JANUARY 2010 | 1

NEWSLETTER ISSUE 09 | JANUARY 2010

With the aim of raising GDI’s exposure among students and contributing to the development of Qatar’s next generation of future graduates, Gulf Drilling International held its Sponsorship & Internship day at Qatar University.

The event was held from the 2nd till the 5th of November 2009, in which the first twodays were for female students and the lasttwo for the male students. The total numberof participants reached ‘69’, including both Qatari and non-Qatari students with female participants constituting the majority.

During this event, the students were introduced by GDI members a detailed description about the company, its inception, its activities, its achievements and its future plans, allowing them to gain an understanding of the drilling industry. The

feedback from them was overwhelmingly positive.

GDI plans to hold this event on a regular basis in the coming years to attract more students to the oil drilling sector and to

increase public awareness about GDI and its activities. In the long term these efforts will lead to creating a well skilled manpower, The company has contributed to building the future of Qatar; the first and foremost goal of GDI.

NUrtUrING tomorroW’S talENtSGDI holDS a SpoNSorShIp & INtErNShIp Day at Qatar UNIvErSIty

JANUARY 2010 | 2

the health, Safety and Environment team at GDI has issued a report of the incidents that occurred during the last quarter of 2009. Fortunately, the incidents were minor ones but at the same time could have been avoided if the safety policies and procedures were followed properly.

Those minor incidents included the leg fracture of one of the crew members after it was caught in a binding strap which made him fell over his left leg in a twisted position to the ground. Another one was a crew member injuring his finger while working. Nevertheless, the main incident occurred when one staff member placed a piece of bread on a plastic disposable plate that was put in the microwave oven to warm. Since the plate was not microwave compatible it

started to melt and burn. It was immediately removed from the microwave and thrown in the garbage can. The smoke that emanated from the burning plastic plate activated the smoke alarm and the general fire alarm was automatically setoff.

As a result of the raised fire alarm the office staff was called to evacuate the building and muster at GDI’s designated area. This evacuation was achieved within 4 minutes which is a good time in safety terms. No injury or equipment damage was caused. However, should this incident not been taken care off immediately it would have easily led to a fire or an explosion causing serious injuries.

The safety of all GDI employees is the cornerstone of the company and one of the pillars of its success. Therefore, it is

the responsibility of each and every GDI employee to do their job in a safe and responsible manner and to pay full attention to the health and safety procedures in order to avoid incidents at their workplace.

AN oUNcE of pREvENTIoN IS WoRTH A poUND of cURE SaFEty mEaSUrES arE callED For to avoID poSSIblE hazarDS

In 2009, GDI had another success-ful year achieving the corporate targets set for financial results. at operational level, we are pleased to see the improvements in rig downtime and crew turnover. In this issue of the newsletter, I would like to focus my message on some of the positive results obtained in 2009 as well as areas that war-rant essential improvements. as always, your ideas and sincere efforts are always welcomed. In 2009, GDI has had a successful year despite the ongoing international financial

crisis. Gross Revenue, Net Income and profitability for 2009 results exceeded and higher than those achieved in 2008.

In 2009, GDI achieved the best rig down-time records since its inception with a downtime of 1.2% compared to 3.21% in 2008. We believe that this will continue to improve once the state-of-the-art Asset Management System (MAXIMo) has been fully implemented as well as other initia-tives such as safety and training have been conducted. The outlook for 2010 is a very positive one in terms of rig performance. GDI’s operational strategy complies with and is based on proven technology but it is a combination of technology, people, maintenance and processes that contribute to our goals of operational efficiency, re-ducing costs and increasing asset uptime.

The recorded safety achievement of a TRIR of 0.79 is below the IADc average for the Middle East of 0.89 for 2009 (based on the 3rd quarter average), there is still a lot of room for improvement. In 2010, our fo-cus will be on improving safety standards by increase training and awareness both onshore, offshore and throughout our op-erations. As I have always stated, safety

is our number one priority and we will need to work hard in the upcoming year to ensure that our results are on or below the targets set. Nothing is as vital to our operations as safety. our ultimate desire is to create an ‘incident and injury free’ site. We proved that this is possible throughout the year with months where zero injuries or incidents were record.

Although, 2009 was overall a very positive year for GDI, we must continue to ensure that our rigs are well maintained in order to meet the highest standards of operational efficiency and improve our safety records. We will continue to work extremely hard in order to close the gap between where we are today, and what we know we can achieve with hard work and dedication.

I look forward to an exciting and challeng-ing 2010 and as always, GDI will be com-mitted to being an advocate for excellence, aspiring to be a World class Drilling Serv-ices provider.

Best Wishes,

Ibrahim J. al-othmanchief Executive officer

cEo’S mESSaGE

JANUARY 2010 | 3

• What is your position in GDI, and how long have you been working at the company?

I am now the Marketing Manager. I joined GDI three Years ago, where the first two years I worked as Technical Advisor and one year now as Marketing Manager.

• Can you give us an idea about your educational and professional background?

I am a graduate Electrical Engineer from peshawar University in pakistan, majored in Electrical Engineering. My first job was in January 1973 at an oil company in the drilling department. I spent four and a half years in pakistan with the Attock oil company, then 16 years with National Drilling company of Abu Dhabi. After that I spent 11 years consulting in the upstream industry till I joined GDI in January 2007.

• What is your normal working day like?

Never a dull moment. We start at 7am and I hardly ever get home before 6pm. It is mostly internal meetings, reports and contacts with vendors, suppliers and potential clients. We meet clients frequently for marketing and other purposes, in addition to the putting some efforts into the business development side of work.

• What are the main challenges that you face with your job?

Getting my view point across and getting that change implemented. There is a tremendous growth potential, though stunted by present market conditions, but the Qatar market and GDI have all the ingredients to be a major player in the upstream market.

•What keeps you enthusiastic about your career?

I love what I do. I really enjoy being in GDI and Doha. I have deep respect for and enjoy working with the people I am working with. I feel I bring value to the job.

•What do you enjoy the most in your work tasks?

Introducing new ideas to improve efficiency, performance and free-up resources. facing fresh challenges that emerge from the changing technology. There are many new products coming to market and the application of high tech solutions is increasing in the drilling industry.

•What are the main things that have changed at GDI ever since you joined?

Many things have developed since I joined in. GDI was employing a high degree of contractor manpower. That has been reduced to 10%-15%, from a percentage of almost 50%. KpI’s are now built into the annual targets every year accompanied by a balanced score card report weekly.

GDI is seriously pursuing diversification in their core business, in addition to being prequalified outside Qatar. Inventory management is being rationalized, and focus has shifted from Engineering to Maintenance, improving non-productive operating time. computerized maintenance management systems are being implemented, which will enhance efficiency further. Also better interaction with clients, tuning our proposals to clients taking their needs into account.

•What are your hopes on the personal & professional level now that we are starting 2010?

This is going to be a challenging year. The rig count in Qatar is declining; Hungry competitors are drastically discounting their day rates. competition is going to be cut-throat. We have some projects on the burners. If they come to fruition, we will sustain the adverse market outlook. There is a lot to do and a lot to hope for.

• How has GDI’s image developed throughout the years?

GDI is now recognized as a major player in the Qatar market. We are setting-up

alliances on the regional level. We have achieved stability through successes in safety, reducing non-productive time and becoming more efficient. As a result GDI is treated and regarded as a serious professional entity.

•What are the most important characters/aspects of GDI that the marketing team tries to convey through all their work?

Due to the fact that GDI is small and young (just 5 years old), we have the room and the potential to grow. Drilling is a cyclical industry and if we hold our heads above water during this low cycle we will cash-in when the activity and day rates start to rise. We want clients to know that we are here for the long term. GDI will provide customised solutions to client’s needs based on long term relationships.

We feel there is need for such solutions and the market does not offer enough ready- made products that are perfect fits. Also, we are not overly bound by hedging our equipment specs towards global application and therefore can concentrate on local needs. GDI is a reliable, safe and a good performer with a good product mix that is keen to diversify. GDI will always be in Qatar, no matter how international it becomes.

mEEt thE EmployEE:MIAN IMTIAzUDDIN / MARKETING MANAGER

rigs & bargesGDI has grown quite rapidly in the past five years, riding on the boom of drilling activity in Qatar. This was driven by gas projects to fulfill Qatar’s LNG export needs. Most of those projects are gradually coming to completion and the heyday of drilling wells is back to normal. GDI with 28% of the offshore market share, see a slow-down in growth of the drilling business in Qatar.

Last year’s financial crisis and plummeting oil prices depressed the risk appetite and invest-ment climate world-wide leading to further decline in upstream activity. Together with an oversupply of new drilling rigs coming out of shipyards, the outlook was bleak. GDI was fortunate in having contracts running through 2009 and hence able to ride the storm.Strategically, GDI had planned to enter the jack-up barge and lift boat market from its inception. GDI have done better than the original business plan had envisaged in the drilling rig market but opportunities in the barge market stayed elusive. In 2009 GDI focused more attention on diversification to continue to grow, as the drilling market was in decline. We now have a two pronged approach to growth

• Additional business by entering the barge market• Additional rigs to:- Grow with the anticipated rig count- New rigs to upgrade and provide client specific solutions

In that endeavor, GDI are actively pursuing work of refurbishment of offshore platforms, since they are at an age where it is becom-ing a necessity. Some clients have already attempted to do this, using jack-up barges instead of floating vessels, quite successfully. GDI see good scope for such work by using

jack-up barges, there is a big increase in productivity, better safety, and saving of time, while the cost also becomes justifiable.

ExplorING NEW horIzoNS

JANUARY 2010 | 4

At the end of 2009, Gulf Drilling Interna-tional bid farewell to two of its employ-ees Abeer Abdullah (pR manager) and Shabeena Moideen (strategy and report-ing specialist). Abeer and Shabeena con-tributed significantly to the development of the company in the past two years since they first joined in.

As part of the company’s appreciation for their efforts, the departure of both employ-ees was marked by a nice gathering of all staff members, whereby they were present-ed with certificates and presents from the top management and their fellow staff.

Even though it is sad to see any employee leave the GDI family, we want to wish both Abeer and Shabeena all the best in their future endeavors, and hope to see them come back for a visit soon!

GDI bIDS FarEWEllto tWo oF ItS EmployEES