What leads me to this train of thought? It is the amount of development that I am hearing about and reporting on. 

In this edition, for example, looking at the drilling support sector there are reports on a specialist training centre developed in the US by ECA, which is improving the skills of drill rig operators and new advances in technology from companies like DataCloud and Leica that are increasing productivity through 3D visualisation and digital machine control.

The good thing about both improved training and that integration of new technology is that it all helps to improve the health and safety of those working on site. If a rig operator can become more hands-off then there are fewer opportunities for them to be injured during the working day. This is a subject currently being focused upon by the UK's Federation of Piling Specialists. 

There has also been evidence of good old-fashioned hard work paying dividends in Africa and the Middle East as exemplified by the story of Geomechanics which has grown from a one-man business to a multifaceted drilling business operating in numerous countries.

Indeed, Africa and the Middle East is an area that is seeing a great deal of development, which in turn is good news for the drilling industry. Reports from both Liebherr and Trevi Group in this issue of GDI provide an insight into just how vibrant the construction sector is in the region.