6MENDT gets off to a great start

Over 500 people attended the opening of the 6th Middle East Non-destructive Testing Conference and Exhibition at the Gulf Hotel Gulf Convention Centre. After inaugurating the exhibition, Minister of State for Electricity and Water Affairs, Dr Abdul-Hussain Ali bin Mirza, told the Bahrain News Agency (BNA), “The exhibition is a roaring success, considering the quality and quantity of participants. Participants and exhibitors are more. This is a big testimony that Bahrain will remain the meetings and conventions hub for the region.” The expo offers technological benefit for the energy and other sectors of Bahrain, said the minister, who is also the patron of the event. “All the exhibitors are experienced in the oil and gas and other energy sectors. I hope Bahrain can benefit with establishing contacts and businesses and networking. So this is a win win situation,” said the minister. Delivering the inaugural address of the conference, the minister said that corrosion costs the planet billions of dollars each year and affects the reliable supply of crude oil. Non-destructive testing is the first line of defense against corrosion. He appreciated the efforts of the Saudi Arabian Chapter of the American Society of Non-destructive Testing and the Bahrain Society of Engineers for organising the conferece. Delivering the keynote address, Engineer Samir A Al Tubayyeb, Vice President, Engineering Services, Saudi Aramco said Aramco wanted to play a competitive role that does not just utilize the best technologies but also invents and produces them. “We want to leverage this transformation to globally facilitate a competitive edge. This we hope will help sustain and diversify the Kingdom's economy.” The theme of this conference is thus in line with Aramco's transformation, he said. As the theme indicates non-destructive testing is an important part of asset integrity management. He added that the ageing infrastructure of the oil and gas industry requires vigorous inspection to assure safety and reliability of operation. The Aramco official said that many oil and gas facilities globally are found to be operating beyond the design life planned. “Over 50 per cent of major hazards at oil and gas facilities in European facilities, according to studies, have resulted primarily from erosion, corrosion and fatigue. Continous comprehensive asset integrity programme profiles can prevent such incidents. To assure the reliability of assets, structural help monitoring systems are required to continuously monitor the conditions of plants and equipment.” He stressed on the need to implement such structural monitoring systems in facilities during the design and construction to ensure longetivity of the assets. “Since we have the leaders of non destructive testing technologyat this conference, I request that you take this opportunity to pursue development of new monitoring systems for remote and continous monitoring of the structural health of operating plants,” he added. The engineer urged that the industry take up the challenge for accelerating the improvement of sensing and remote communication technology to provide continous detection of potential defects in real time. In the very near future the world will be greatly enhanced. “Saudi Aramco is already involved in the development of such monitoring technology and will continue to invest and develop in such technology to ensure the integrity and reliability of our assets. Inspection and asset management programmes recognises the strategic importance of highly efficient systems in operation and asset integrity management for sustainable growth and development” he added. Al Tubayyeb said Saudi Arabia is investing $20 million for the first phase for the establishment of a National Nondestructive testing centre at the King Abdulaziz University for Science and Technology. Proposing the vote of thanks, Engineer Abdul Majeed Al Gassab, President of the Bahrain Society of Engineers, stressed on the importance of ensuring and maintaining the integrity, reliability and safety of investments made in the oil and gas sector. “NDT has played a vital role in keeping the industry healthy and growing,” he said.