Media Center
2016-12-12
Minister of Oil His Excellency Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa opened the 4th Middle East Maintenance and Reliability Conference and Exhibition (MAINTCON 2016) at the Gulf International Convention Centre, Gulf Hotel on December 12, organized by the Gulf Society of Maintenance Professionals and Bahrain Society of Engineers (BSE), supported by Global Forum on Maintenance and Asset Management (GFMAM), in cooperation with National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA).
The event is held in the Kingdom of Bahrain every two years, offering a chance to the national, Gulf and international companies to learn about the requirements of the GCC companies and industries in the Middle East and get acquainted with the latest research, inventions and technologies in the area. The event is an opportunity for all employees and all those interested in the field of maintenance, while offering investment opportunities. The event opens up prospects for sharing of experiences and success stories between national and local oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf and various other industrial fields to discover the latest developments and initiatives and encourage the promotion of a culture of reliability and excellence in the field of maintenance.
The Minister said there was an urgent need for quality safety tools with technology to suit the continuing evolution in the global oil market, taking into account the diversity of new trends as well as changes in rules and regulations applicable in this important area. He pointed out that the oil and gas industry was constantly evolving and it was encouraging to see enhanced operational efficiency and improved operations. Quoting the 2016 World Oil Outlook published by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), he said the total primary energy demand on a global level would increase by 40% in the period from 2016 up to 2040, with the bulk of the increase coming from developing countries.
The Minister said that over the past few years, the role of maintenance has grown in the oil industry into much more than plant operation, of keeping an equipment running or restoring it. Now it takes into account aspects including desired operating conditions, preventive, predictive and proactive maintenance, monitoring and correcting root causes to equipment failures, helping companies extend equipment life by adapting a high mastery level of operating precision.
The high turnover in the industry’s workforce, increasing use of advanced technologies in various stages of operations, and growing competition with other economic sectors for the same talent pool have increased the need to attract young people to the maintenance profession, while improving worker retention, he said.
The Middle East remained the main region for the export of crude oil and continued to lead the global oil trade, he said and hence it was important for oil firms to understand the risks involved and take concrete actions that will contribute to the development of these institutions to a position of success. Progressive oil and gas companies were working towards finding effective solutions to improve, manage, store, share and archive content and environment, health and safety compliant systems as well as overall trade information. They strive to ensure the accuracy of the documented information which can correctly be identified in terms of classification and storage so as to protect them with technically sound cloud computing.
The Minister concluded his speech expressing his gratification and appreciation to all participants, Conference Chairman Engineer Nezar Al Shammasi, BSE and all participating maintenance professionals in the region and world over and members of the GFMAM. He also thanked all sponsoring companies and various committees for their contribution in organising the Conference and Exhibition in a highly professional manner.
Among the speakers at the opening session were Mr. Mohammad Saggaf, Senior Vice President, Operations and Business Services, Saudi Aramco, who expressed his gratitude and appreciation to H.E. Shaikh Mohammed for his support and patronage of the fourth edition of the conference and exhibition in the maintenance series held in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Engineer Masoud Ebrahim A. Hermi, President of BSE also spoke on the occasion, highlighting the importance of the event which included participation of major international oil and industrial companies, and the need to increasing use of maintenance technology in the oil and gas industry in the Middle East. He said the conference was an excellent opportunity Gulf and international national companies to identify the latest products, technologies and related services in the accompanying exhibition. Engineer Al Shammasi expressed his gratitude for the support received while organising the maintenance series of conferences and exhibitions in the Middle East from the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain, represented by NOGA.
H.E. Shaikh Mohammed inaugurated the exhibition and met officials from a number of exhibiting companies including Saudi Aramco, SABIC, Sadara, Abdul Rahman Al Naim Consulting Engineers Inc., Yasref, Satorp, Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), Gulf Petrochemical Industries (GPIC), Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), SASREF and other international oil and industrial companies.
