Making the most of its regional offices and diversified teams, Kent is helping its client companies excel through the entire chain of business, from consulting to design, building, commissioning, and start-up, through to maintenance and decommissioning.
Interview with TOM AYERS, Kent
During the Offshore Technology Conference, held in Houston in early May, World Oil Editor-in-Chief Kurt Abraham sat down for a conversation with Kent Vice President, Consulting, Americas, Tom Ayers. The discussion covered a wide spectrum of topics, including Kent’s methods of helping customers with solutions, getting the most out of regional offices, developing leadership within teams, how the upstream market is shaping up this year, and the use of new technologies. What follows is the full text of the conversation.
World Oil (WO): What are the biggest challenges and opportunities you're seeing in the oil and gas sector across the Americas right now? And how is Kent positioning itself to address them?
Tom Ayers (T.A): In terms of challenges and opportunities, there's a lot of uncertainty in the market. We hear from the Trump administration, “drill baby drill,” which those of us in the oil and gas business like to hear. But at the same time, we're still having to undo a lot of things that have been holding the industry back. And it takes time to do that.
With that uncertainty comes uncertainty about projects. We've had a lot of projects awarded to us, and they've either been delayed a bit or maybe the scopes have been scaled back some. Accordingly, we've got to be flexible. We've got to be diversified, and we've got to be easy to work with. I will tell you, I've been doing this work for 32 years, and this is the first time that I've had a customer tell us, “y'all are really easy to work with,” and it's not that they're taking advantage of us commercially or anything like that. It's just that we have good teams, and we like what we do. So, when I say diversify, and you look at Kent's business, particularly in the Americas, it's onshore and offshore oil and gas, it's petrochemicals onshore. It's a very wide, diversified portfolio. It includes hydrogen and carbon capture. When you look at everything that's out there, we're dabbling around in all of it.
When you look at our teams, I don't have a team that's sequestered. Sure, we have an onshore oil and gas team. We have a structural team. We have a process team, and we have different skill sets in all of them. But we try to rotate people through different types of projects, so that when projects need to flex, to grow, we can do that, Fig. 1. So, that's one way.
The other thing is that it’s a challenge hiring good people. One of the things that I've done with my group is focus in terms of hiring off of what Pat Lencioni (author of books on business management) says is the ideal team player. So, that's someone who's hungry, humble and people-smart. If you have those three things, then they can work with you in a team. We hire the right people, and then we find the right projects. And that creates an environment where you get positive work. And, because we don't just hire anybody, when we do need to flex and need additional resources, we can reach out around the globe to the different groups that Kent has. We're in 26 countries with 14,000 employees, based on the last number I saw. So, chances are, if we're light in some types of capabilities in a particular office, we have it somewhere else. And then we also have a 1,200-person India office that executes workforce. It's all about being diverse and making sure that you're flexible with your customers.
WO: That's a great benefit to have.
T.A.: Yes. In our India office, it's quite unique. I've been with two different companies that have had a large India presence in my past, and they've always been “here's the work, go do it and send it back to us.” Our customers actually write contracts directly with our India office, and they subcontract to us the things that they need. So, it's called a direct-to-India type approach.
WO: That's very interesting. I don't know many companies that do that.
T.A.: Yeah, it's pretty unique. At first, when I heard about this, I was a bit dubious, given my experience. But we've got a really good leader and team.
WO: How is Kent leveraging Artificial Intelligence and digital technologies to enhance efficiency, safety or decision-making in upstream or downstream projects?
T.A.: We're all over the spectrum in terms of using AI. We have day to day operations and use it from a day-to-day perspective, just for us. I will use it to help write an email or some other note, where I’ve been looking at it, and it just doesn't sound right.
But our younger engineers—we have a really good team of new grads and newer-type grads—and they incorporate using AI in their daily activities. It's helpful in working on specs and helping them to gather data and information, as well as just doing research. It's very beneficial. And then we have specific tools that we use to help us work more efficiently. For example, we get drawings back from customers that have comments all over them. We have a tool that will take all these drawings and then find all the comments, tabulate them, and put them in something you can use.
WO: That’s really impressive.
T.A.: It is, because previously you set some junior engineer in a room with a stack of drawings, and he's on Excel typing the stuff in. This is just another way to be more efficient. Even when we're doing cost estimates and similar things, you look at it and say, “does this really make sense?” So, you can ask AI, and maybe it will give you a little bit of comfort, or maybe it comes up with something crazy and you need to think about it a little bit. But clearly, for most cases, I still think that the so-called smart guy in the room gives you better answers. But maybe you can use these tools to help, because you only have a few smart guys in the room, particularly now.
WO: Very true!
T.A.: And so, if you have that one person, and then you have all of these juniors that are working for him or her and they develop things, then he/she can then look at it and make sure that it makes sense and is justified. One of the things that we do is computational fluid dynamics. It's really intensive analysis, where you use supercomputers to run it. And you can use AI to help set the problem up to where you minimize the computing time.
WO: That's really helpful.
T.A.: There are so many things like that. And then we're even going as far in the Middle East as to have some control rooms that we built, which have AI and machine learning built into them. So, from an operations perspective, the operators can say, “okay, something's going on with this gas turbine. We need to know, and then it says new bearings are needed. So then, you can plan versus having it go down and catastrophically fail. And that could take your plant down for weeks at a time.
WO: When your company got into AI, that was probably a fairly expensive proposition, but do you feel like it paid for itself or is paying for itself, as you continue to gain these efficiencies?
T.A.: I would say so. Kent is largely in the selling man hours business, and it's a little bit counterintuitive. People would say, “well why would you do something that's going to reduce the number of man hours that you can sell.” We would say, well, our customers need to reduce cost. We need to become more efficient, because we just don't have the staff. The industry doesn't have the staff to do all of the projects. So, we have to work more efficiently, so we can get the work done. We're not in the business of cutting prices so much that we lose money selling stuff. But at the same time, we need to be efficient and cost-effective
WO: Please speak a bit to how Kent is balancing traditional oil and gas work with growing demand for low-carbon and transitional energy solutions in the Americas.
T.A.: If you look at Kent's purpose statement, it's around me and providing the energy to our customers, helping them develop energy in the most effective, efficient way. That takes into account environment and cost-effectiveness and everything. I'm a big believer in a basket of energies, Fig. 2. It's a necessary part—you need to have everything. As a result, our staff has people who are specialists in different areas and are what I call “the silent warriors.” All the people that are there doing work for the specialists, they come from a common pool.
So, we try to diversify our staff in terms of keeping them fresh and on Thus, it's one team that does different types of projects. The fundamentals behind how you execute the projects are all exactly the same. What you're doing is going to be different. You have to have key people in those different skill sets. So, when we're out, looking for business and everything, we're a solutions provider for our customers and we offer end-to-end solutions. We can do the concept study, all the way to commissioning and start-up and then help you with operational maintenance afterwards. We try to be diverse with our customers and help them with whatever needs they have
If you look at our floating business, it traditionally has been doing oil and gas. Now we're doing some wind projects. But then, at the same time, another oil and gas project comes in. So, we just have to be flexible and open our eyes. The floating business, that's the only one you have to talk to now. We have the floating systems in the wind group. And we have floating systems in oil and gas, or we have traditional projects in oil and gas. Then, we have this group over here that does hydrogen. And this group over here does SAF. It makes it more difficult from a business development perspective reaching out to customers. But it's just a change that we have to make.
WO: With many service providers consolidating or diversifying, what makes Kent's approach in the Americas distinct or more resilient in today's market?
T.A.: Our strength is really in our flexibility, in our diversity. That's what really helps us out, because if you look at the Americas, and whether there's a project that's in the petrochemical, oil and gas, or low-carbon sectors, we have the capacity and experience, to show that we can do all of those projects. I've worked for two really big firms in the past, but this is a very unique company. Like I said, when your customers tell you that you're easy to work with, that just makes your heart proud.
WO: So, I’m thinking about a couple other things. I would think that you almost have to divide your business from a regional standpoint, as well as a governmental policy standpoint, into distinct pieces, because you've got the U.S., where things are changing. You've got a whole new administration. So, all the policies will be different, hopefully helpful. But then you've got other things like over in Europe.
T.A.: Sure. Absolutely. We have a big office in the UK and then in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific area. What's so interesting is how different these offices can be. For instance, our UK office, they're a lot more advanced in hydrogen and sustainable aviation fluids and things like that. And that’s just because those are the big things over there. They do a lot of wind consulting over there, helping the customers in early engagements on how to develop windfarms, things like that.
In the U.S., we actually have a product. We have a wind platform that we've developed, so while they're consultants, we also have a product. We can sell it to customers if we need to. Houston is the center of excellence for floating systems for Kent. And then, in the Middle East, a lot of that business is more traditional. That's where we're doing a lot more digital and AI work. That area is where some of the control rooms we have are really doing some amazing work. In fact, every time our digital guy comes over to Houston, we're just blown away with what they're doing.
Each region has a different kind of DNA and outlook. But at our headquarters in Dubai, that's where everything gets consolidated. It’s a good approach. When I say U.S., it's really the Americas, as we're in Canada, the U.S., Bogota, Colombia, and in Trinidad. Thus, we have offices that all feed up to the Houston office, which feeds back into Dubai. But yes, different perspectives in government require different opportunities. The great thing is if I need more hydrogen support or something like that, it's just over the pond (UK). And quite frankly, you have a much longer day for work to get done, because they can work and then hand it over here, and then we can work. You make progress faster. —
WO: In addition to the differences in the regions, you're also trying to navigate a path through all the uncertainty that exists in the market right now. How is that going?
T.A.: I've been really focusing with my team in Houston on leadership and organizational development. To get through these challenging times, you have to have solid leaders that have good experience and who can help your team navigate through these things. And when we have people that are coming light on work, then we've got to reach out around the globe and find out where we can help. It's mainly about having good leadership. You’ve got to have good leaders. And it's hard work—we spend a lot of effort.
WO: So, just to fill in the biographical details, you went to Baylor, and your major was….?
T.A.: Engineering with a mechanical option. So, I did that and then went from there. I graduated on a Saturday, and I started on the next Monday at Texas A&M, getting my masters in composite materials. And I taught statics. So, I graduated from there and actually started at Panhandle Eastern Corporation in January of ‘93, and received my masters diploma in May of ’93. I worked there for about five years, and then I went to the contractor side and joined Technip, and that's where I fell in love with projects and project execution and leading teams. At Technip, I did five major EPCs, and eventually I was COO for the offshore group before I left. I didn't know what I was going to do after I left Technip, so I took some time to spend with my family, reconnecting with them, which was something I really needed, because I'd sort of been owned by the company.
I rekindled my relationship with my wife and daughter and son, and then I started at ABS. I worked there for about a year, and that was really interesting, because it was a completely different style of projects. I was there mainly to help them develop their project management skills and help them with strategy. But I got a call from my previous boss from Technip. He said, “hey, I want you to come to SBM and take over the semi-submersible product line and rebuild it and sell EPCs. And I said, “oohh, that's what I love.” It wasn't that ABS wasn't a good company or anything like that. It was an interesting place to work. And I learned a lot, met a lot of great people.
But what I really enjoyed was the projects. I went to SBM for six years, and I started out just heading the floaters business, and then I took over the office as the general manager and president of the local entity. And then they did some reorganizing and downsizing. And it went from 300 to 19 people. And so, I did some commercial work for them and started talking to the folks at Kent. I didn't see myself selling engineering man hours at this phase of my life, but for me, it was more about the team that was such good people, and my purpose is leading teams and developing people. And I found this a good opportunity. I’ve been able to take this great team and make it better. And like I said, now we're having fun. Business is tough, but when you have good leadership in your staff, it makes it easier.
WO: Because it makes it easier to tolerate the other things.
T.A.: Yeah, exactly.
WO: I would think that when you're working with all the projects, the one thing you've got at the end of the day is having something to show for it.
T.A.: Yeah. And that's the thing. For instance, we're just finishing our support for Scarborough, for Woodside. And I have a picture of the day that made my heart so proud, because it showed our hull that was floated under the topsides. And they just lifted the hull up to pick the topsides off the barge. So, the topsides are sitting on our hull, and it's ready to go. They're going to integrate it and then take it offshore. And after all the blood, sweat and tears, this is the result.
It's like when I was running the fabrication yard in Finland, you see the hulls forming on the skid rails, and then you go for the christening of it and it's “wow, look at that. Look what this group of people did.” And it's just one of these feelings. So, even with engineering projects, you get to the end. For us, a lot of times, we help our customers get through FID. They got through FID, because we helped them. WO
TOM AYERS brings 32 years of experience in the oil and gas sector to his role as Vice President of Consulting, Americas, at Kent. His extensive background, marked by leadership in project execution and business management, positions him as a transformative leader for the industry. At Kent, Mr. Ayers plays a major role in shaping the organisation’s strategic direction and ensuring the delivery of top-tier engineering solutions. Prior to joining Kent in 2023, he was V.P. of the FPU product line at SBM, as well as V.P. of Business Development and President of the local SBM entity in Houston, over a more-than-six-year period. Before that, Mr. Ayers spent just over a year from February 2016 to March 2017 as V.P., Offshore, at American Bureau of Shipping. He began his career in January 1993 as a mechanical engineer at Duke Energy Corporation, where he spent 4 ½ years before going to Technip, where he served in various locations and in positions of growing responsibility for 18 ½ years until late 2015. Mr. Ayers holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Baylor University and an MS degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Texas and also holds international certifications.