Chris Barbary
Senior Vice President, Business Development

“I’ve seen my career grow from mechanical engineering to global director for chemicals and fuels to now, building new partnerships that align our projects with our sustainability ambitions.”

Chris is immersed in the energy transition. It’s his job to engage with our customers to understand their needs and how we can help with their sustainability goals.

“I oversee the business development for all our top opportunities, which involves some of the most ambitious projects across all our industries,” says Chris.

“In many cases, these projects are also strategic to a nation, so my engagement is not just with a customer. It’s also with the various other national stakeholders who care about creating the right projects for the country.

“Some of the largest and most strategic national projects anywhere at the moment involve Gas, either the movement of Gas, the trading and the production of Gas or all these factors.

“The most rewarding part of my role is talking with our customers about their investments, and then turning these conversations into successful partnerships. It’s exciting to be a part of opportunities to work on projects that align with our sustainability ambitions.”

The changing nature of mega projects

Chris has worked at Worley for over 20 years. His career began in mechanical engineering. He then became a global director for chemicals and fuels projects, before moving into business development.

“When I started, a megaproject was anything between AUD 700 million and 1.5 billion,” he says. “But that's nothing in comparison to the figures we’re seeing now. It’s bigger than anything our industry has seen before.”

Chris particularly enjoys projects that present opportunities to explore a different approach to delivery or pioneer new technologies.

“One of our recent projects was a large petrochemicals project that kicked off in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was unique because it harnessed new approaches, such as crude-oil-to-chemicals technologies.”

Building connections across the Kingdom

We asked Chris what the most common misconception is about project delivery in Saudi Arabia.

“It would be that the working relationships are transactional,” he responds. “My experience has been the opposite. I’ve built many trusting relationships while spending time in the Kingdom with our customers. And these are genuine friendships.”

Chris is looking forward to the coming decade, as the next generation of energy, chemicals, and resources projects take shape across Saudi Arabia.

“The Kingdom’s direction is exciting, progressive, and decisive. This is a generational opportunity to deliver projects that will set the bar for large-scale facilities all over the world.”