The real key to long-term economic benefit from oil and gas is not in revenues flowing to a state-owned oil company, but from the development of a healthy, innovative support and service sector.
Oil industry consultant Gerrit Maureau thinks the overseas opportunities for petroleum service companies have never been greater.
The hungry market is with foreign national oil companies (NOCs).
Foreign NOCs are so hungry for technology and training that Maureau believes a good service company will almost certainly find a market overseas if its sales effort is well-informed. But success is unlikely to come cheap, he warns: "Above all, be persistent. Canadians have developed an unfortunate reputation overseas for showing up once and never coming back." In his experience, a half dozen visits may be needed before a significant breakthrough occurs.
The rest of the Maureau profile can be found at
DOB Magazine.-srbp-