BUILT TO
DELIVER
DESCON ENGINEERING OIL & GAS
2 | EME Outlook Issue 73
BUILT TO
DELIVER
As Descon Engineering expands its global footprint, CSO, Kinan Raslan, explains how strategic partnerships and local expertise are building integrated capabilities and driving sustainable, long-term growth for the company Writer: Lily Sawyer Project Manager: Seif Faour
H
aving joined Descon Engineering (Descon) in 2019 as Business Development Manager for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) market, Kinan Raslan brings over a decade of engineering and project management experience from the oil and gas industry to the company. “I leveraged this deep knowledge base to transition into commercial and strategic leadership at Descon, translating technical and project expertise into business development, market growth, and strategic opportunities,” he opens. During his first year at Descon, Raslan completed his MBA, further EME Outlook Issue 73 | 3
DESCON ENGINEERING OIL & GAS
strengthening his business acumen and broadening his understanding of business management and corporate strategy. He subsequently took on progressively broader responsibilities across business development and strategy, contributing to the company’s growth agenda and strategic direction, which ultimately culminated in his appointment as CSO. Over the course of Raslan’s career, the regional industrial services sector has changed considerably, with clients today looking for much more than manpower or execution capacity. Today, reliability, safety, and technical capability remain fundamental, but there is a much greater emphasis on integrated solutions, local capability, supply chain resilience, productivity, and the ability of contractors to understand an asset over its complete lifecycle. “We’re also seeing clients increasingly expect their strategic contractors to anticipate issues rather
than simply respond to them. “That means understanding their operational priorities, being able to mobilise quickly, developing local supply chains, bringing specialist partners into an integrated solution, and continuously improving the way work is delivered,” Raslan sets out. For Descon, that evolution plays to an important strength, since the company has spent decades working in operating plants. “That experience gives us a very practical understanding of what dependable execution means to an asset owner,” he adds.
DEPENDABLE, LONG-TERM PARTNER Descon was established in 1977 as an engineering firm and has since evolved into a world-class engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company. Its capabilities span EPC, engineering, construction, manufacturing, commissioning, industrial services, maintenance,
STANDING OUT FROM THE CROWD When it comes to setting itself apart from the competition, three powerful qualities enable Descon to demonstrate its industry appeal: INTEGRATION – Descon combines EPC, manufacturing, and industrial services capabilities, providing the company with visibility across much more of the project lifecycle and allowing it to take greater ownership of execution. OPERATING EXPERIENCE – The company has spent decades working in live industrial environments where safety, scheduling, and reliability are critical and brownfield modifications, shutdowns, and turnarounds leave very little room for error – experience that has built an execution culture based on preparation, responsiveness, and discipline. LONGEVITY OF RELATIONSHIPS – Descon’s client relationships often span decades, with some going back over 20 years and others extending more than four decades. The company believes it has sustained these relationships by not only winning projects, but also delivering consistently and being there when the client needs it most. “For us, differentiation is not one individual technology or service. It is the combination of engineering depth, field execution capability, regional experience, and the ability to remain a reliable partner over the long term,” Raslan asserts.
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shutdowns and turnarounds, asset performance, and selected operations and management services across sectors including oil and gas, petrochemicals, chemicals, fertiliser, power, infrastructure, and other process industries. “An important aspect of our model is the breadth of capability we retain within the organisation,” Raslan asserts. Descon’s ability to engineer, procure, manufacture, construct, and maintain facilities enables it to provide clients with integrated solutions rather than isolated services. Operating across various global markets including the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, South Africa and, most recently, Azerbaijan, the organisation employs nearly 22,000 people globally.
DESCON ENGINEERING OIL & GAS
“We believe a strong culture is built by creating opportunities, developing people, and ensuring diverse perspectives are heard and valued” – KINAN RASLAN, CSO, DESCON ENGINEERING
Its client portfolio includes many leading national and international energy and industrial companies, with a number of these relationships built over decades – particularly in the Gulf region. “Our objective is not simply to execute an individual contract, but to become a dependable long-term partner to our clients,” he insights.
INTERNATIONAL GROWTH Descon’s recent geographical expansion into Azerbaijan was a very deliberate step in the company’s international growth journey due to the country’s well-established energy market, strong oil and gas infrastructure, and long-term requirements across engineering, EPC, maintenance, and shutdown services. It was therefore a natural fit between the needs of the market and the capabilities Descon has developed over several decades. EME Outlook Issue 73 | 5
“We have now formally established our presence in the capital, Baku, making Azerbaijan our ninth geography,” Raslan prides. Descon is not approaching the market as a short-term opportunity; rather, it has established an office, local organisation, and long-term local supply chain capabilities there to create a sustainable presence. “Our approach to new geographies is quite measured. We want to understand the market properly, build relationships with clients and partners, develop local talent, and then grow on the back of successful execution,” he informs us. Azerbaijan also provides an opportunity to take Descon’s experience from some of the world’s most demanding energy markets and apply it in another geography with a strong energy and industrial future. “We believe there is considerable long-term potential, but credibility has to be earned project by project,” Raslan says.
STRATEGIC CAPABILITY As Descon looks to strengthen its long-term client relationships across the Gulf with a focus on enhancing procurement expertise and supply chain capability, Raslan believes procurement cannot be viewed simply as purchasing. “Procurement has a direct impact on schedule, cost, quality and, ultimately, the client’s confidence in the contractor,” he points out. Indeed, whilst a design may be technically perfect, the entire project can be affected if critical equipment arrives late, vendor documentation is delayed, materials do not meet specifications, or logistics are poorly coordinated. Procurement must therefore be integrated with careful consideration around engineering, planning, quality, commercial management, and construction from the beginning. 6 | EME Outlook Issue 73
DESCON ENGINEERING OIL & GAS
“This becomes even more important as projects increase in size and complexity – hence, global supply chains introduce risks that need to be identified much earlier,” he emphasises. Therefore, for Descon, procurement capability means understanding the supplier market, selecting the right vendors, building competitive tension where appropriate, managing technical interfaces, expediting effectively, and developing contingency options before a problem reaches the site. “There is also a regional dimension; across the Gulf, localisation and in-country value are becoming increasingly important,” Raslan urges. In this way, a contractor with a deeper understanding of local manufacturers, suppliers, and service providers can create value for the client whilst improving resilience and
“Our objective is not simply to execute an individual contract, but to become a dependable long-term partner to our clients” – KINAN RASLAN, CSO, DESCON ENGINEERING
responsiveness. “Our ambition is therefore to develop procurement and supply chain management as a strategic capability, not simply an administrative function. If done well, it becomes a genuine differentiator in project execution,” he affirms.
COLLABORATIVE ECOSYSTEM With access to an extensive ecosystem of specialist subcontractors, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and service providers, Descon delivers complex EPC and industrial projects whilst maintaining the highest standards of quality, reliability, and execution.
“No EPC contractor delivers a complex project entirely on its own – what matters is how effectively that wider ecosystem is selected, integrated, and managed,” Raslan considers. Thus, whilst Descon maintains significant capabilities in-house, it also complements them with specialist subcontractors, OEMs, technology providers, and manufacturers where their expertise creates additional value. “The role of the main contractor is to bring those parties together under one execution framework,” he outlines. This requires early alignment on engineering interfaces, quality, EME Outlook Issue 73 | 7
DESCON ENGINEERING OIL & GAS
International Women’s Day celebration
EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITY As an EPC company, sustainability is deeply embedded in how Descon’s projects are designed and executed, rather than treated as a separate initiative. The company’s QHSE governance is its starting point, with environmental considerations also forming an important part of its project planning, operating procedures, and risk management. Depending on the project, this can include areas such as waste management, energy, resource efficiency, responsible material usage, and compliance with client and regulatory requirements. Descon also has a broader sustainability dimension to the work it performs as a considerable part of its industrial services portfolio involves maintaining, upgrading, debottlenecking, and extending the useful life of existing assets. Indeed, improving asset performance and efficiency has created significant environmental and economic value for its clients. The company is also increasingly considering sustainability across its wider supply chain and governance practices. For example, Descon recently achieved Accredited Silver Supplier status from Achilles Middle East and Africa, with a sustainability score of 75 and a 4-star rating across areas including environmental stewardship, governance, social responsibility, and financial integrity. “We see this as a journey of continuous improvement. The expectations of clients, regulators, and society are moving quickly, and our systems and practices need to move with them,” Raslan acknowledges.
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health, safety, and environment (QHSE) requirements, scheduling, documentation, and accountability. The company also places considerable importance on supplier and subcontractor qualification because it believes the performance of every member of the supply chain ultimately reflects on the wider organisation and, more importantly, clients’ projects. “Our regional operating experience is valuable here, as long-standing relationships with suppliers and specialist service providers give us insight into their capabilities, whilst our own engineering and execution teams allow us to manage interfaces closely rather than simply pass responsibility down the supply chain,” Raslan notes. As such, for Descon, the end goal is a collaborative ecosystem with very clear ownership. “Collaboration should improve execution; it should never dilute accountability,” he states.
SCALING CAPABILITIES As it strengthens and scales its existing EPC capabilities, Descon is capitalising on its unique advantage of having access to best-in-class EPC, manufacturing, commissioning, and industrial capabilities. “Our strategic opportunity today is to bring those capabilities together even more effectively and move further up the value chain,” Raslan says. Increasingly targeting larger and more complex projects, Raslan reflects on how the wider organisation must also evolve. “Large EPC execution requires very strong project governance, front-end planning, procurement capability, contract and risk management, engineering integration, and digital visibility across the project. “Our focus is therefore not simply on winning bigger contracts, but building the systems, people,
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partnerships, and governance required to execute them predictably,” he explains. Descon also wants to be selective as it believes sustainable growth in EPC comes from choosing projects where its capabilities, client relationships, and risk appetite are closely aligned. “Scale by itself is not the objective, but is profitable, repeatable, and highquality growth,” he adds.
PLATFORM FOR GROWTH As a multinational engineering company, diversity is both a cultural priority and a business advantage for Descon. “We have a workforce representing more than 30 nationalities, bringing diverse experiences, technical expertise, and perspectives to our operations across various geographies,” Raslan reveals. It is also focused on increasing participation in engineering,
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particularly through its female trainee and apprenticeship programmes, supported by broader diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Professional development is another key priority for the company, with a graduate training programme, leadership competency framework, and master trainer programme designed to build technical capability, develop future leaders, and strengthen its internal learning culture. “We believe a strong culture is built by creating opportunities, developing people, and ensuring diverse perspectives are heard and valued,” he highlights. Looking ahead, Descon’s key priorities include strengthening its position in its core markets whilst accelerating its geographical expansion into targeted and recently entered regions. “We will focus on building a strong and sustainable market presence, developing strategic partnerships,
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and translating our capabilities and track record into new growth opportunities,” Raslan details. Of equal importance is the company’s drive to remain the partner its clients can rely on in all circumstances, delivering consistently on quality, execution, and trust. “Ultimately, our ambition is to continue strengthening the Descon brand across our key geographies and the industrial markets we serve, whilst creating a platform for sustainable, diversified, and long-term growth,” he passionately concludes.
descon@descon.com
www.descon.com EME Outlook Issue 73 | 9
descon@descon.com www.descon.com
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