Welsh companies are looking to increase business with the UAE energy sector, with some already relying on the Middle East for more than half their sales.
A Welsh delegation of more than 16 companies is attending Adipec in Abu Dhabi, representing fields such as electric energy, maritime vessels and industrial equipment.
Holyhead Towing has operations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, and managing director Dylan Jones told The National the region now accounts for 70 to 75 per cent of its revenue.
“We have eight vessels working here in support of the energy sector, predominantly oil and gas,” he said. “Also, infrastructure-type projects like land reclamation are quite big around Dubai and Abu Dhabi.”
Attending Adipec is an ideal opportunity to meet customers in the one place, said Mr Jones.
The Welsh government is supporting companies attending the exhibition through an export visit designed to help them meet customers and develop business overseas.
Another Welsh firm, Tomoe Valve, exports about half its UK factory output to the Middle East, with the UAE accounting for its largest regional market.
For the manufacturer, repeat visits to Abu Dhabi have helped build a market for products made in Wales.
“The Middle East is obviously a large attraction for us,” the company's business development director Clive Johns told The National. “About 50 per cent of our capacity is exported to the Middle East from the UK factory.”
Tomoe manufactures butterfly valves used to control the flow of liquid and gas through pipes. Its products were originally designed for the oil and gas industry, making the Middle East a natural market.
The UAE now accounts for most of Tomoe Valve's regional business. Mr Johns said the Welsh government has always had some “very good” contacts in the Emirates, with the help of the British embassy. He now wants to develop work in Oman, Kuwait and Iraq.
“Adipec is the place to do business in the Middle East, not just UAE,” Mr Johns said.
The company entered the year with a strong order book, although projects have been taking longer to receive final investment approval amid regional uncertainty. “Stuff is still moving,” Mr Johns said. “But yeah, it [uncertainty] slowed things down.”
As the UAE places increasing focus on localisation, the company is considering how domestic partners could take on assembly, testing and other work. Establishing its own factory would be expensive, Mr Johns said. However, he added they “definitely want to work with local Emirati companies”.
For Clenergy EV, chief executive William David said growth in the region has created opportunities for charging infrastructure.
“For us, the target market is any building that needs electric-vehicle charging infrastructure,” he said. Its priority at the exhibition is to find partners who understand domestic customers and can represent Clenergy.
Mr David said Wales’s industrial history has continued to influence its energy businesses. “We were part of the Industrial Revolution. We had the coal mines transitioning to renewable power in Wales.”
The company now intends to establish its business in the UAE's expanding transport and property market.
