Q: What are some of the solutions Petrogas provides in the upstream segment?

MM: In the upstream segment, we can supply Gas Dehydration Units. These work using glycol, which absorbs and collects moisture from the gas. The glycol absorbs the water particles from the gas, thus creating wet glycol. We then boil the glycol to a certain temperature until it becomes green glycol. In order to obtain additional purity levels, we strip the glycol. The process is continuous, so we actually have a glycol regeneration unit. Failure to properly dehydrate gas creates a variety of consequences. The gas consumers cannot handle liquids in the gas such as water and hydrocarbons. Therefore, it is very important that all liquids are removed from the gas before it is routed to the consumers. In general, this is done at larger centralized locations where multiple gas wells meet. At the more remotes wells, small Gas Dehydration Units are used near to the gas well. The recovered liquid hydrocarbons are sent to a refinery for further processing into various hydrocarbon products.

CM: Petrogas' gas dehydration technology provides plenty of additional advantages when compared to similar products and processes in the market. The Petrogas Gas 

Dehydration Units are compact, and with a high efficiency and availability rate. We have had plenty of success stories where the use of our gas dehydration units brought about great results. For example, we have a loyal client in Oman who has been using Petrogas Gas Dehydration Units for more than 20 years and has expanded into new large fields using these same systems.

Q: How do you emphasize the value of investing in your solutions to your clients in a low oil price environment?

CM: The situation is challenging at the moment, and even though a lot of low-price contractors are entering the market, we still focus on quality. We have had several projects where our clients went for the provider who offered the lowest price and came back to us after a year because the solution they opted for turned out to be less effective.

MM: We are known for our quality and we sometimes receive requests that we have to decline because we will not be able to properly serve these clients. However, the fact that we are not a considerably large company enables us to be flexible.

Q. What is your stance toward developing local talent?

CM: In most of the installations in which we have been involved, we have conducted training sessions with local operators. In general, we avoid bringing our own operators, since it is much easier to find the staff locally and train them properly, so that they can continue operating and maintaining the installation. Local people speak the language and know where to find any needed parts, whereas bringing people from abroad is more expensive and does not help the local market. Wherever we go, we use local people, and even when installing abroad, we send only one or two of our site engineers and they work with the local team, which has been a productive approach.

Q. In what kinds of projects would you like to be involved in the Mexican energy industry?

CM: We are one of the main players in the power industry, and a lot of gas-fired power stations are being built, providing plenty of opportunities for our company. We want to get more involved in the upstream segment, but investments in this area are low even though the market is now open.The cost of extracting the oil is the same as or less than the retail price, which I believe will be a long-term situation.