Abdulrahman Abdul Aziz bin Sulaiman has been a board member & CEO of GASCO (previously the National Gas and Industrialization Co.) since 2021. With more than 20 years of experience in the sector, he has held a number of key positions at GASCO, such as assistant general manager for transportation, director of the projects department, and director of administration planning. He has also been the CEO of Samnan Holding Group, general manager of Abyat Co., and managing director of Jazan Energy and Development Co. and is a member of several committees. He also represents GASCO as a board member in associate companies. He holds master’s degrees in petroleum engineering from King Saud University (KSU) and business administration from the University of Hull, and a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering, also from KSU.
GASCO has become a leading company in manufacturing LPG all over the Kingdom. What are the vision and mission of the company?
Abdulrahman Abdul Aziz bin Sulaiman: GASCO wants to be the leading gas solutions provider in the region, driving industry growth and innovation. The company delivers safe, reliable, and high-quality gas solutions to our customers create sustainable value for our shareholders, takes care of the environment and community, and contributes to our nation’s economy while providing a healthy working environment for our employees. We rely on our 60 years of rich industry experience, unique capabilities and resources, effective processes, superior talent, and a relentless focus on our customers to be at the forefront of our industry. We firmly believe in developing the sector through strong partnerships in a fair competitive environment.
You were appointed CEO of GASCO in 2020. What were recent highlights and milestones achieved by the company under your leadership?
Abdulrahman Abdul Aziz bin Sulaiman: Global business landscape has gone through massive disruption since 2020 due to COVID-19. Like other companies, GASCO also faced multiple challenges, though due to the efforts of our team and the support from our board of directors, the company achieved a number of financial, strategic, and operational milestones, such as an increase in the net income by 85% from SAR109 million in 2019 to SAR202 million in 2021 while sustaining the same sales level and an increase in return on equity by 74% from 7% in 2019 to 12.2% in 2021. We are working on increasing employee engagement, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction. We are also actively executing initiatives that will have a long-term impact to strengthen GASCO’s position. We aim to diversify our sources of revenue by establishing a subsidiary and launching different services. We improved our production efficiency by 12% (OEE from 76% to 88%) and reduced the number of days for LPG delivery.
How is GASCO adapting to such dynamic times in the Kingdom, embracing a process of transformation both from the digital and commercial perspective?
Abdulrahman Abdul Aziz bin Sulaiman: In February 2021, GASCO announced the establishment of its fully owned subsidiary Gas Solutions with the purpose of building LPG networks and tanks, developing LPG products and solutions, and providing related technical and engineering consultancy services. This is to accommodate the related economical changes in the kingdom and to support Vision 2030. Additionally, GASCO has launched multiple initiatives related to the digitalization of operational and commercial processes, such as the implementation of SAP SuccessFactors, Distributor Portal, and Driver app.
How is GASCO Academy the institution positioned to develop, foster, and empower human capital in various fields?
Abdulrahman Abdul Aziz bin Sulaiman: GASCO Academy was established as an e-learning platform that caters to the learning and development needs of our employees. The core objective is to enhance our employees’ behavioral, leadership, and technical competencies, which is imperative to achieve our strategic objectives. The academy is designed based on the GASCO competency model in which for each job, the competencies and required competencies levels to perform the job effectively and efficiently are defined. Employees are being evaluated against the defined competencies for their jobs and the gap between actual and expected is being bridged through assigning various courses from GASCO Academy. We are continuously adding more content through various globally acclaimed content providers in GASCO Academy to provide the best-in-class learning experience to our employees.
What main challenges do you foresee ahead, and what is your strategy to overcome them?
Abdulrahman Abdul Aziz bin Sulaiman: As the LPG sector will be open for competition, GASCO is facing the challenge to maintain the level of service being provided and prevent any disruptions of the supply. To counter this challenge, GASCO is investing in its operational infrastructure to enhance the utilization and efficiency of its operations. GASCO has signed MoUs with reputed local and international companies to cover the white spaces and increase its market share.
