EIC Monitor – update on oil and gas activities
Feature Articles, Nov  27  2009 (Digital Energy Journal)

- The UK’s Energy Industries Council (EIC) has launched a new service called EIC Monitor, providing an update on energy projects, taking information from EIC’s substantial projects database.

EIC Monitor can provide very useful information such as indications of economic recovery, the number of new projects looking for contractors, growth in renewable energy projects, which industry sectors have been hardest hit by the recession and so on.

Matt Smith, Scottish Membership Manager with the EIC

The data is pulled out of EIC DataStream, possibly the world’s most comprehensive database of energy industry projects which are available for contract, who is bidding on them, contract values, and who has won them.

You can easily search for different contractors, regions, or contract types. For example, if someone is planning a trip to Abu Dhabi, they can see all the projects out there currently out to tender, or they can instantly see every project BP is working on.

Much of the information is either provided by, or verified by, the original client. EIC has built up contacts at most oil companies and contractors around the world, and they are happy to provide the information, because EIC helps them pass the information around, says Matt Smith, Scottish Membership Manager with the EIC. “We’ve got personal contacts at every oil company in the world,” he says.

The database has about 7,500 active projects on it at any time, and 5 full time staff working on maintaining it in the London Head Office plus one in each of the EIC’s overseas offices. Some projects have been tracked over as long as 6 years. EIC has been tracking projects since the organisation was founded in the 1940s, but gradually migrated the system from one based on paper and physical meetings to an electronic system over the past decade.

You can set projects as your ‘favourites’ and get an e-mail if there is any update. You can study which parts of the world have the highest value projects on tender, for example when considering where to set up the office.

EIC has over 580 members – all UK companies involved in supplying goods and services to the energy industries (or non UK companies with a UK subsidiary), from companies employing under 10 people to enormous contractors. The member companies employ an estimated 1 million people in total and have an aggregate turnover in excess of £100 billion.

EIC is headquartered in London with a number of offices around the world, including Houston, Rio de Janeiro and Dubai. There are 50 staff members.

The organisation also runs a large number of events to help its members win business – for example, if there is a big project going out to tender, it will invite the project director to make a presentation, so the potential contractors can find out more. It also runs training sessions and international trade missions and organises the UK pavilion at 10 international exhibitions each year.

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