The oil sector's 2040 Strategy is of the utmost importance in all operations and activities of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiaries, as this strategy includes all areas of work, whether directly related to oil operations or the accompanying operations.
For this reason, every activity related to this strategy is followed up carefully, which was the purpose of the awareness session recently held by the Contract Manpower Kuwaitisation and Training & Career Development Groups, under the headline “Upstream 2040 Strategic Plan Development".
The importance of the session was heightened with the attendance of Bader Al-Attar, DCEO Planning & Finance, who was the main speaker at this highly beneficial session held at the Ahmad Al-Jaber Oil & Gas Exhibition.
During the session, Al-Attar discussed various topics, including developing the mission and vision statements, K-values, strategic directions, strategic objectives, strategic initiatives, enablers, and business guidelines for both Groups. We will be taking a look at all of this in the following article which will provide the most important highlights of the session.
Productive areas
At the opening of the event, Manager CMK, Mohammed Jaafar, gave a brief speech, during which he explained that everyone should be aware of where we're going to be productive and of service to the Company, pointing out that strategies strategies give us tools to measure the health of an organization, and an indication of what must be changed to improve the organization.
Defining the strategy
At the beginning of his speech, Al-Attar discussed the previous successful strategies of KOC, explaining that this session is being held because the oil sector, including KOC, is in the process of updating the 2040 strategy, stressing that the Company's primary work is exploration and production, which places it at the beginning of the value chain.
"Our cycles with strategies take a longer time because, unlike international oil companies, we are a national company, which ties us to the government," Al-Attar said.
Successful stages
Al-Attar explained that in April 2017, Kuwait Oil Company, along with the Kuwait Gulf Oil Company and the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company, began the process of updating the upstream strategic plans.
The first phase included defining the strategic direction of KPC, with reviews and updates, and lasted six months, during which it relied on compatibility with market conditions in order to move to the next stage.
The second stage is the 2040 upstream strategic plan, which also lasted six months, and was largely based on the outcome of the first stage, followed by the third stage which consisted of implementing the second stage, and lasted three years.
During that period, KPC requested an update of the strategy, which is being worked on with great focus in order to achieve future success, especially as time is a very valuable resource, the same as money and manpower.
Developing the domestic upstream mission and vision statements
He then touched on the mission statement, which is to optimize the value of Kuwait's hydrocarbon resources through exploration, development and production to ensure sustainability, while the vision is to be an upstream leader recognized globally for excellence.
In simpler terms, the mission is what the Company does, while when it comes to vision, excellence is the key word, “We have to excel in all areas of work, not just our core business, and with our vast capabilities, outstanding manpower, and good contracts, we are not just an ordinary company, and therefore, we must constantly strive to live up to our mission and vision."
K-values and objectives
As for our K-values, they are innovation, excellence, caring for people, pride, one team, partnership, integrity, and commitment to HSSE.
Al-Attar considers our values to be crucial, because they determine how we execute the strategy, explaining that these values are reviewed very early among applicants during any recruitment process, because some of them cannot be taught in the workplace.
He added that a set of domestic upstream strategic objectives based on KPC's 2040 strategic directions has been identified, including achieving sustainable crude oil production capacity in the State of Kuwait (including Divided Zone), achieving sustainable non-associated gas production in the State of Kuwait (including divided zone), and compensating for produced hydrocarbons by annually adding proven oil & gas reserves through improved recovery of existing reservoirs and/or exploration activities, equivalent to a three year production average (achieving annual 100% reserves replacement ratio). Strategic objectives include facilitating technology and capability transfer and actively managing stakeholders to satisfy Kuwait's energy demand sufficiently.
Strategic initiatives
Al-Attar's speech included discussing strategic initiatives related to core business, especially in the field of oil and gas production, confirming that the KOC has undertaken many of these initiatives.
He summarized it in nine initiatives that were included in the update, where one gas initiative was divided into two initiatives (Jurassic and Paleozoic).
The nine initiatives include standard oil production records, enhancing jurassic gas production, starting the export of light oil, new explorations of jurassic gas, enhanced oil recovery, heavy oil enhanced oil recovery, starting offshore exploration operations, bringing in additional resources, and exploring paleozoic gas.
Volatile Market
DCEO Planning & Finance Bader Al-Attar sees that the market we are dealing with is not an easy one, and that it must be carefully studied before implementing any strategy. Oil price depends on supply and demand, but geopolitics also play a prominent role, and the recent outbreak of the Corona virus has also affected the market. Therefore, caution and vigilance must be taken, and thus it is crucial to be proactive, as all employees must be involved in the process and be aware of all matters.
“Our projects are our wallets, but we also have reserves, and large resources may cost more and need more preparation, but they will pay off in the long run," Al-Attar explained.
Room for improvement
He stated that part of being exceptional at what one does is being ready to admit that one is not perfect, and constantly striving for improvement, considering that there are five main areas that can be improved, namely: First, we must be better at prioritizing, so if time is limited, we need to choose one project to focus on.
The second area is focus, so if the Company wants to master something, it should focus on it, while the third area for improvement is integration, and the fourth is capabilities, with the need for more alignment in training, alongside the fifth and final area which is communication, where there should be a consistent message in the Company.
KPC HR 2040 Strategic Initiatives
Because the two groups that organized the session are closely related to the field of human resources, Al-Attar touched on the HR mission, which is to develop capable, motivated and engaged people to enable KPC to become a global, integrated oil and gas leader.
He pointed out that the vision is to be a transparent, performance driven organization, where capable and motivated people excel, explaining that the goal is to unlock people's potential and not control them, and this is implemented at the Company level, adding that with increased transparency in the Company, some procedures may take longer, so there must be trust among employees.
He said that the HR strategic initiatives for KPC 2040 are summarized as follows:
Culture & Behaviors: embed K-group mission, vision, and values in leadership development, training programs, special events, open communication, and relevant HR processes & procedures to promote team performance and KPC values-based behaviors.
Digital HR: streamline all HR processes through a digital ecosystem to foster collaboration, training, knowledge sharing, and open innovation, and apply data analytics to decision making in HR.
Capabilities & Skills: implement learning & development, and talent & succession management programs to enable people to develop the right skills for their roles, and to grow their capabilities and future potential.
Recruit, Reward, Retain: identify and implement world-class recruitment, reward, and performance management policies to attract, reward, manage, and retain top talent, as 'employer of choice'.
Global Mobility: develop a robust Global Mobility program to include long and short term global assignments and rotations, in order to enrich the skills and capabilities of high potential employees.
Change Strategy: Strengthen K-Group's resilience to change by developing change management capabilities and assessing the impact of culture change on business performance.
Innovation Excellence: Develop expertise to solve present and future business challenges by encouraging knowledge sharing, establishing a process & culture of open innovation, and fostering external partnerships with innovative energy companies & research institutes in Kuwait and beyond.
Specific guidelines
Al-Attar presented specific business guidelines for T&CD for 2021/22:
Strategic workforce planning, enhancing organization expertise, conducting a demographic study, closing manpower gaps, recommendations to attract the best international talent, and support to the directorate to expedite training for UD's and UT's.
Specific business guidelines for CMK for the same period were also defined as follows:
Establishing a competency-based development framework, and working with T&CD to provide recommendations to close manpower gaps, focusing on critical areas of shortages.
In conclusion, Al-Attar pointed out that Strategy 2040 No. 4 turned into Strategy 2040 No. 5, because the market capabilities have changed, and we are confident that we will reach our goals and meet the expectations of KPC and Kuwait as a whole.