Is East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Project for You?
Yes, you’re right.
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline project which will be constructed to transport crude oil from the oil fields in Hoima, Uganda to Tanga port in Tanzania.
With a French oil major Total, agreed to speed up the East African crude oil project to start on March 2021. Now is the ideal time to position your supply chain, logistics, and transport management services, products and solutions and technology in front of targeted oil and gas buyers.
It made big front-page headlines for weeks and people are still talking about it months after.
The surprising (or unsurprising) thing about the news and development is that the attention it is garnering now makes all the hullabaloo in previous months a child’s play.
And you know why?
People are thinking of ways to tap into the opportunities that abound in the project. Maybe you have been thinking the same, too.
Why not? When it made newspaper headlines, we were told that: The demand for service providers and equipment providers in s very high in the project,
But since the project is getting attention does not mean always there is a selling opportunity for your company and products or services.
Go- to- EACOP-Strategy.
1.Define your competitive advantage- how you bit your competition and create value for clients.
Buyers in the oil and gas industry have two options:
1. To buy from your company.
2. To buy from your competitors.
To stand out in this competitive project, you should define your unique competitive advantage.
Competitive advantage is the set of your company’s capabilities that give the reason why buyers should choose your company over the hundreds of others that exist. It is also called a distinctive competence. Is there something that you do that is more innovative than your competitors? Is the technology you use a propriety technology? Depending on how you answer the questions above. Your best way to tap opportunities in the project appears to focus on differentiating the products and services to get an edge over thousands of competitors.
2.Tailoring your proposals and your offering so they best fit East African oil and gas industry conditions as well needs of the East African oil and gas buyers.
Like elsewhere in the world, when the big oil and gas projects come in the country. The host government wants its citizen to benefit. Moreover, with current oil price volatility, oil companies try to reduce operating costs. Making use of local materials and technicians is not only a way to approve compliance to regulators but also is the best way to lower operating costs. So clients need complete transparency to comply with trade regulation and local content requirements.
What’s Next
The volatility of the East African oil and gas industry has led oil and gas companies to place a huge emphasis on cost-cutting. That means, oil and gas buyers are continuing to review their supplier networks to extract more value or even retendering the existing projects and switching the service providers. To thrive in this EACOP project and beyond Service providers can use marketing initiatives, including competitive pricing and brand awareness, and demonstrate the obligation of local content requirements.
