Microsoft oil bosses to shift to Dubai

Dubai: US software giant Microsoft said on Wednesday said it has moved the company's top bosses for the global oil and gas industry business to Dubai in recognition of the city's position as a strategic commercial hub.

"From Dubai, Microsoft will be centrally located for ready access to our customers in the prevailing and emerging energy centres of the world. Future demand growth will come largely from countries like China, India and the Middle East," Albrecht Ferling, managing director of Worldwide Oil and Gas Industries for Microsoft Corporation, said in a statement.

Dubai's location midway between Central Europe and East Asia is ideal for business travel to all oil capitals, from Houston to Beijing, he said in a statement speaking from the Cambridge Energy Research Associates' Cera Week 2009, a petroleum industry gathering, in Houston.

Ferling previously handled the company's global industry initiatives from Vienna.

"Our industry is facing unprecedented challenges that demand a truly borderless response," he said.

"And with the power ultimately shifting from consumer to producer in the global energy equation, the Middle East is an important location for Microsoft and our partners," the Microsoft official said.

Ferling cited the worldwide economic downturn and credit crisis, along with the resulting industry trends including increasing mergers, acquisitions, consolidations, pricing pressures, continuing cost escalation and the drive for productivity enhancements, as key focus areas for Microsoft and its global network of software and integration partners.

"We have oil and gas initiatives in more than 70 countries, and every day we see innovations arising from our partner ecosystem that give operators and service providers the tools they need to grapple with today's industry," Ferling said.

"We are 100 per cent focused on solving real-world field challenges that stand in the way of global energy supply and demand," he noted.

He said over the past seven years since Microsoft created a business dedicated to the oil and gas industry, the company has moved from "residing solely on our customer's desktops to accompanying them deep into field operations".

"As Marathon digitises its oil fields, as Schlumberger launches leading-edge software, and as many other oil and gas companies move forward into the future, Microsoft and our partners are there with the technology solutions they need to succeed in the vital task of securing the supply for the world's energy demands," he said.