OREANDA-NEWS. December 30, 2014. New breakthroughs in technology and focused management strategies were discussed at a major maintenance conference in Bahrain to help assure the integrity, safety and profitability of oil and gas facilities well into the future.

The third installment of the Middle East Maintenance Conference (MAINTCON) was held under the patronage of Bahrain’s recently appointed Energy Minister, HE Abdulhussain Mirza .
The four-day conference brought together regional and international experts on maintenance and reliability.

Inaugurating the conference, Mirza said that global energy demand is set to jump by 60 percent by 2040, with fossil fuels remaining the main source. Quoting OPEC’s 2014 report, the Energy Minister said that oil-related investment requirements would reach USD10 trillion between 2014 and 2040 and the increased capacity is estimated at USD 7.3 trillion over the same period.

In this context, Mirza said, operational efficiency, robust procedures and an understanding by organizations that a focus on risk profile and mitigation will position them better in the global marketplace of the future.

“Maintenance is fundamental for the success of any industry,“ said Muhammad M. Al Saggaf, acting senior vice president of Operations and Business Services. “It is not an option; it is a requirement.”

He identified four “pillars” of a successful maintenance strategy; People; Processes and procedures; Purposeful design and technology; and collaborative Partnerships.

In Ahmad O. Al-Khowaiter’s address , the Chief Technology Oversight and Coordination Officer focused on the application of new technologies that are game changers in the field of maintenance.

“At Saudi Aramco, we have always prided ourselves on our ability to solve our technical challenges and apply the latest and best technologies in the business,” he said. “Today, however, we are moving beyond incremental solutions and seeking to create the innovations that have the potential to change the industry.

“We have ambitions for our research and development to achieve global leadership by the end of the decade in energy-related technology and contribute to a flourishing knowledge economy in the Kingdom. Our goal is to become known as much for a culture of innovation and technology as for the scale and reliability of our Upstream and Downstream operations.”

Al-Khowaiter said that Saudi Aramco’s vision will involve “a quantum” leap in technology capability.

The Kingdom’s national technology agenda is also being pursued through the creation of Research and Development hubs, Al-Khowaiter said.

“In addition to upgrading our infrastructure – including facilities, labs and equipment, we are hiring world-class talent, especially in critical Upstream and Downstream research and development domains, where we need to expand our leadership presence.

“In addition, we have established satellite research centers and collaboration offices internationally in Houston, Boston, Detroit, Beijing, Paris, Delft, Aberdeen and in South Korea.”
Al-Khowaiter said that increasing safety and environmental risks should be offset by an increased use of the latest in mitigating technology. He highlighted virtualization and 3D visualization of plants to perform virtual walk-throughs and enable the viewing of equipment remotely at workstations.