Serhat as a leader provides charitable assistance on an ongoing basis, he supports Afghan veterans of the Atyrau region, social facilities, low-income strata of the population, periodically organizes job fairs, translation training and employment of personnel.

Paolo Messina is NCOC Operational excellence Manager. He has over 7 years of experience in Kazakhstan where he has held various management positions in contract dispute resolution, supplier and contractor management, contracts and procurement, auditing and process compliance. Over the years Paolo has shown a commitment to local content issues and the promotion of local content initiatives.

Some of the achievements include direct involvement in the local content promotion in PSA tender procedures: (a) application of a conditional discount for local suppliers; (b) securing the renewal of supply contracts in exchange for localization of production; (c) limitation of foreign participation in the case of 5 Kazakhstani producers; (d) the condition of the award of the contract in exchange for the investment. In addition, Paolo developed and implemented special provisions in tender procedures during a pandemic to support local producers: (a) simplified / alternative documentation procedures including electronic signature, (b) introduction of the “local manufacturer” and the availability of CT-KZ for award contract on a non-competitive basis. Finally, Paolo worked to increase opportunities for local suppliers and manufacturers through the digitalization of registration and qualification of suppliers (online cabinet where suppliers themselves can register for future projects).

Brice Debnam is General Manager of TCO Supply Chain Management.  Brice arrived in Kazakhstan in 2020 and previously was SCM Manager for several of Chevron’s assets including Brazil and Midland Texas. Brice has already made strong impact in improving TCO KC processes and interaction between TCO and outside organizations. For example, contributed to published TCO procurement plan on website and adjustment of internal procedures to increase consideration of KC outcomes. Especially, it should be noted that Brice is the first SCM manager with the proactive engagement with associations.

Ertugrul Car is the board member of Senimdi Kurylys LLP (SK) and Vice-president of large Turkish construction company ENKA.

Ertugrul has worked with over 120 local subcontractors, staff and service providers. With his support more than 25,000 citizens of Kazakhstan were employed. In addition, more than 25 employees are involved in overseas projects of parent companies in London, Istanbul, Tbilisi. It should be noted that over $500 million has been paid to local subcontractors, staff and service providers.

Vadim Avkhadeev is the General Director of KMG Automation LLP. The company is a joint venture between global Schneider Electric and KazMunayGas for localization of production, training programs for engineers and specialists in Atyrau. Under leadership of Vadim since 2019 KMG Automation LLP has localized production of Foxboro Pressure Transmitters in Atyrau with Kazakhstani content 61.9% to 70.01%. Under Vadim’s leadership over the past three years KMG Automation has proven to be an unprecedented and positive example of how technologies should be localized and how they should be used to develop the country’s oil and gas industry. Schneider Electric, as one of the main shareholders of the KMGA company provides know-how of technology, equipment, a knowledge base, a training program for engineers and specialists.  

Uberto Canachini is the President of the private company C.E.G. s.p.a. The company is an Italian group of companies with a 45-year presence in the oil and gas sector, and a large manufacturer of specific equipment. The company has been active in Kazakhstan since 2011. The company’s equipment has been installed at the industrial facilities of the Kashagan and Karachaganak fields, as well as at some facilities in the south and east of the country. CEG is a supplier for companies such as BP, KPO, NCOC, KEGOK. Umberto attracts Kazakhstani partners to participate in joint projects abroad. At the moment, Kazakhstani electrical engineers are successfully working at the company’s production sites in Europe and in the Gulf countries. A 5-year contract was signed with the Kazakh company BR Service with maintenance and service of equipment in Central Asia, Russia and the Persian Gulf countries is carried out by Kazakhstani personnel. Kazakhstani engineers work at the facilities of companies as Saudi Aramco, Oman Oil, Kuwait Oil, Tecnimont Sakhalin, etc. 15 Kazakhstani engineers are undergoing a 5-month internship at the company’s production facilities in Italy with further involvement in the maintenance of the company’s equipment around the world.

Harald Traa is Engineering and Technical Authority Manager of KPO. He actively participated in the localization of the modular substation, pressure vessels, etc. within the framework of the implementation of KPO projects. In addition, he  supported in technical audit of KSP Steel as per KPO requirement and to place a trial order for seamless line-pipes.

Sebastian Glazer is Operations director of Kazakhstani company ‘Edil-Oral’. Seven years ago, he started to work in Kazakhstan. Shortly after he contributed to the launch of the first Explosion protection training center in Kazakhstan where the first Kazakhstan specialists were trained and certified on the CompEx scheme. Edil-Oral.kz today runs international accredited training and personal competency certification programs for the technical specialists like CompEx and IECEx. Sebastiaan facilitated the adaptation of the training programs in Kazakh and Russian for the first time in Kazakhstan as well. Now the Bilim LMS provides high quality training and assessment online for personnel and candidates. The programs were developed are not only focused on Explosion Protection but also covers Electrical Low and High Voltage, Instrumentation, Mechanical and Piping, HVAC-systems and Telecom.

Ritesh Parakkal has been working in Kazakhstan since 2003. Since his early days he has worked with many local companies like KazStroyService and ISKER in Senior Management positions. He started off from Tengiz and since then has spent major part of his career in Kazakhstan and has been part of various projects within Tengiz, Kashagan, Karachaganak, KazGermunai, Zhaikmunai and others. He has been instrumental in adopting international systems, digitalization and bringing in foreign expertise, partners into the companies that he has worked for. He has been quite influential in various mergers and acquisitions and has successfully landed projects for Kazakh companies in India, UAE, Russia and Thailand. He has always played a vital role when it came to training and developing his local colleagues, subordinates in Kazakhstan. He is a staunch supporter of the Local content program and has been quite vocal in his support for the local vendors and subcontractors. During his tenure with the various companies Ritesh promoted more than 100 Local vendors and subcontractors for potential opportunities on major EPC projects through local content workshops.

He has been mentoring students from universities like KIMEP, KBTU, APEC, Atyrau University and offering lectures/seminars from time to time.