Home Advantage Holds the Key for Zulal

Global Water Intelligence www.globalwaterintel.com
April 2010

With industrial references stretching to the remotest corners of Libya, Zulal Water Technology is eyeing bigger prizes in both the municipal and industrial sectors.

Zulal Water Technology has been awarded a new engineering, procurement and construction contract by Harouge Oil Operations. ZWT director Iftikhar ul Haq told GWI that the contract, covering an 80m3/d wastewater treatment and reuse plant at the huge Amal Field, east of Tripoli, is a sign that Libya remains a growth market for local water contractors.

Three years after being founded by former managers of Ionics Libya, ZWT is generating annual revenues in excess of €10 million across its small- to medium sized water, wastewater treatment and desalination plant business lines.

The ownership structure of the company has changed since 2007. ZWT had originally been seen as the entry point for Christ Water Technology into Libya’s water sector, in particular the country’s infrastructure rehabilitation program.

However, Christ Water Italy, which is jointly owned by Christ Water Technology and the Milan-based Mandressi Group, sold its entire 65% holding in Zulal in early 2009 to ACWA Malta, a holding company owned by European individuals. The remaining 35% is held by Libyan investors.

ZWT’s growth prospects remain strong. The company has built its success – particularly with the subsidiary companies of the National Oil Corporation – on a willingness to undertake EPC projects that are unattractive to international water companies because of their remote desert locations.

“The clients here want turnkey solutions,” according to Mike Ottman, a project manager at Zulal who has worked on small- to mid-sized desalination and wastewater projects. A significant proportion of Libya’s oilfields are onshore and, according to Ottman, the major oil companies are becoming increasingly conscious of the issues associated with disposing of produced water at inland locations.

Zulal is also positioning itself for larger upcoming contracts, with a new focus on the municipal side.

The company is talking to several potential international partners about the possibility of forming a joint venture, with a view to pursuing the pipeline of contracts that will arise to meet the often-overlooked water and wastewater needs of the new housing and infrastructure planned as part of the Libyan government’s current ‘big spend’.

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