Regional Manager Middle East- VELOSI

Qatar’s energy industry has some of the highest operational standards in the world and Velosi plays a major role here, being involved in offering a wide range of services to the oil & gas industry, from project management to quality assurance and Third party certification to Management System (ISO) certification.  We are heavily involved in the industry, offering their services to companies such as Qatar Petroleum, Qatargas and RasGas.

Nathalie Martin-Bea Mardinian: Elaborate on your services ..

Mr. Sudhir Pandra: Providing third party inspection and certification, asset integrity services, lifting equipment certifications, Design Engineering, Specialized NDT, Management System certification, HSE consultancy , provision of Specialised Technical personnel . Velosi is the market leader in this sector and has renewed its contracts with Qatar Petroleum, Qatargas and Rasgas. This is a reflection of the confidence that the majors have in the company.

NMB: What is the history of Velosi in Qatar and in the region?

SP: Velosi’s growth strategy involves the acquisition of players that are similar to them and have undergone a 51% partnership with a number of these companies. Over the last 2 years, they have merged with 5-6 companies. The strategy is to amalgamate them into the group by offering their services. By becoming part of Velosi they can utilize the company’s global presence and experience. It is a mutually beneficial relationship and Velosi’s ultimate goal is to provide integrated one-stop-shop solutions. We are also concentrating in expanding into oil spent countries like Caspian countries, Brazil, Africa Today; Velosi has become part of APPLUS group of Spain which is owned by Carlyl group. Applus is a market leader in Europe and Latin America for the Industrial inspection and certification, vehicle inspections, power and civil inspections, laboratory testing, which will give VELOSI a wider range of geographic presence and services

NMB: What does this merger means for Velosi’s client?

SP: What lies in store for Velosi in the future is the construction sector that has a lot of potential for you in Qatar, especially after winning the hosting of World Cup 2022.  VELOSI can offer all assistance in the civil and infrastructure all verification and certification services including equipment / product certification and other services. Moreover, we could extend our full fledged design and engineering services to Qatar.

NMB: Tell us about Velosi’s diversification

SP: In the region Velosi’s business is developing and in 2010 we were trying to help coordinate projects with the governments of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We have established our lifting equipment certification division in all the countries which hitherto was only available in Qatar and also we have established specialized NDT divisions in all the countries.  We are also offering a number of training services and have plans to establish a training academy for the region.  This year we are also have plans to start HSE and Environmental consultancy services.  We are treating Qatar as a centre of excellence and been assisting other ME countries to establish the new services by providing staff from Qatar. They have also recently received approval from Saudi Arabia in for lifting services. Apart from sending people to the UAE, Velosi is also sending people to Oman and Saudi Arabia to establish new departments there.

NMB: How do you see Qatar’s development?

SP: Qatar will see a huge development in the coming years especially in the infrastructure field.  With the new Airport and the new Port coming up and the new Metro rail system the city is going to change I guess not to mention about the 2022.  I am really proud to work in Qatar and also proud Velosi is going to make a difference to this country.