Duncan Pell, Commercial Director of leading steel pipe and railway wheels company, Interpipe, was one of the speakers’ at the 8^th Conference entitled “Metal-Forum of Ukraine – 2009”, which was held in Kyiv on June 30 2009. The topic and focus of Duncan Pell’s report was, “Maintaining competitive advantage in a crisis environment”.

During his presentation Duncan Pell remarked: “Interpipe’s business strategy means that it remains insulated from short term volatility and the company has maintained an optimistic outlook on the oil and gas (OCTG) pipe segment based on a few fundamental drivers.  These drivers include increased consumption of oil and the growth in the volume in production of OCTG pipe to produce 1 barrel of oil (tons/bbl)”.

Duncan Pell stated that Interpipe aims to increase its differentiation by means of retaining a strong cost position, developing a competent workforce with high technical ability and by focusing on innovation and commercial effectiveness.

At the end of his report, Duncan Pell stated: “The combination of focused innovation and commercial effectiveness should result in mutual dependency between suppliers and customers. In turn, this dependency should create a pull for further innovation and greater technical and workforce competence.”