April 29, 1997
Big game hunting ABB's African supremo is rubbing shoulders with the elite on safari for lucrative engineering prizes
Hill, as head of its African oil and gas business development, is its fiery envoy charged with making things happen for the company. ABB will be bidding for total contracts worth close to $1 billion this year in Nigeria and Angola alone, comprising five or six projects of which we hope to get at least one, says Hill. But, with one of the potential deals tipped to be valued at $400 million, these are undoubtedly big fish that cannot be landed so easily. Hill believes forging personal business ties is key to getting inside these lucrative deals and the 48-year-old high-flyer sees his role primarily as a facilitator, working with governments and oil companies to secure development of hydrocarbon resources.
The ability to knock heads together and find solutions to intractable problems appears to be the stock-in-trade of Hill, who honed his diplomatic abilities while running his own international consultancy 10 years ago. Doing business in Africa has a lot to do with developing relationships with individuals, he says, and trying to understand the local cultures.
He demonstrated his ability to make the right contacts at the recent Oil and Gas Africa '97 conference in Accra, where his passion for flying found a kindred spirit in Ghana's President, Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, who invited Hill up for a spin in the clouds after the show. Based in the Nigerian capital Lagos since January this year, ABB's African supremo admits he was naive in his expectations when he first visited the continent over 10 years ago.
Each country is very different and you just can't apply the usual US-based philosophies; you learn to put them aside, he says. However, he does acknowledge that there are certain frustrations from which it is very hard to isolate yourself. He will need all of his negotiating skills and entrepreneurial initiative to rally the forces needed for Africa to bring on stream its huge untapped gas reserves over the next decade. His other main challenge will be to weave together the diverse strands necessary to firm up new business in the oil, gas and thermal power markets, a task requiring great determination and patience. Part of this is dove-tailing the expertise of the ABB group's specialized units to bring gas ashore, build power plants and put in place all the pieces for a profitable deal. The highly motivated Hill seems cut out for his task as the catalyst for business growth and is actively promoting what he calls ABB's wellhead to wire line approach.
This integrates the group's refinery expertise with its upstream capability in subsea completions, floating production, offshore loading, gas plant and pipeline engineering, as well as offering finance for turnkey projects. With 4500 employees in Africa, ABB has the resources to tackle new opportunities. Installing most of the continent's electrical power grids has helped to raise its profile in the regional market. There could be rich pickings right on Hill's doorstep as the company hopes to win substantial work in the coming months with Shell and Agip, which are joint-venture partners with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
