Our time in Oxford: Dubai trip day one

Our first day was great so far. Starting with a nice but quick breakfast in our awesome hotel I felt well prepared for the first meeting of the trip. Shell who is a sponsor of our journey invited us to their office to explore their business in the area. I really appreciated that they did not hold a long presentation about what the company is doing but rather split us up in three groups to learn more about the operations in a case study style way. In groups of six and seven we got individual introductions first into the LNG operations. Within twenty minutes we had to make our minds up regarding a business decision for a LNG unloading facility in India. Based on our recommendation we discussed challenges in the operations which was really interesting. My group then moved on to a more strategic issue faced in Oman, where the local government heavily advertised the existing gas resources and now face the challenge that the time they are fully exploited comes up faster than expected. We discussed the global influence of the possible solutions for the issue not only for Shell as a company but even for the worldwide economic environment. At the end of our visit we enjoyed a nice lunch buffet with the possibility to ask questions.

In the afternoon we visited the consultancy Bain which operates a Dubai office only recently. We were introduced into their regional field of activity and had the chance to discuss the company’s expectations for the region.

After coming back to the hotel I did some work on our Entrepreneurial Project. Unfortunately I was not able to finish my part before leaving for Dubai so I will have to spend some time on that during the time here as well – hoping that this does not negatively affect the experience here.

In the evening we went to a Lebanese restaurant for dinner and to “The Irish Village” for a pint later. Dinner was really good and the evening very entertaining. It’s a great and diverse group traveling together and we have a lot of fun ;-)