Written by Anis Adrina Md Nor
ICE Petroleum, is a company that is actively operating in oil and gas industry, offering services in EPCC (engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning) jobs, as well as specialising in the fabrication of utility tanks and pipelines. Up until now, ICE Petroleum has been in the oil and gas industry for 25 years.
Reborn as ICE Petroleum 
ICE Petroleum has been established in 1991. Previously, it was operating under the name, PT Technic Engineering Ltd which was a unit of Singapore-listed Hiap Seng Enginering Ltd. In early 2015, the company went through the acquisition process in which it was acquired by Abdul Jalil Maraicar and executive director Muhtar Hashim in February 2015. It was then reborn as ICE Petroleum with the hope that this new branding will move the business direction.
ICE Petroleum in international level
Throughout the 25 years of operation, this company has been involved in many projects internationally such as in Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Sudan. Not only focusing on international market, ICE Petroleum also has been focusing on local market which Malaysia recently.
ICE Petroleum definitely has set up strategy to grow internationally. Since the company has been focusing on local market for few past year, starting from the beginning of 2017, ICE Petroleum has started to position themselves to expand more in overseas project again.
According to Head of Corporate Development, Mohd Rafiq Ramli, the number one target market for ICE Petroleum this year is the Middle East market such as UAE, Qatar and Kuwait and secondly, Malaysia local market. Moreover, the next emerging market that the company will look into is Myanmar.
Managing international communication: Medium of communication
Mainly, for its main audience which is their existing international clients, the medium of communication that is actively used is e-mail and phone calls. For instance, according to its Head of Corporate Development, Mohd Rafiq Ramli, when they are going to get the updates from the potential IPO international investors, their number one mode of communication is e-mail. Additionally, when there is the need to discuss more in-depth with multiple parties, Rafiq Ramli said that ICE Petroleum will do teleconference which will involve them and their advisors as well as their potential investors sometimes their lawyers.
Another medium that ICE Petroleum used for communicating internationally is social media. “For our second audience; the potential customers and potential employees also the potential sub-contractors, suppliers, vendors and partners, these are the audience that we cater to and the medium of the communication that we use is the social media”, Rafiq Ramli said. He added that, currently, ICE Petroleum is very active on LinkedIn and Instagram, the two platforms that the company used to do the occasional blast in terms of delivering information. One more medium that is important for ICE Petroleum is their website. According to Rafiq Ramli, the company take their web presence seriously as that is the main medium for clients or potential clients to get the information about them.
Challenges in international communication
In interacting with international companies, of course there are challenges due to the difference of origin, culture and language. To ICE Petroleum there are many challenges in communicating with international clients. The main challenges is language and culture difference. When dealing with companies from Non-English speaking, it is very difficult to communicate as they need someone who can speak the language. Not only the matters of language difference, ICE Petroleum Head of Corporate Development also stated that when dealing with Soviet countries companies, the challenges would be they have different system in terms of how they do their business, their contracts is different, as well as their legal system is different. One way to media with the challenges of language is they will bring translator when there is negotiation or discussion session with the other parties to ease the process of discussion. Thus, in cases where there is difference in language for example, Mandrin, it is usually mediated by the translators who are also the company’s technical people.
The writer and ICE Petroleum Head of Corporate Development, Mohd Rafiq Ramli