Tebodin Middle East: Like a duck to water
Since 1974, when the group company first established itself in the United Arab Emirates, production and distribution of drinking water has been one of the most important aspects of Tebodin's work. When the oil and gas industry underwent a period of rapid development in the 1980s, it represented an expansion of activities for Tebodin Middle East.
The main office in Abu Dhabi has now grown into an all-round engineering consultancy with the whole range of disciplines in-house. The office has a staff of 210. But even here in the Middle East, Tebodin's philosophy is to be 'just around the corner'. Accordingly, there are branch offices in Dubai and Bahrain, each with a staff of 16. A major order in Oman means that Tebodin shall be opening a regional office there, too.
Water projects continue to be very important to Tebodin. All the drinking water is produced by desalination of water extracted from the Arabian Gulf. Enormous investments continue to be made in an expansion of capacity. This is a market in which Tebodin has built up a very good reputation. In these countries, drinking water is every bit as important as oil. The water supply used to be free of charge, but the business is currently being privatised. There is also a campaign attempting to make people aware of the need to conserve water and reduce consumption. Per capita drinking water consumption is the highest in the world here. Water-saving projects concern things like irrigation, for example by using treated waste water.