Pall Corporation, a global leader in filtration, separation and purification, has strengthened its presence in Saudi Arabia this year with the creation of a joint venture company Pall Arabia.

Established in line with Saudi Vision 2030, the company’s vision is to make Pall Arabia its Global Center of Excellence for Oil & Gas, according to Sary Diab, Middle East Managing Director, Pall Corporation.

“The Vision 2030 of Saudi Arabia gels completely with our vision and mission,” says Diab and adds: “Our strategy is to operate as a local company in Saudi Arabia and we have continued to invest in both assets and resources over the past 12 years to realise this vision and make it a reality.”

From a technology perspective, the company has launched several new products that have already been applied to its customers in Saudi Arabia. “We have launched a new range of coalescers that help lower our customer costs and still deliver the same results,” he adds.

In the past 12 years, Pall’s presence in Saudi Arabia grew from a sales representation to having the largest project management and engineering presence globally based in Saudi Arabia. All projects were engineered and built in Saudi Arabia by local suppliers in the kingdom.

Since 2011, Pall established a services presence in kingdom and invested several million dollars in Saudi Arabia to have the largest fleet of service rental equipment worldwide based in the kingdom.

Pall Arabia today has 50 per cent of its workforce as Saudi nationals and has plans to expand further going forward.

Excerpts from the interview:  

How long have you been associated with Saudi Aramco?

Pall Corporation is a 70-year-old science and technology company specialised in high-technology media for filtration and separation. Our history with Saudi Aramco goes a long back when some of the first filters installed at different Aramco plants were supplied by Pall.

In 2007, the relationship with Saudi Aramco started a new chapter after the close collaboration Pall had with Saudi Aramco on the joint study for black powder filtration on the Master Gas System (MGS). This led to the development of a unique solution for Black Powder Management which was implemented successfully across many locations in the Saudi Aramco MGS pipeline.

What is the nature of the association? Are you taking part in any of Saudi Aramco’s projects? If so, what is the scope of works involved and what are the challenges in implementing it?

Pall supplies and commissions particulate filtration and condensate de-watering packages for Saudi Aramco sites, participating in mega projects for gas processing including  non-conventional gas as well as working closely on several increment projects.

Pall ... making its presence felt

Pall’s solutions are very effective in protecting critical production assets and in ensuring product quality meets the specifications. This includes hundreds of filters and coalescers installed at different locations in the processing plants. A few examples are: water injection filters, sweetening and dehydration (Amine & TEG), condensate de-watering, feed filtration, mole sieve and cold box protection.

Pall provides the process engineering, filter design and full supply of the different filter solutions. We also provide the commissioning assistance during startup of the plant. We work with companies doing the FEED design till the end-user takes over the facilities. With these large projects, the biggest challenge is the coordination between different parties involved in the project to ensure the right solution is provided for the end-user. This requires global coordination and constant follow up over several years as the project develops.

Apart from that, what other orders are your company carrying out in Saudi Arabia and the region – either under way or planned, including date of commencement, value of order etc.

There are several contracts to deliver local services using our fleet of rental filters that help solve complex contamination problems that bring high added value and good return on investment. Some examples include:

Final Fuels: we have designed and implemented a rental solution to treat different final fuels of domestic use that have led to added value for direct customers and eventual commercial savings in the range of three times the contract value at least.

Gas Sweetening (Amine): rental filters were installed at various gas plants to enhance the performance of the Amine gas sweetening units leading to lower foaming incidents and improved throughput.

Inlet Feed Filters to Gas Plants: custom-designed filter cartridges have been made and tested at gas plants suffering from high contamination in the inlet feed gas. After extensive testing, Pall filters were chosen because of the improved performance and longer service life compared to the original filters.

What are your observations about Saudi Aramco’s IKTVA program? What are your IKTVA targets and how do you propose to achieve them?

Saudi Aramco is leading the way with the IKTVA program which has shaped the way companies are localising into Saudi Arabia. Pall has always maintained a strategy to operate locally and the IKTVA program gave us clear direction on how Saudi Arabia wants the localisation to happen.

In the past 12 years, Pall’s presence in Saudi Arabia grew from a sales representation to having the largest project management and engineering presence globally based in Saudi Arabia. All projects were engineered and built in Saudi Arabia by local suppliers in the kingdom.

Since 2011 Pall established a services presence in kingdom and invested several million dollars in Saudi Arabia to have the largest fleet of service rental equipment worldwide based in the kingdom.

In 2019, Pall Arabia, a joint venture that enables Pall to operate fully in Saudi Arabia was established in line with Saudi Vision 2030. Pall Arabia today has 50 per cent of its workforce as Saudi nationals and we have plans to expand further going forward.  

What changes have come about in Saudi Arabia’s industrial landscape after the announcement of Saudi Vision 2030 and what changes have you brought within your company to align with the Vision?

The Vision 2030 of Saudi Arabia gels completely with our vision and mission. As described earlier, our local presence has been strengthened by the creation of the Pall Arabia joint venture and our vision is to make Pall Arabia our Global Center of Excellence for Oil & Gas.

How has business been over the past year, how does this compare to the previous year?

Pall business grew in 2018 and is expected to grow in 2019 and beyond. This is due to our local presence, our strong customer relationships and our advanced filtration and coalescer media technology which delivers exceptional performance on both lifetime and product quality compared to others.

We are very grateful to our customers who believe in us and trust us with their critical assets and challenge us to solve their complex problems.

What were the various developments within the company over the past year?  For example, have you added new products, expanded into any new area of activity?

As mentioned earlier, our strategy is to operate as a local company in Saudi Arabia and we have continued to invest in both assets and resources over the past 12 years to realise this vision and make it a reality.

From a technology perspective, we have launched several new products that have already been applied to our customers in Saudi Arabia. We have launched a new range of coalescers that help lower our customer costs and still deliver the same results.

How do you see prospects for your company over the coming year?

We are very optimistic about 2020. We see some major projects being awarded in 2020 and are working hard to secure Pall’s position. We also see our aftermarket business growing in Saudi Arabia and will continue to support it with more investments.

What are the company’s plans for next year?

Our focus for 2020 will be around innovation. The main difference is we plan to do it closer to our customers. Over the past few years we have listened to our customers telling us about the different challenges they are facing, and we are keen to partner with their engineering and R&D teams to co-develop solutions that will bring value to their operations and ultimately to their business. We are excited about 2020 and look forward to a wonderful year ahead.