MANAMA: The Middle East will need to invest nearly $18 billion for the construction of pipelines and compression or pumping stations over the next five years.
This was revealed yesterday by Oil and Gas Affairs Minister and National Oil and Gas Authority chairman Dr Abdulhussain Mirza.
Dr Mirza was one of the keynote speakers at an Oil and Gas Maintenance Technology Conference and Exhibition, being held at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre.
"The renewal of oil and gas pipelines in the region will be a focal point for the next few years in a bid to reduce pipeline casualty and loss of integrity," Dr Mirza said.
"In order to keep the pipelines in peak operating condition we need to devote all resources to operate them safely, through proper rehabilitation and maintenance.
"As the Middle East has 60 per cent of the world's reserves of oil and 40pc of the world's gas reserves, the logistics of maintaining integrity are vitally important and we aim to focus on the development of transportation methods as demand increases.
"This conference is the ideal opportunity for experts, engineers and scientists to establish new innovative solutions in pipelines and devote time to ensuring that the industry is operating at its peak efficiency."
Other keynote speakers were Bapco president Dr Mustafa Al Sayed and Saudi Aramco Industrial Services executive director Amer Al Sulaim.
"This conference should be an ideal location to educate those in the oil and gas industry of the benefits of maintenance strategy, reliability, best-in-class performance, turnaround contracting and upstream transmission and distribution," Dr Al Sayed said.
"Bapco will also feature case studies from our tank repair programme that currently involves the maintenance of 220 of our tanks. Oil spill technology and long and short term inspection and maintenance methods will also be discussed over the coming days."
"Maintenance must evolve to support expansion," Mr Al Sulaim said.
"With the introduction of emerging technologies effective maintenance management is increasing the responsibility of companies to increase the efficiency of oil and gas transportation.
"Saudi Aramco currently has 1.4 million pieces of equipment across 17,000 km of piping and this event should aid in contributing to health and safety and the understanding of maintenance issues."
The oil and gas conference and exhibition is being held along with the Pipeline Rehabilitation and Maintenance Conference and Exhibition and is set to run until Thursday.
The organisers announced 675 registrations with 47 exhibitors from 48 countries taking part in the event.
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