Charles Benson

Experience and key skill set

Charles spent the first five years’ post-grad in the chemical industry; polymers and surfactant technologies (inc. EOR). Through connections made he became co-owner/director of Roemex Ltd in 1988 based in Aberdeen; a start-up oilfield chemicals company, selling out in 1997.   At exit Roemex had an established purpose built laboratory and manufacturing facility with a team of 25+ employees, 80% degree+ qualified and were operating some of the first chemical management contracts in the North Sea, trading across three continents.

After a year consulting he was appointed General Manager of Osca (UK) 1998-99; a subsidiary of a US completions business before being attracted back into the production space with a move to the Middle East with Dyno 1999-2015.

Dyno was acquired by M-I then Schlumberger and during this time he held a number of senior positions inc. General Manager UAE, then UK and latterly Global Business Director and Sales and Marketing Director;

• Set up a business in UAE for ADNOC
• Ran Az business in Baku
• Completed a UK turnaround project; loss making $4mmpa to double-digit IBT% and > $30mm pa.
• Established a unique business line that generated over $20million in profits
• Drove the internationalisation of the business; $100mm to > $550mmpa taking the Eu:ROW revenue ratio from 80:20 to 25:75.
• Worked on 3 x billion+ M&A projects, 6 minor SME projects and two acquisition and integration projects in the US, UK, Russia and Ecuador.
• Active across all major O&G basins
• Established and led the Global Technical organisation with centres in US, Colombia, UK, Norway, Dubai and Thailand
• Initiated the set up a global account team structure
• Developed the detailed program to define and execute chemical management contracts including performance systems and project delivery tools.
• Architect of the 2010, 2012 and Vision2020 strategy, the latter penned in 2014 that secured a multi-million dollar investment to deliver accelerated growth and Tier 1 industry status
• Defined and drove global re-branding exercise.

During this time, he experienced huge industry change inc. three downturns, remarkable advances in technology not to mention evolving work practices.  The industry never ends to surprise and while it can be a typically conservative industry, the reality is it can be agile, fast paced and technology hungry and, if smart, never stops learning.  What often frustrates however is how blind large swathes of the sector can be by failing to learn from the past and what made those companies successful can today often result in a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure.

The key to success in any technology/service business is a good idea, driven by continuous improvement, backed by determination and hard work.  It has to have value, it must be in tune with the clients’ needs, be relevant and delivered in a simple yet effective way.