Successful first year for global cards business

The Corporate Magazine of Kuwait Petroleum International#44 Summer 2018

Successfulfirst yearfor global cards business

2 Q8SAILS Summer 2018 2

Message from the President

Editor:

Shamael Al-Sharikh

[email protected]

Manar Al-Murad

[email protected]

Copy Editor:

Debbie Valentine

[email protected]

Contributors:

Giorgio Tagliacarne, Q8ItalyDalal Khalid Al-Bader, KPI Corporate Planning Joke Van Wieringen, KPI Learning & DevelopmentJohn Briggs, KPI SSHERossella Izzo, Q8ItalyKatia Van Bouwel, Q8North West EuropeGeert de Mil, Q8North West EuropeMartijn Hazebroek, IDSStef Dekeyser, Q8OilsArya Marafie, Q8AviationLisa Öhrqvist, OKQ8 Scandinavia

© Copyright 2018

Kuwait Petroleum International

Summer 2018

Dear Colleagues,

Summer is upon us and it is a time when many of us take a break from our work to spend time with our families.

This summer brings mixed feelings for the Q8 family; while we look forward to our holidays, we do so after saying goodbye to two dear colleagues who have played an important role in Q8’s growth over the years. Alessandro Gilotti, President Q8Italy, and Group Finance Director, Anthony Saunders, have recently left the company after dedicating three decades of service to Q8. Both men have made a huge contribution to the growth of the company that we see today. The many successes they have led are too numerous to recount in this brief message, but Alessandro and Tony have left a lasting and positive impression and inspired great affection among those who worked with them. I wish them the greatest luck in their future endeavours.

There are many positive stories across the business in this edition of Q8Sails. We continue to progress our sustainability with renewable forms of energy and diversified services. You can read about our recent initiatives in Belgium, including the extension of electric vehicle charging points across our network.

More welcome news is the strong financial performance this year by IDS, which has achieved record-breaking profits. We also report that Q8’s unwavering commitment to safety has again been recognised, for the seventh consecutive year, with a coveted award from RoSPA.

Finally, I would like to welcome all our new colleagues who have joined KPI. We are pleased to include you as part of our global Q8 family and I am certain that your expertise and professionalism will add great value to our company.

I wish you all a very happy and successful summer.

Sincerely,

Nabil Bourisli

3Q8SAILS Summer 2018

ContentsQ8Sails Summer 2018 Issue: 44

Integrated training gives auditors a wider perspective

celebrating outstanding achievements at Q8Italy’s Agora

HEADLINE NEWS

Page 4-5 Successful first year for Global Cards Business

CORPORATE

Page 6-7 Groundbreaking ceremony launches construction of Duqm Refinery

Page 8 KPI commended in prestigious RoSPA Awards

Page 9 KPI launches its first children’s book

Page 10 Integrated training gives auditors a wider perspective

NEWS

Page 11 Q8Oils contributes to UKLA safety guide

Page 12 Roll out of long term strategy 2040

Page 13 Sharing expertise in global mobility

Page 14-15 Meet the Team: Operators at Blending Plant Antwerp

Page 16-17 Celebrating outstanding achievements at Q8Italy’s Agorà

Page 18-19 Q8North West Europe delivering sustainable mobility

Page 20 OKQ8 Scandinavia Sustainability Report highlights strong achievements

Page 21 New tendering system boosts efficiency at Q8Aviation

Page 22 Q8Italy launches iconic new advertising campaign

Groundbreaking ceremonylaunches construction of Duqm

Refinery

4 Q8SAILS Summer 2018

At its two-day sales conference in Brussels in June, the Global Cards Business (GCB) team had plenty to celebrate.

Following steady growth over the past five years, the IDS fuel card has delivered its best results to date with volume sales 8% higher than the previous year. The fleet fuel cards Cartissima in Italy and Liberty in Benelux also excelled with sales improvements of 13% and 6% respectively.

Azzam Al Mutawa, managing director َQ8Italy, who is responsible for the Global Cards Business, com-ments: “These are exceptional results. The robust

strategies of recent years and greater clarity and focus from the new or-ganisation are de-livering great ben-efits and I have no doubt that we are set on a clear path to further success.”

Vincenzo Maniaci, global cards di-rector, adds: “We are delighted with these results which reflect the sus-tained hard work and commitment

of our colleagues across many departments, both front-line and back office services. It’s a joint effort of which we can all be proud.”

Q8’s fuel cards were brought together under the Global Cards Business in spring 2017 to create one organisation, with one common strategy and, in time, a single IT platform for all cards. Integration is progressing well, and a feasibility study is underway to identify the best way of migrating all cards to one technical platform.

Much of GCB’s sales success lies in its clear strategy which includes expanding the network, improving sites, developing partnerships and improving the of-fering for cardholders.

Successful first year for Global Cards BusinessRecord-breaking results

These results reflect the sustained hard work and commit-ment of our col-leagues across many departments.

Vincenzo Maniaci

Martijn Hazebroek, strategy & market manager at GCB, explains: “We are setting up agreements with third parties to accept Q8 cards at their retail outlets and vice versa. We are also extending the use of our cards to payments for other motoring-related ser-vices. This gives our customers greater coverage and flexibility while strengthening our business.”

GCB is also focusing its efforts on the ‘right’ custom-ers, who have the most growth potential, and keep-ing at the forefront of digital transformation

Members of the GCB team at the sales conference in Brussels


Q8Ticket Fuel, an evolution of RecardQ8, is a total digi-tal solution in which an electronic code for fuel pay-ments is generated online or via an app. It replaces e-coupons and is used by companies as an employee benefit or customer incentive. Launched in November 2017, it is rapidly growing in popularity.

RecardQ8App is a free app for fuel payments via a smartphone. Customers generate a virtual payment code and can recharge their virtual wallet. It can even be used to share payment codes with friends.

Fabio Curtacci, cards sales and operations manager Q8Italy, says: “The high sales using virtual cards show that this form of payment is the future and we will con-tinue to take full advantage of changes in technology to give our customers the option of for their fuel in al-ternative ways.”

Vincenzo Maniaci concludes: “Fuel cards give us a very valuable tool to drive sales. Thanks to our integrated organiza-tion, we have a strong strategy in place and are building on the great results we have achieved so far.”

CORPORATE

Outstanding innovationNew use for Liberty card

GCB is constantly pushing innovation to increase cus-tomer satisfaction and keep a step ahead of the com-petition.

In Belgium, fleet managers had suggested using the Liberty card as part of their cafeteria plan. This is a flex-ible plan which allows employees to contribute part of their gross income to a designated account; under tax laws, this can be used to reduce their tax bill.

Before the tax year begins, a fixed annual amount is put on the Liberty Card for fuel payments; this can be split into 12 equal monthly amounts and any remain-ing balance is transferred to the next year.

It took just four months for GCB’s IT department to arrange for the automatic upload of data and pay-ment limits ready for a trial. A pilot programme with two customers, involving around 1,300 fuel cards, was very successful and the facility is now being offered to all existing Liberty customers.

Bart Moens, card sales manager Benelux, comments: “Q8 is the only company that offers this facility on a real time online fuel card, which gives us a clear com-petitive advantage. Initial indications suggest that there is a very high demand for using the Liberty card in this way.”

Pioneering virtual cards

GCB is at the forefront of digital and mobile payments and is advancing ways to buy fuel without using a physical card.

The new payment process is based on codes generated from apps on the Cartissima and Recard fuel cards. The same digital payment solution can also be embedded in third party apps.

IDS has improved its Suben site, near the Austrian/German border, by doubling the number of lanes from four to eight

GCB is constantly pushing innovation to increase customer satisfaction.


An exciting stage has been reached in the joint venture between KPI and Oman Oil Company to develop a grass root refinery in Duqm, south Oman. Construction work has started and was marked by a groundbreaking ceremony at the site on 26th April.

The glittering ceremony was led by His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Minister of Herit-age and Culture for Oman. Joining the celebration were members of the Omani Cabinet, His Excel-lency the Kuwaiti Minister of Oil Bakheet Al-Rashidi and senior officials from Oman and Kuwait.

Addressing the large audience, Nabil Bourisli, KPI President and chairman of the Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Company, said: “This landmark refinery marks the beginning of a new era for both our companies. It will strengthen the Sul-tanate’s energy sector through a combination of integrity, maximisation of resources and develop-ment, in a region of great potential. KPI and Oman Oil Company will work together to manage the re-finery, execute its operations and add great value to the project as well as to the whole economy.”

Groundbreaking ceremony launches construction

of Duqm Refinery

H.E. The Minister of Oil, Bakheet Al-Rashidi, gives a gift to Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Minister of Heritage and Culture.


Isam Al-Zadjali, CEO of Oman Oil Company, de-scribed the project as “a major milestone in the journey to meet our nation’s growing energy demand” and a “symbol of the effective col-laboration between Oman and Kuwait.”

The new state-of-the-art refinery is being built on a 900-hectare site in the Duqm Special Eco-nomic Zone, which is being transformed into an energy and logistics hub. The refinery is expect-ed to drive the region’s development by attract-ing foreign investment and generating new jobs. It enjoys a strategic maritime location in the path of international shipping routes, which will facilitate transportation and give it a strong competitive edge.

Engineering procurement and construction con-tracts for the refinery were awarded earlier this year to three different contractors and cover the refinery’s process unit; utilities and offsite facilities; and the product export terminal at Duqm Port, dedicated crude storage tanks and an 80km pipeline connecting the tanks to the refinery.

Operations are anticipated to start in 2022 when the refinery will have the capacity to process 230,000 barrels of crude oil a day. Advanced technology and the highest opera-tional and safety standards will be used in the manufacture of high-quality products including diesel, jet fuel, naphtha, liquified petro-leum gas, sulphur and pet coke. At least 65 per cent of the refinery’s feedstock will be Kuwaiti Export Crude.

Ghanim Al-Otaibi, the former VP business de-velopment & projects and vice chairman of the Project Steering Committee, says: “We will draw on the wealth of international experience

we have built in refinery and pet-rochemical projects in Europe and Asia for this project. Working with our Omani partners, we will create a regionally-trained work force for this and future projects in the oil industry.”

This highly significant mega pro-ject is an example of how KPI is developing strong joint ventures around the world and harnessing its vast expertise to drive mutual benefit for all partners involved.

NEWS

This landmark refinery marks the beginning of a new era.

Nabil Bourisli


KPI has been presented with a coveted award in rec-

ognition of the high standard of our practices and achievements in en-

suring that our employees, contractors and customers get home safely at the end of

the working day.

In the internationally-renowned RoSPA Health and Safety Awards, KPI was ‘com-mended’ in the oil and gas sector.

Group HSSE and ERM Manager Fouad Qabazard comments: ‘‘KPI has won the RoSPA Gold Award for the past six years and receiving a commendation in the oil and gas sector is a very special achievement. I congratulate all our HSSE teams across KPI. This im-pressive recognition from RoSPA once again confirms the excellence of our performance and commitment to HSSE.”

The RoSPA awards scheme recognises achievements in health and safety management systems, including practices such as leader-ship and workforce involvement. It receives entries from organisations around

the world and these hotly-contested ‘sector’ awards go to the best perform-ers across 24 industry sectors including oil and gas, construction, transport

and logistics, engineering and manufacturing.

Julia Small, head of qualifications, awards and events at RoSPA, said: “The RoSPA Awards are the most highly respected in the health and safety arena, with almost 2,000

entrants every year. They allow organisations to prove excellence in the work-place, demonstrating a commitment to the wellbeing of not only employ-

ees but all those who interact with it.”

For more information about the RoSPA Awards visit www.rospa.com/awards.

commended inprestigious RoSPA Awards

KPI

Receiving a com-mendation is a very special achievement.


CORPORATE

For the first time, KPI Head Office has published a children’s book, titled ‘Two Sails… Four Directions’, as a corporate so-cial responsibility initiative to educate young people about the international nature of marketing and refining in the oil industry.

The purpose of the book is to educate children, aged 10-13 years, about KPI and its operations in Kuwait and around the world. It also aims to increase cultural awareness of Q8 and

the communities where we operate. Written in Arabic, it will also be available in English.

The project was led by the Corporate Communications team: Shamael Al-Sharikh, team leader; Awdhah Al-Shammari, senior analyst and Manar Al-Murad, ana-lyst. They worked closely with the author Dr. Zahraa Ali, a Professor of English Literature at Kuwait Univer-sity, to develop the concept behind the story. Dr. Zahraa Ali helped to emphasise in

the book KPI’s diversity and the cultural acceptance between employees.

The story follows the lives of two employees, Yousef and Nora, and their children Salem and Sara as they travel to Europe.

The trip takes them to each of the European Operating Units where the children learn more about KPI and its operations.

‘Two Sails… Four Directions’ is now part of the Kuwait Na-tional Library collection and there are plans to distribute it to libraries internationally. The book has also been distributed to schools and to the K-Companies for employees to pass on to their children.

Manar Al-Murad says: “We believe it is important to show-case KPI and our operations to young children who could in future be employees setting out to build a career in Q8 and the international oil industry.”

KPI

The book em-phasises KPI’s diversity and the cultural accept-ance between employees.

launches its first children’s book


To maintain the effectiveness of the new KPI integrated Business Man-agement System and provide as-surance to senior management that its specified requirements and those of ISO standards are being met, an expert team of Corporate and Operating Unit representatives carries out peri-odic audits of the management system.

The KPI BMS audit team members are certified to carry out audits against different individual ISO standards. The objective of this train-ing, however, was to give them the skills and competence to audit an integrated management system which meets the re-quirements of more

The challenge of these integrated audits is to take a broader view.

John Briggs

than one ISO standard. The training was delivered by certification body LRQA.

The new integrated audits will check if employees are working to speci-fied requirements (compliance); determine if these are delivering the required business results (ef-

fectiveness) and explore opportuni-ties to do things better and achieve a

more positive impact on the business and environment (improvement).

John Briggs, KPI HSSE and ERM Regional Manag-er says: “Everyone in our team has experience of working in a specific business area, such as HSSE, Quality or Finance, but the challenge of these in-tegrated audits is to take a broader view. We will not just focus on the business area where we are strong, but also consider other areas where we have less experience. The result will be an audit which covers a wider scope and the experience will give us a broader understanding of different business processes.”

For more information about integrated auditor training, please contact John Briggs.

Integrated training givesauditors a wider perspective


Q8Oils has made an important contribution to a new guide on good practice for the safe handling of metalworking fluids in the workplace, which was produced by the United Kingdom Lubricants Asso-ciation (UKLA) in partnership with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).

The Good Practice Guidance for Man-aging Metalworking Fluid has been compiled by UKLA’s Metalworking Fluid Product Stewardship Group, supported by the HSE and other industry experts, with additional advice from experienced workshop managers and medical ex-perts. Stuart Duff, business development manager, and Matt Bloomer, technical services manager, represented Q8Oils as key members of the advisory panel of industry experts set up by the Group to compile the guide.

Stuart Duff comments: “Q8Oils has long been com-mitted to promoting the safe handling and best working practices for all our metal manufacturing products. We were delighted to share with the panel

our Q8Oils Engineers Guide on managing metal-working fluids, which provided a strong foundation for developing the new guide, with additional con-tributions from other panel members. This is an ex-

cellent initiative and a great example of industry professionals working together to share knowledge and experience to improve safety for the benefit of end us-ers.”

The new guide is the result of 18 months of in-depth discussions within the advi-sory panel on every aspect of the safe handling, maintenance and disposal of metalworking fluids. In addition to prac-tical guidance on safe use, they high-light employers’ responsibilities under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health regulations.

The Good Practice Guidance for Man-aging Metalworking Fluid was formally

launched at MACH 2018 in Birmingham in April, where Q8Oils was represented, and is being widely welcomed in the industry.

Q8Oilscontributes to UKLA safety guide

This is an excel-lent initiative and a great example of industry pro-fessionals work-ing together.

Matt Bloomer Stuart Duff


KPC Holdings (Aruba) Board approved KPI’s 2040 Long Term Strategic Plan (LTSP) last October and it was subse-quently endorsed by the KPC high steering committee in January 2018. This plan is an adaptation of the KPC 2040 Strategic Directions for the international downstream sector.

Every few years KPC undertakes an extensive review of its long-term strategic directions, in light of the evolving business environment, to secure the future of the Kuwaiti oil sector. The objective is to translate KPC’s high-level directions into detailed strategic plans that include key initiatives, targets, smart indica-tors and success factors for all K-companies.

Following the release of KPC’s guidelines, teams were formed for each business sec-tor and functional area. KPI played a ma-jor role in the development process of the downstream sector strategic plans, ensur-ing full integration and synergy among K-companies. VP Planning & Finance Abdullah Al-Azemi led the downstream business focus group, supported by Corporate Planning team members.

The KPI 2040 Long Term Strategy Plan development pro-ject was carried out over eight weeks and evolved over four main phases.

The project started by developing the KPI 2040 Mission and Vision, which captures the company’s aspirations in a rapidly-changing industry. Many brainstorm workshops were held among KPI’s middle management across the corporate head office, Europe and Asia to define state-ments that were endorsed by top management.

Corporate Planning Group Manager Fatima Al-Humaidan

said: “The consumption of oil is reach-ing a turning point, fuelled by climate change and the emergence of alterna-tive energy; drastic changes are fore-seen in investment strategies that will revolutionise the entire industry. KPI 2040 strategy is ambitious, diversified and challenging and will require our people’s innovation and creativity to achieve sustainable growth for KPI.”

In the second phase, the project team carried out an extensive internal and external situation analysis. The inter-nal analysis assessed KPI’s strategic performance in relation to the 2030 LTSP, identifying the lessons learned from successes and shortfalls. The ex-ternal situation analysis considered KPI’s future evolution, market trends and business risks. The outcomes were

presented in management workshops across the com-pany to ensure alignment with KPI’s Strengths, Weak-nesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT).

The third and most complex phase involved a bottom-up approach to define KPI’s key strategic objectives and initiatives. In-depth discussions were held through-out the organisation from the Operating Units in Europe and Asia to the Downstream Steering committee and top

management in KPC and KPI. More than 20 workshops took place, including expert consultants, to arrive at the final strategic objectives and initiatives.

In the final phase of the project, a strategy road map was created to ensure success-ful implementation. The main parameters for the successful execution of LTSP were identified, including major risks, resources required, success factors and smart targets with clear roles and responsibilities.

The greatest challenge was to secure con-sensus to the 2040 LTSP among internal

stakeholders in KPI and external stakeholders in KPC.

The KPI 2040 LTSP will be revealed in more detail across the company via a rollout and will subsequently be trans-lated into a detailed implementation plan at operating unit level.

Abdullah Al-Azemi stated: “Our industry is going through major changes and disruptions, and if we are to realise our vision as a leading player in the global oil and gas downstream sector, we must make sure we have a road-map that is agile, robust, and resilient. This is the main impetus behind the 2040 LTSP.”

Long Term Strategy launched KPI 2040

Corporate planning team reviewing new strategy in The Hague


Developing talented people to fulfil their potential is a critical element in achieving KPC’s mission to become a global, inte-grated oil and gas leader. An important part of this development is global mobility, in which people enrich their skills and compe-tencies through a systematic development programme that exposes them to assign-ments in different countries, departments and functions.

KPI has more than 30 years’ experience of creating and administering global mobility programmes and is now sharing its expertise with other K-Group companies to extend the skills of high-potential Kuwaiti employees.

An HR Forum Workshop was held in Kuwait in March to share KPI’s knowledge of global mobility and this was warmly received by HR representa-tives from the K-Group.

The Global Mobility Strategic Ini-tiative supports KPC’s talent man-agement strategy and forms part of the KPC 2040 HR Strategic Plan. It is sponsored by VP Europe Khaled Al-Mushaileh, who says: “Our busi-ness relies on having a continuous flow of high-performing leaders and global mobility is essential to their growth. We are delighted to share our long experience of run-ning global mobility programmes

with our colleagues across the K-Group.”

KPI Group HR Manager Meshal Al-Meles, adds: “Global mobility brings outstanding benefits both for individuals and our com-pany. This is clear from many of our senior managers in KPI who have built wide expe-rience and understanding of our business through international assignments and are making a substantial contribution to our company’s success.”

Khaled Al-Mushaileh and Meshal Al-Meles both sit on the Advisory Council which has been set up to guide and approve the pro-posals of the global mobility working group.

The group comprises HR representatives from across the K-companies and is led by Joke Van Wieringen, cor-porate learning and development manager, who says:

“Our starting point is to analyse the business needs of the K-companies and the future capabilities they re-quire to achieve the 2040 Strategy. In devising our proposals, we will speak with people who have ben-efitted from this experience to see what lessons can be learned and draw on best practice.”

The working group has already set the milestones for 2018/19 and an-ticipates launching a series of pilot global mobility assignments later this year.

CORPORATE

Global mobility is essential to the growth of high-performing lead-ers.

Long Term Strategy launched Sharing expertisein global mobility


Q8Oils’ Blending Plant Antwerp is one of the most modern and technologically advanced blending plants in the world. Following a five-year $100m renovation programme which was completed in 2016, it is almost entirely automated, but the dedicated operators who manage the production process remain critical to its successful operation.

This mega plant efficiently produces 125m litres each year and delivers the widest range of finished lubricants of any blending plant in Europe. It has

world-class standards of sustainability with safety and quality control procedures that meet the lat-est ISO standards.

The production team is headed by Jessica Vinck, production manager, who has worked at Blending Plant Antwerp for more than 20 years. She says: “As production manager, I have experienced the transition from the old to a new state-of-the art blending plant. Every day we strive to deliver an outstanding service for our customers at every

Operators at Blending Plant Antwerp

Meet the Team

Jessica Vinck


Operators at Blending Plant Antwerp

NEWS

stage of the production process. We handle a complex mix of more than 2,500 different prod-ucts and this is only possible thanks to our com-mitted and flexible team.”

The plant operates for 16 hours each day with two production shifts; there are 15 technical opera-tors on each shift, led by an experienced fore-man. They are backed by the SAP team which is responsible for the ad-ministration of the pro-duction process.

The highly-trained op-erators manage the en-tire production process which involves:

• Receiving and han-dling the base oils and other raw materials.

Base oils mainly arrive by vessel and are stored in 24 tanks, each with a 1.5m litre capacity. Addi-tives are delivered by truck or in drums; the latter are stored in the heated warehouse to keep them pumpable.

• Operating the drum decanting unit. Drum addi-tives are dosed and pumped to the blending sec-tion; owing to their viscous nature, they require special handling.

• Blending and pumping the lubricants. Blending

is carried out in kettles, with capacities ranging from 7,000 to 300,000 litres. Base oils and addi-tives are mixed according to Q8Research’s formu-lations and the finished lubricants are pumped to the bulk loading section or the filling hall.

In the bulk loading section, approximately ten tank trucks are loaded every day. In the filling hall, a shift leader and five filling operators man-age the process of transferring the lubricants into packages, from 1 litre to 1,000 litres; depending on the package size, the filling lines are fully or partly automated. The extensive variety of pack-age sizes produced at Blending Plant Antwerp gives Q8Oils a strong strategic advantage in the highly-competitive lubricants market.

Jessica Vinck says: “Our teams do a superb job and make a significant contribution to the success of the factory. Their dedication day-to-day proves that our Blending Plant Antwerp has a very bright future.”

The dedicated operators who manage the pro-duction process are critical to its successful opera-tion

The team at Blending Plant Antwerp


Celebrating outstanding achievements at Q8Italy’s Agorà

Azzam Al Mutawa and Alessandro Gilotti

Exceptional results, a host of projects and intense emotions marked Q8Italy’s second annual Agorà, which was held in Rome on 5th June to share with employees the company’s achievements over the past year.

The meeting brought together about 500 people from the Rome head office and employees from 22 locations across Italy, who joined in the event via video conference. Many more people were in-volved than last year as colleagues from Q8Spain were welcomed for the first time, following last year’s integration of Q8Spain with Q8Italy to cre-ate a new organisation.

HR director Livio Livi opened the event by welcom-ing everyone. He said: “Agorà’ is the Greek word for a public square, where people come together to share experiences and feel part of a common project. This perfectly describes our meeting, as there is nothing more important to unite the Q8 community than the annual results, which repre-sent the effectiveness of everyone’s work.”

Azzam Al Mutawa, managing director Q8Italy, presented the results for 2017-18 financial year. The results were exceptional, exceeding both the previous year’s performance and the budget. This was achieved despite the very difficult circum-stances, such as the weak economy, volatile crude oil prices and uncertainty in the Italian oil market as the sale of some major competitors took longer than expected which negatively affected margins.

Al Mutawa commented: “I am very proud of these results that we have achieved together, but our challenge is to repeat and even improve our performance. Considering the tough economic climate and harsh market conditions, to achieve this we must do something different and new – we must innovate.”

Innovation comes from projects and a strong fo-cus was placed on these during the Agorà. Each department presented its most significant pro-jects from the previous year and those in the pipe-line for the future.


achievements at Q8Italy’s Agorà

Ettore Marinelli, PMO and PEP analyst, described the process behind successful projects, starting with the ideas that inspire innovation and lead to the creation of a project to generate change. Col-leagues working on a project are specially select-ed from different departments for their skills and a Project Board constantly guides project teams’ actions by sharing a vision of the strategic objec-

tives to be pursued. The numbers are impressive: 150 people are directly involved in 65 projects; 38 of these are already underway and cover eve-ry area of the company’s activities.

Intense emotion at the Agorà came from the farewell to Alessandro Gilotti, President of Q8I-taly, who had decided to leave the company at the end of June. Alessandro

is rightly considered a leading figure in the com-pany’s history. He joined Q8 almost from the be-ginning when it launched in Italy and has been instrumental in Q8’s success, both in Italy and internationally.

NEWS

The results were exceptional ... and achieved despite the very difficult circumstances.

A surprise movie was screened to illustrate the im-portance of Alessandro contribution to Q8 and it showed why so many people were moved by his leaving. Expressing the gratitude and affection of people across Q8Italy, Al Mutawa wished Ales-sandro on everyone’s behalf “a long and peaceful future, always full of success.”

Alessandro Gilotti


Geert De Mill, Sven Dochez, Fadel Al-Faraj, Marcus Groll (COO of Ionity), and Colin Willems (Country Manager for Ionity)

Last year, Q8North West Europe launched a major initiative to redefine its long-term strategy. The strat-egy is being defined against a background of constant change, not least in mobility and technology. Electric cars and new sources of energy are part of this rapidly changing scenario and Q8North West Europe has set delivering sustainable mobility to its customers as one of its main objectives.

Fadel Al Faraj, managing director Q8North West Europe, says: “We are putting great efforts into adapting our business to find sustainable mobility solutions and to make travel easier and hassle-free for all types of motorists, including those who drive electric cars. In our journey to transform from a com-modity business into a service company we are taking full advantage of the strength of our brand and partnering with other mobility players.”

Partnership to power electric cars

There were more than three million electric cars on the road worldwide in November 2017. De-mand for electric cars is growing rapidly as the price falls and more people choose greener forms of travel.

Q8North West Europe has responded to this growing demand by partnering with Ionity to make it easier for drivers of electric cars to gain access to electric ‘fuel’. Ionity is a joint venture set up by leading car manu-facturers BMW Group, Daimler, Ford and Volkswagen Group to build a pan-European high-power charging network.

Ionity wants to facilitate long distance travel with electric vehicles by introduc-ing charging points at 400 locations on major traffic routes across Europe by 2020. Each location will have six ultra-fast state-of-the-art chargers, capable of charging electric vehicles seven times faster than today. In less than 20 min-utes, motorists will be able to power their cars sufficiently to travel up to 300 kilometres, allowing them to make long journeys without worrying about run-ning out of charge.

In March, Q8North West Europe signed a contract with Ionity to install electric

charging points at seven Q8-branded high-way sites in Belgium by the end of 2018. This follows Q8North West Europe’s partnership with EDF Luminus

Q8North West Europe deliveringsustainable mobility

We are putting great efforts into adapting our business to find sustainable mo-bility solutions.


to install fast chargers at 13 sites across Belgium.

Sven Dochez, supply, direct and alternative fuels di-rector, comments: “Electric cars are an important part of the future and we want to offer drivers the highest quality and convenience. Our partnership with Ionity is an important step towards achieving this.”

Geert de Mill, alternative fuels and depot manager, adds: “All these sites are in prime highway locations which are not only convenient and safe for customers, but also provide other excellent facilities such as shops and restaurants.”

Successful certification for biofuels

Biofuels are an important aspect of Q8North West Europe’s drive to become more sustain-able. There is growing pressure for fuels to be more sustainable and the European Commis-sion has set a challenging target for 10% of the energy used in transportation to come from renewable sources by 2020.

Q8North West Europe has recently secured International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) in Belgium and Lux-embourg for its management of biofuels, following successful audits in December and March. ISCC is an independent agency certified by the European Com-mission to develop the management of sustainable biofuels in line with best practice. Certification proves that Q8North West Europe adheres

to the highest possible industry standards in its man-agement of biofuels.

Leo Stolk, supply manager, comments: “We already held ISCC certification in the Netherlands and this was successfully renewed following an audit; we are now proud to have achieved certification across all three countries.”

Robin Van Der Sluis, supply expert, adds: “By aligning our administrative procedures and storage

of these fuels at our depots we act accord-ing to best practice in the industry.”

Smart energy management

Q8North West Europe has equipped 46 pet-rol stations in Belgium with solar panels to

reduce CO2 emissions and increase self-suffi-ciency. Each service station has an average of 24 solar panels supplied by Q8North West Eu-rope’s partner Izen. The energy generated by just one solar panel can power around 620,000 payments and 14,500 refuelling operations and together the solar panels will reduce car-bon emissions by around 55 tons each year.

“We save energy and generate energy in an environmentally responsible way, which is a win-win. Our co-operation with Izen fits per-fectly with our vision of sustainability,” says Bert Gillis, retail director.

With these developments and partnerships, Q8North West Europe is making sustainable mobility a reality.

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OKQ8 Scandinavia Sustainability Report highlights strong achievements

OKQ8 Scandinavia continues to strengthen its investment in sustainability. It recently released its fourth annual Sus-tainability Report which shows that, since 2014, it has re-duced carbon dioxide emissions per product sold by 31 per cent and energy consumption by 12 per cent.

Other environmental initiatives include adding more fast charge points for electric cars and 50 new sustain-able car washes to its network, as well as continuing to roll out new sustainable service stations.

Alexandra William-Olsson, head of communication at OKQ8 Scandinavia, ex-plains: “We know that transportation is respon-sible for around one-third of total carbon dioxide emissions, and our sec-tor bears a considerable responsibility for climate impact. That is why it is important to demon-strate how we are work-ing every day, through a series of measures, to create the conditions for a sustainable society for the future.”

Last year, OKQ8 Scandinavia opened its eighth sustain-able service station, at Nykvarn outside Stockholm. Environmental thinking runs through everything, from the construction process to operating the petrol pump. The station, which has an energy-saving sedum green roof, offers fast charging for electric cars, E85 and the diesel cleaning additive, AdBlue. The car wash has its own water treatment facility and is equipped with a high-pressure wash, which reduces water consumption by up to two-thirds.

“Our approach to sustainability is based on the UN’s global sustainable development goals. It is vital for us to be involved and contributing to a more sustainable world, both long-term and short-term. Not just in Den-mark and Sweden, but throughout the world,” contin-ues Alexandra William-Olsson.

OKQ8’s Sustainability Report is available on the OKQ8.se and Q8.dk websites and can be downloaded as a PDF version. To encourage more people to read about its sustainability initiatives, OKQ8 Scandinavia has, for the first time, made the report available in a digi-tal version too. This allows readers to click back and forth between different sections and gain a clear view of the full report, making it easy to pick the sections they wish to read first.

Alexandra William-Olsson says: “We wanted to do something new and innovative with our Sustainability Report, since these reports tend to be ‘just’ a PDF file on a website that very few people read. We hope that our new digital version will give readers a better expe-rience, and that this will lead to more people reading about our environmental work.”

To read OKQ8 Scandinavia’s Sustainability Report visit:

https://www.okq8.se/miljo-csr/hallbarhetsredovisning/

https://www.q8.dk/om-q8/csr-i-q8/csr/

Alexandra William-Olsson

It is vital for us to contribute to a more sustainable world.


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New tendering system boosts efficiency at Q8AviationQ8Aviation has recently in-troduced a new tendering system which has greatly im-proved the efficiency of its business. It has changed from a manual system to one that is almost entirely automated, resulting in significant time savings, greater accuracy and improved customer service. The work was carried out by a small project team and com-pleted entirely in-house.

Project Flag was led by Sam Naish, sales and marketing manager at Q8Aviation, work-ing with Kwan Lam, project analyst, and Giulia Belli, cus-tomer services co-ordinator, who was responsible for day-to-day project management.

Sam Naish says: “Q8Aviation sends out more than 500 tenders every year to bid for contracts to supply

fuel at airports around the world. As our business has grown, the original system had become outdated and inefficient and it was essential to upgrade it.”

Following a de-tailed analysis of the old Ex-cel-based sys-tem to identify

where improvements could be made, the new IT software was designed by Kwan Lam. It provides an intuitive web-based interface with a sophisticated database that holds key infor-mation. Most processes have been automated, such as creating and issuing documents, and allowing electronic tender approvals.

The new system has major improvements. With minimal input required, the time taken to complete a tender has been cut by around one-third. Greater flexibility makes it easy to add or update informa-tion and to retrieve tender documents.

Q8Aviation’s airline customers benefit too with swift and accurate responses to tender requests and noti-

fications of price changes.

In the next phase of the project, the sys-tem will be linked directly with SAP man-agement software, allowing documen-tation to be forwarded automatically to Q8Aviation’s accounts team for swifter billing.

Naser Ben Butain, general manager Q8Aviation, says: “Project Flag has dra-matically improved our efficiency in ten-dering, which is a critical process in our

business. I’m very proud that Q8Aviation has the skills to carry out this complex project in-house and that it was completed on time and within budget. I congratulate Sam, Kwan, Giuilia and every-one else involved on their hard work which has made a great contribution to our business.”

Naser Ben Butain

Project Flag has dramatically improved our ef-ficiency in tender-ing.


“When you stop at Q8, you don’t just refuel the car, you recharge yourself too.”

This is the message behind Q8Italy’s striking new advertising campaign. Intriguing imagery shows cars floating through the sky, hanging from hot-air bal-loons. The balloons reflect their destination; a school bus balloon is shaped like a pile of books and a newlywed couple’s car is suspended from a balloon in the form of a wedding cake. At a Q8 service station a car is ready to leave after refuelling, but instead of driving away, it gently floats off, lifted by a Q8-branded hot-air balloon.

The idea is to challenge the common per-ception that a refuelling stop is a hassle. The advertisement explains that Q8’s state-of-the-art service stations, next-gen-eration fuels, contactless payment and innovative loyalty programme make the journey lighter, wherever you are going.

To achieve this dramatic change in com-munication strategy, Q8Italy set up a dedicated team of communication experts to lead the 360° project, which started by analysing consumer be-haviour and resulted in the creation of this iconic

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Q8Italy

new advertising campaign.

Instantly recognisable, the Q8 hot-air balloon features in a multi-media campaign in Italy that includes TV, ra-dio and social media. Strategic messages are also dis-played at point of sale, where customers are welcomed with Q8’s customary quality and efficiency.

Azzam Al Mutawa, managing director at Q8Italy, comments: “A sailing boat has been the symbolic heart of our advertising for 20 years and will continue to be part of the Q8 brand identity. But now it is time for the sailing boat to return to port and to welcome a new symbol and concept, with which we can all identify.”

Giorgio Tagliacarne, strategic marketing manager at Q8Italy, adds: ”The campaign uses this imaginative key visual to en-hance Q8’s products and services. It dif-ferentiates Q8 from our competitors and speaks coherently about our performance

fuels, loyalty programme and special initiatives to min-imise environmental impact.”

To see Q8Italy’s new advertising campaign, visit htt-ps://youtu.be/ieqYgg3KMA0.

The advertise-ment challenges the common perception that a refuelling stop is a hassle.

launches iconic new advertising campaign


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Kuwait Petroleum International

Salhiya Complex, Gate 5 – 4th Floor, Fahad Al-Salem StreetP.O Box 1819, Safat 13019, Kuwait

T: +965 2233 2800 | F: +965 2233 2776www.Q8.com

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