RABIH LAHOUD, PROJECT DIRECTOR, TINRHERT

Rabih is currently at the helm of Tinrhert, although his experience in the country stretches back to 2014. He tells us more about Tinrhert and the challenges he has had to overcome on the project.

I joined Petrofac in 2007 as a graduate mechanical engineer… I worked on projects in Tunisia and Turkmenistan before working in Algeria. My ambition in life was to be a pilot, yet I ended up a mechanical engineer. Engineering is an important field of study because it enriches the person’s personal skills and improves his/her creativity and problem solving.

Before my current position, I worked on projects in Algeria for the last eight years… I began my job as a delivery manager in Reggane and later as a project manager for the last phase of the ISG project. I am proud of the achievements of all the projects that I have worked on; all the jobs are of equal value to us and whatever we are working on is a great challenge.

I am currently the Project Director for Tinrhert... which is a very essential project for Petrofac as well as Sonatrach. One part of the project is an extension of the existing Central Processing Facility which was built by Petrofac in 2002. The second scope of the project is constructing around 400 km of pipeline and 36 new wells. Nevertheless, working with the existing facility and the interface between the old and new facilities has been difficult with a lot of challenges; these have been handled successfully by our professional engineers.

Moreover, another challenging event during the execution was due to the pandemic… Due to the airspace being closed, the team was locked down at site for a long time. Furthermore, our diligent engineers worked from home to complete the engineering deliverables. Everyone performed extremely well. It is only due to their hard work, we are still able to target early gas-in despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Persistence makes all the difference… One of my main goals is to maintain genuine relations with clients, partners, and all stakeholders. Another important goal is to follow up on the career path of my team and their progression to achieve higher standards, keep them motivated and proud to be part of the Petrofac family.

Apart from work, I enjoy spending quality time with my family… I have two girls, one is thirteen years old, and the other is ten; “you have a lifetime to work, but children are only young once.”

Meet a few of our colleagues in Algeria