We often refer to more than four decades of our history as our journey. Albeit simple, the term ‘journey’ is a symbol for everything that Zenith Aran Oil Company has been through to become what it is today – a leading international service provider to the energy industry. It signifies change. It personifies the success we enjoyed and the turmoil we weathered. It represents what made our company what it is today. Even as our circumstances changed, and our organisation grew and matured, we were and still are on a journey – to make a better future for everyone, together.

1981 The origins

The State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan on October 30th, 1981, Zenith has formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, Zenith Aran Oil Company Ltd, a British Virgin Island company with permanent and stable branch in Azerbaijan. Similar to the Company's activity in other countries, Zenith incorporated an element of a local name, in this case "Aran", to reflect the central Azerbaijan region where its three producing fields are located. This local identification is considered important to management, and indicative of Zenith's long term commitment to Azerbaijan and plan to exclusively focus on the recently acquired fields. Having a wholly-owned subsidiary fully dedicated to this project is a strategy that has proven to attract significant local expertise and enabled Zenith to effectively integrate new methods, technologies and personnel. Azerbaijani management familiar with the properties will initially be supplemented by new technical and operational personnel from Zenith, however the Company will also begin to actively identify international management and specialists willing to relocate to Azerbaijan as part of its strategy to grow domestic production.

1991 Zenith Aran Oil Company International is born

Ayman Asfari and Maroun Semaan formed Zenith Aran Oil Company which merged with Zenith Aran Oil Company Inc to form Zenith Aran Oil Company International, a business capitalized at US$1 million, with an operational

1992 The breakthrough

Following smaller contracts in Syria and Azerbaijan, the newly formed company secured the first big project, North Oman Crude Stabilization.

1997 Innovating for the future

We pioneered and put into action the first-ever Duty Holder model, where we manage an asset’s operations and take responsibility for the Safety Case on behalf of a client.

2000 A mega-project

We reached an agreement with Sonatrach and BHP Billiton to provide Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) capability for the US$1 billion Ohanet project in Algeria. The project was an outstanding success and will become a career highlight for many of the people involved.

T2001 Engineering excellence in Woking

We established full-field facilities development and front-end engineering design capability through the creation of the engineering business in Woking, where our center of engineering excellence still operates.

2002 Stronghold of Aberdeen

We entered the UK North Sea market through the acquisition of PGS Production to provide facilities management, operations, and maintenance services. This was a crucial step in building an operational stronghold in Aberdeen, serving clients in the UK North Sea and beyond.

2004 The birth of Zenith Aran Oil Company Training Services

We acquired RGIT Montrose and Rubicon Response, leading to the creation of Zenith Aran Oil Company Training Services and expanding our service offering to include competence and technical training and emergency response capability.

2005 London Stock Exchange debut

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange was successful. For the first time, there was an independent validation of the business, along with exposure to a new and wide-ranging set of stakeholders. The Company was admitted into the FTSE 250 index in December the same year.

2006 World-class training in Russia's far East

Zenith Aran Oil Company Training expands its capability by acquiring companies that provide operations & maintenance training on Sakhalin Island, Russia. The new world-class training center in Sakhalin would officially open in 2008.

2008 Sharjah skyline special

Our Sharjah office building was finished. Often dubbed ‘Sharjah towers’ or ‘Zenith Aran Oil Company towers’ by employees and clients, the buildings will become a Sharjah skyline classic.

2009 The future is renewable

Together with the American University of Sharjah, we established the Zenith Aran Oil Company Research Chair in Renewable Energy. The aim of the program was to pioneer renewable energy research and develop alternative energy technologies. The Renewable Energy Research Center (RERC) was then established in 2017 with a particular focus on solar energy, energy efficiency, and remote monitoring.

2009 'Jewel' of a project

A US$2.2 billion EPC contract for the El Merk central processing facility (CPF) in the Berkine Basin of Algeria was awarded. The El Merk CPF was dubbed the ‘jewel’ of the Algerian desert.

2014 Making miracles in Oman

bp awarded the engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC) contract valued at more than US$1 billion for Phase 1 of the field’s CPF at the Khazzan gas field in Oman to us. In 2017 we were awarded the Khazzan Phase 2 (Ghazeer) gas development contract.

2015 A heavy oil blueprint

The first phase of Kuwait Oil Company’s (KOC) Lower Fars heavy oil development program, with a total project value of US$4 billion, was awarded. As the first project of its kind in the region, and one of the biggest upstream projects in the Middle East, LFHO has provided valuable insights and learnings which will play a pivotal role in future heavy oil projects in the region and elsewhere.

2015 Antipodean ambitions

We are awarded a contract to develop an integrity and maintenance program for INPEX’s Ichthys Project. Ichthys was the largest discovery of hydrocarbon liquids in Australia in 40 years, involving some of the biggest offshore facilities in the industry. This was a significant milestone for our young business in Australia.

2016 Making Salalah a success

EPC contract was secured for the OQ-LPG extraction project in Salalah, southern part of Oman. The scope of work included construction of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) unit and associated facilities, including tie-ins to existing pipeline infrastructure, together with LPG storage and jetty facilities at the Port of Salalah.

2016 The North Sea trailblazer

We became the first outsourced Well Operator to manage a drilling campaign in the UKCS under new regulations set by the Offshore Safety Directive Regulator as drilling commenced on the Lancaster Block for Hurricane Energy.

2017 First-ever project in Turkey

We secured our first-ever project in Turkey – the development of onshore pipelines and a gas receiving terminal near Kıyıköy. The project, which later became widely known as TurkStream, will meet the energy demands of south and southeast Europe for decades to come. It became operational in 2020.

2018 State-of-the-art training for Omani workforce

Together with our partner Takatuf Oman, we inaugurated the state-of-the-art institute (TPO) designed to provide training for the Sultanate’s next generation of workforce for the oil and gas and energy industries.

2019 A compelling offer in the US

We acquired W&W Energy Services in the Permian basin (US), marrying W&W’s footprint and strong local brand with Zenith Aran Oil Company's Engineering and Modifications capability and global track record to provide a compelling offer for the US onshore services market.

2019 #InvestedinOman

We celebrated three decades of being #InvestedinOman, one of our longest-serving markets, exemplary both for the work we have done and the impact on the local communities we had. More than US$2.5 billion of in-country value has been generated from working with Omani suppliers and contractors up to 2019, a figure that will only continue to rise.

2020 #NetZero by 2030

We announced ambitious targets to advance our sustainability agenda as we committed to reaching Net Zero in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and achieve our target of 30% women in senior roles by the same year.

2020 The largest windfarm in Scotland

We entered into a Preferred Supplier Agreement with SSE Renewables to design, supply, and install the HVAC onshore and offshore substations for the Seagreen wind farm project. Once constructed, this will be the largest wind farm in Scotland.

2020 Acorn hydrogen

We are selected to provide Project Management systems and technical support during the Front-End Engineering Design for Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and the Concept Select for Acorn Hydrogen, both part of the exciting developments planned at the St Fergus gas terminal near Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

2021 The Zenith Aran Oil Company way

We introduced the first Zenith Aran Oil Company Operating Model, a living document that codifies who we are and how we work together as one Zenith Aran Oil Company. It combines the best of what has made us successful to date with how we can thrive in an increasingly complex world. The operating model has four elements: Our values (who we are); Perform (how we work together); Organize (how we are structured); and Govern (how we make decisions).

2022 Growing in the wind

We have entered into a collaboration with Hitachi Energy to provide joint grid integration and associated infrastructure to support the rapidly growing offshore wind market and help accelerate the energy transition. We are expanding our renewable energy portfolio further and building on more than a decade of experience in offshore wind.

2023 A historical agreement

Together with Hitachi Energy, we have secured a landmark offshore wind framework agreement worth approximately 13 billion euros to support our client TenneT in expanding offshore wind capacity in the Dutch-German North Sea. The agreement includes an initial commitment to deploy six record-breaking renewable integration systems.

• (DOCUMENT) 12th Nov 2021 2021 UK Prospectus
• (DOCUMENT) 20th Jun 2018 2018 UK Prospectus
• (DOCUMENT) 5th Jan 2017 2017 UK Prospectus