A framed picture of the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig hangs behind Jim Watson's chair at his office in the industrial complex of Mussaffah.
It serves as a reminder, says the founder and general manager of Certified Oilfield Rentalsin Abu Dhabi that supplies drilling equipment to oil companies.
"It's a reminder that things can go wrong and do go wrong," says Mr Watson, 54, of the 2010 explosion.
Mr Watson has been in the industry since he was recruited by Britain's Wood Group to lay cables from rig to rig in the cold and rough North Sea.
This year he was crowned the 10th "oil baron", an award he was nominated for by the readers of the industry magazine Pipeline.
It comes as the UAE and Middle East continue to reap the benefits of high oil prices and unabated investment in the industry.
But for the Aberdeen native, the journey to award status started 38 years ago when he was a 16-year-old fisherman.
When oil companies flocked to Aberdeen in the 1970s, they were looking for fishermen "because we would spend so much time at sea", Mr Watson says. "Even though we had no experience in oilfields."
Back then he recalls spending 30 days at sea and three days at home earning £2.10 (Dh11.90 at current conversion rates) a day.
On his 18th birthday, he joined Wood and has travelled ever since, becoming an inspector specialising in drilling tools at 23.
Then came Libya. By the 1980s, the country's oil sector was reeling from falling global oil prices and sanctions imposed by the United States, a situation that led to partial play of the private sector.
It seemed an unlikely place to end up with Mr Watson spending a few years in Libya with DG Oilfield Services.
The adventures of oil sector personnel in the deserts often sound fantastic, but Mr Watson claims his are "true stories".
In his two years there, with his family back in Aberdeen, he says he roamed all over Chad and Tunisia and got into some sticky situations.
"I have had handguns up my nose and [been] in jail many times," he says. "But it was all fine."
After a brief stint in his home town, Mr Watson came to Sharjah in 1996 as part of International Tubular Services.
"I came to buy a company for sale," he said. "And saw it was more viable to start one from scratch."
The sector was a lucrative one as the companies were desperately looking for more technology.
But with the parent company not willing to move in the direction he had in mind, he exited the company in 2000 and formed Certified Oilfield Rentals in Abu Dhabi.
"They have to maintain old [rigs] or drill new ones, so business is always there," Mr Watson says. "The problem is over the years, so many other companies have opened up and there is harder competition."
When he started COR in 2000, there was one rival company. Now, he has to compete with more than 10.
COR had an annual turnover between US$20 million and $30m last year - an indicator that supports Mr Watson's confidence in the sector.
Increased competition, however, means he does not have to fear running out of equipment, unlike the massive rush he saw in 2004 and 2005.
But as a rentals company, deciding what equipment to buy, trying to ascertain what is next and whether it would be used are the tough decisions.
Among his 130 customers are Halliburton, BP, Total, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Dubai Petroleum.
Apart from Iraq, where he says he will not go because everyone else is doing so, he is putting his faith in Thailand, Qatar and "anything that ends in "stan," he says.
"Other companies are multinationals or subsidiaries of multinationals, I am a local company and I talk to [my clients] as friends and partners," he says.
And that is one of the reasons he bagged the trophy for Oil Baron. From the Mussaffah yard stacked with pipes and equipment from the machine shop, Mr Watson headed to Dubai on a Harley Davidson dressed in black tie to collect his award from the "glitter ball".
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Need to know
The flights: Flydubai flies from Dubai to Kilimanjaro airport via Dar es Salaam from Dh1,619 return including taxes. The trip takes 8 hours.
The trek: Make sure that whatever tour company you select to climb Kilimanjaro, that it is a reputable one. The way to climb successfully would be with experienced guides and porters, from a company committed to quality, safety and an ethical approach to the mountain and its staff. Sonia Nazareth booked a VIP package through Safari Africa. The tour works out to $4,775 (Dh17,538) per person, based on a 4-person booking scheme, for 9 nights on the mountain (including one night before and after the trek at Arusha). The price includes all meals, a head guide, an assistant guide for every 2 trekkers, porters to carry the luggage, a cook and kitchen staff, a dining and mess tent, a sleeping tent set up for 2 persons, a chemical toilet and park entrance fees. The tiny ration of heated water provided for our bath in our makeshift private bathroom stall was the greatest luxury. A standard package, also based on a 4-person booking, works out to $3,050 (Dh11,202) per person.
When to go: You can climb Kili at any time of year, but the best months to ascend are January-February and September-October. Also good are July and August, if you’re tolerant of the colder weather that winter brings.
Do not underestimate the importance of kit. Even if you’re travelling at a relatively pleasant time, be geared up for the cold and the rain.
The biog
Favourite Quote: “Real victories are those that protect human life, not those that result from its destruction emerge from its ashes,” by The late king Hussain of Jordan.
Favourite Hobby: Writing and cooking
Favourite Book: The Prophet by Gibran Khalil Gibran
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Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
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How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.
That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.
OIL PLEDGE
At the start of Russia's invasion, IEA member countries held 1.5 billion barrels in public reserves and about 575 million barrels under obligations with industry, according to the agency's website. The two collective actions of the IEA this year of 62.7 million barrels, which was agreed on March 1, and this week's 120 million barrels amount to 9 per cent of total emergency reserves, it added.
If you go
The flights
There are various ways of getting to the southern Serengeti in Tanzania from the UAE. The exact route and airstrip depends on your overall trip itinerary and which camp you’re staying at.
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Kilimanjaro International Airport from Dh1,350 return, including taxes; this can be followed by a short flight from Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti with Coastal Aviation from about US$700 (Dh2,500) return, including taxes. Kenya Airways, Emirates and Etihad offer flights via Nairobi or Dar es Salaam.
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
