Microsoft moves officials handling oil cos accounts to Dubai

US software giant Microsoft has said it has moved the company's top bosses handling the global oil and gas industry accounts to Dubai in recognition of the city's position as a strategic commercial hub.
    
"From Dubai, Microsoft will be centrally located for ready access to our customers in the prevailing and emerging energy centres of the world. Future demand growth will come largely from countries like China, India and the Middle East," Albrecht Ferling, managing director of Worldwide Oil and Gas Industries for Microsoft Corporation, said in a statement.
    
Dubai's location midway between Central Europe and East Asia is ideal for business travel to all oil capitals, from Houston to Beijing, Ferling said in a statement, speaking from the Cambridge Energy Research Associates' Cera Week 2009, a petroleum industry gathering, in Houston.
    
"Our industry is facing unprecedented challenges that demand a truly borderless response," he said.

"And with power ultimately shifting from consumer to producer in the global energy equation, the Middle East is an important location for Microsoft and our partners," he said.
    
He said over the past seven years, since Microsoft created a business dedicated to the oil and gas industry, the company has moved from "residing solely on our customer's desktops to accompanying them deep into field operations".