Category: News

How would you describe the current state of the oil&gas industry?

We are seeing high production dynamics with significant investment, particularly evident in the numerous calls for tenders, notably in Africa and the Middle East. This high production, combined with slowly growing demand, is leading to a fall in the price per barrel, which dropped below the $60 mark in January 2026, also due to the particularly tense political context.

In your opinion, what are the major challenges facing the oil & gas engineering today and in the medium term?

Actually, the challenges are technical including more ambitious and technically complex projects requiring excellence in execution. PARIFEX brings its expertise in process engineering to this type of ambitious projects, whether in terms of safety or control and command.

Regulatory requirements will obviously be an issue in the medium term, as regulations are becoming stricter with new compliance and traceability obligations. There is a direct link with environmental issues, and we are also seeing that certain decarbonisation investments may be accelerated to a greater or lesser extent depending on the political context.

We are also seeing a real desire to optimise their equipment while increasing the lifespan of their installations. PARIFEX supports professionals in optimising their automated processes and production, but also in extending the lifespan of their systems.

Who are PARIFEX’s clients and what are their main challenges today in their industrial and oil & gas engineering projects?

Our clients are operators with whom we collaborate on projects such as production optimisation, process improvement and database management. We also work with EPCs on functional analysis and narrative control issues.

Above all, our clients need solid expertise throughout the project lifecycle. In greenfield projects, we are involved from the preliminary design stage in the functional analysis of ESD/F&G systems and instrumented control/supervisory control (ICSS/SCADA). At start-up, the challenges concern instrumentation, systems integration, cybersecurity and compliance. In brownfield projects, needs range from audits and risk analyses to revamping, migration and upgrade projects. However, performance optimisation remains central, as many ageing systems can still be improved.

What most often triggers a need for engineering?

In reality, it is not a single factor, but a combination of new projects, modernisation, compliance and optimisation, and PARIFEX has been involved in all these stages for over thirty years.

Our clients can rely on our experts to provide support from the preliminary design stage through to implementation and continuous improvement, on topics ranging from functional analysis to system integration and optimisation.

How does PARIFEX position itself in relation to its competitors in the market?

PARIFEX positions itself as an agile and reliable engineering partner, with an approach focused on quality of execution and customer relations. Our primary strength is predictability: we have a culture of meeting deadlines, transparent communication and the ability to deliver services without any ‘unpleasant surprises’. For our clients, this is a key point because it secures planning and reduces project risk.

Furthermore, as PARIFEX is a company on a human scale, this allows us to establish a real closeness and a high level of responsiveness. We also pay particular attention to each customer, regardless of the size of the project. 

Finally, our positioning is clear: we provide specialised engineering expertise. In particular, we offer process and production optimisations that require as little CAPEX as possible, which is an immediately measurable benefit for the customer. 

What types of solutions or expertise are most in demand by your customers today?

The solutions most in demand by our customers are currently those that enable them to secure their projects, reduce risks, but above all, improve performance while controlling costs. 

Firstly, the integration and modernisation of ICSS control systems and SCADA supervision systems are the most frequent requirements: customers are looking for an integrator capable of working in multi-vendor environments, both Greenfield and Brownfield, while ensuring that deadlines are met and cybersecurity requirements are complied with.

In addition, for projects and system modifications, our customers need very robust upstream engineering: functional analysis, control narrative, consistency of deliverables, I/O freeze, etc. The aim is to reduce the risk of failure in FAT, avoid engineering inconsistencies and secure software development before it starts.

Finally, there is a very concrete need for instrumentation and data: obsolete instrumentation, inconsistent databases, difficulty in centralising information. Our customers are looking for comprehensive support, ranging from centralised databases to the controlled replacement of equipment.

In automation and ICSS projects, many issues only become visible during FAT. Unexpected behaviors, missing interlocks, misunderstood sequences, late design changes… all of these issues cost time, money, and trust. In most cases, the root cause is not the software itself. That’s why a rigorous Functional Analysis and Control Narrative phase is essential to secure your project before software development even begins. When functional requirements are not clearly defined and validated early, the software phase becomes longer and harder to control.