ARCO Alumni

Arrow Energy is shooting ahead with three ARCO Alumni at its helm.  Nick Davies, Managing Director and CEO Singapore, Shaun Scott, CEO Australia and Graham Yerbury, CFO all agree that the amazing growth being experienced by Arrow Energy at present will surely continue into the future.

The changes that have occurred at Arrow since Nick Davies and Shaun Scott joined the team in 2004 are nothing short of incredible.  From a small office in the Riverside building with only 7 staff and a market value of $15 million to a staff of 350-400 and a market value of $3 billion, Arrow is certainly not suffering in the downturn.  On the contrary, Nick, Shaun and Graham all seem to agree that the global downturn has actually been beneficial to Arrow.  Being well funded due to their transaction with Shell, Arrow has taken full advantage of the drop in prices of goods and services to move ahead in the preparation and development stages of their LNG project and expect to move into the production stage as the market recovers.  They have also taken advantage of the high calibre people becoming available and are still recruiting.

Perhaps the number one reason for Arrow’s success, however, is their huge acreage position in Australia.  ‘You can’t recreate acreage – you’ve either got it or not’ says Shaun.  Their position on the mainland is also beneficial due to the logistics and infrastructure.  The ex- ARCO trio are also very positive about the competition arising in the relatively new area of Coal Seam Gas.  According to Nick, there was very little interest in Coal Bed Methane when he started with Arrow, as no one really knew what it was.  The entrance of ‘big players’ into the market has not only helped to raise the profile of the CSG industry but also the profile of Arrow itself, being the driver behind a lot of the advances being made.  It was Arrow that recognised the huge resource and started to question how it could be marketed.  Nick, Shaun and Graham also agree that there is enough of everything to go around and that the entrance of other companies into the sector gives rise to opportunities for collaboration.  The fact that Arrow is ‘the smallest company on the block’ allows them to keep their developments small, fast moving and low-cost which are all important factors in CBM development.

Arrow is also keeping ahead of the game by trying to establish CBM development outside of Australia, in particular in Asia.  ‘We are trying to build what we have in Australia internationally,’ says Nick, ‘trying to have Australia-size businesses in many other countries’.  Building this international business is a priority for Nick Davies, as he believes that Arrow will continue to grow ‘by a factor of how many countries we are in’.

Execution of Arrow’s LNG project is of top priority, with the first production anticipated for 2012, when they are looking to place 1.5 million tonnes into the market.  It is also the company’s biggest challenge at present, as the organization involved in such a task is mammoth.  Both Nick and Shaun state that a large portion of the company is currently concentrating on this execution and planning and that a lot of time and effort is being put into ‘ticking all the boxes’.

Nick Davies tries to spread his personal work ethic throughout the company and believes that it is this culture of momentum in Arrow that has enabled them to do so many things in such a small time.  ‘Keep moving quickly, keep doing new things, and always remain completion oriented’ he says.  Shaun also emphasises the importance of completion, but actually being a part of it, not only contributing to it – ‘it is easier to put in a lot of effort if you have a connection to the outcomes’.

Interestingly, Nick, Shaun and Graham were all seed investors in the company eleven years ago when all three were working for ARCO.  They all agree that their background with ARCO brings strong technical skills to the company and that working together again is great.  ‘There’s a level of comfort working with ex-colleagues, you know you can work with them, you know their track record’ says Nick.  Although he also states that the important thing about Arrow is the broad mix of characters, values and personalities within the company, ‘this mix identifies who Arrow is’.

Learn about Arrow Energy www.arrowenergy.com.au and for information on career opportunities visit their careers page http://arrowenergy.applynow.com.au/