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New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (industrialautomationl.frost.com), Customer Satisfaction Analysis for Automation and Control Solutions (ACS) in Key Sub-Saharan African Oil and Gas Sectors, finds that the sub-Saharan African oil and gas sector faces several challenges, which are expected to play a significant role in its relationship with the ACS market.
"Oil and gas plants see ACS as a tool for achieving productivity and efficiency goals as well as reducing the total marginal variable costs of their refineries in the long term," says Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Jeannot Boussougouth.
Apart from benefiting from end users' cost reduction drive, ACS suppliers will be encouraged by the fact that the majority of oil and gas plants use mature technologies. This will increase the number of orders for retrofit, as was the case in 2007, when 55.0 percent of automation technologies was used for retrofit applications. This trend is also the reason that 50.0 percent of oil and gas companies prefer distributors for acquiring ACS products.
While ACS companies score high on reliability and quality (evidenced by 85.0 percent of the respondents willing to give repeat orders to their current ACS providers), there is growing dissatisfaction with ACS providers' services. Although quality, reliability, price competitiveness, and customer service are the current most important purchase factors, customer service is expected to ascend to the top of the list soon.
"Therefore, ACS providers that successfully differentiate themselves through superior service offerings such as increased number of visits, improved technical support, training and on-time delivery of products are likely to experience significant growth," notes Boussougouth.
End users' lack of technical expertise is also affecting their ability to supply fuel consistently. This issue is compounded by the problems arising from years of under-investment in facilities such as storage and transport for fuel offloading. However, these fuel supply issues could benefit ACS companies, since oil and gas companies may turn to them to revamp their existing refining infrastructure and ensure smoother supply.
ACS suppliers will gain another significant boost from stringent environmental regulations that require oil and gas companies to invest in state-of-the-art refining assets. End users will rely on ACS to help them improve energy efficiency and comply with new clean fuels specifications regarding sulfur content in oil and gas.
"This development is expected to drive the widespread adoption of distributed control systems (DCS) in the next two to three years," observes Boussougouth. "As a result, process standardisation is becoming increasingly important, as it helps manage operations more efficiently."
If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants with an overview of the customer satisfaction analysis for ACS in key sub-Saharan African oil and gas sectors, then send an email to Patrick Cairns, Corporate Communications, at patrick.cairns[.]frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and country. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you by email.
Customer Satisfaction Analysis for Automation and Control Solutions (ACS) in Key Sub-Saharan African Oil and Gas Sectors is part of the Industrial Automation & Process Control Growth Partnership Service program, which also includes research in the following markets: customer satisfaction analysis for ACS in the African metal and mining sector, ACS in the African metal and mining sector, and customer satisfaction analysis for ACS in the South African chemicals sector. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants. Interviews with the press are available.
Frost & Sullivan, the Global Growth Consulting Company, partners with clients to accelerate their growth. The company's Growth Partnership Services, Growth Consulting and Career Best Practices empower clients to create a growth focused culture that generates, evaluates and implements effective growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan employs over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 30 offices on six continents.
Customer Satisfaction Analysis for Automation and Control Solutions (ACS) in Key Sub-Saharan African Oil and Gas Sectors
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patrick.cairns[.]frost.com 
