Changing the Field of Development Contractors

Q: What makes DG Impianti a different kind of field development contractor in the Mexican context?

A: On one hand, we are an experienced EPC contractor with more than 50 years in the market. On the other, we are a young company in Mexico, having only arrived in the national industry last year. Our global presence previous to our arrival in Mexico included similarly fascinating local markets in Europe, West Africa, North Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Since we are more of an independent name in EPC, our smaller size gives us the flexibility to adapt to all of these national realities, and to grow organically with those industries as we plan to grow with the Mexican oil and gas sector. Our entrance into the sector was also different and unique to the state of the Mexican industry post-Energy Reform because we arrived in Mexico through a contract with Eni, which was developing a field here. This has given us a unique perspective on Mexico’s national oil and gas landscape.
Q: How would you compare Mexico to the other international markets in which you have participated?

A: Mexico is internationally considered an exciting market and investment prospect because of all the major ways in which it changed so quickly after the Energy Reform. This represented an enormous opportunity for the country in general but a huge opportunity for a company like ours specifically. To these changes we can now also add the great urgency that the new administration has brought to the matters of increasing production and accelerating the development of the offshore sector. This acceleration is a defining feature of Mexico to us. Although the first of the two projects we have developed so far was technically an onshore receiving facility, it is work that would never have been available if it was not for Mexico’s offshore development enabling Eni’s success. Besides the offshore component, I would say that in terms of sector regulation we can compare Mexico to Italy, so we are very comfortable with the standards, expectations and regulations applied to EPC contractors like us here. Of course, when an industry changes so much in such little time as Mexico’s has, there is an inevitable process of culture clash that has to be managed. We look forward to further embracing the culture and national reality of Mexico, and to work within its limitations, possibilities and great potential. 

Q: How were your capabilities aligned with the task of developing a part of Eni’s Mexico field through your construction of its onshore receiving facilities?

A: The central quality that defines us as an EPC contractor is speed and efficiency; basically, getting straight to the point and narrowing the gap between a project’s preparation and its delivery as much as possible without making sacrifices on performance and security. Eni saw unparalleled success with its Mexico operations, and for this reason it needed its infrastructure ready as quickly as possible so that produced resources could be managed as quickly as possible. We stuck to a strict time frame to guarantee the fastest recovery of its investment. We were also able to successfully and efficiently manage the interests of local communities in the Sanchez Magallanes area where the facilities were built, taking full advantage of the proximity of industry hubs such as Villahermosa and prominent ports such as Coatzacoalcos. The fact that the facility was completely new and, together with the closed system it created with the FPSO that Eni brought to Mexico for its field development purposes, did not require significant interaction with legacy infrastructure, allowed us to apply our methods completely and successfully accelerate the project’s time to market. 
While our clients’ main priorities tend to be a project’s CAPEX, we were able to generate a good OPEX situation as well for this facility. We did this in part by balancing the sourcing of construction equipment and parts that would not need replacements in the short to medium term between Italian, US or international suppliers and locally-sourced components through alliances with national companies.

DG Impianti Industriali is an Italian engineering, project management and maintenance firm founded in the 1960s with a specialty in the petrochemical sector but that has expanded into the entire oil and gas value chain.