Business & Money | Tuesday 10 October, 2017 4:23 am |

Deputy Premier Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, formally inaugurated the GCC’s premier Middle East Process Engineering Conference and Exhibition (MEPEC) at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, marking the start of three days of high-level industry discussions and thought-provoking content, where industry leaders and process engineers will engage in technical conversations and find solutions to current challenges.

 

Held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, MEPEC 2017 is organized by the Saudi Arabian Chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and co-organized by Middle East Energy Events. It is supported by the National Oil and Gas Authority, World Petroleum Council, Indian Chemical Council, Gulf Downstream Association and Chemtech Foundation.

 

The official opening ceremony featured keynote speeches from H.E. Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil, Kingdom of Bahrain; Ahmad Al Sa’adi, Senior Vice President, Technical Services, Saudi Aramco; Mr. Yousif Abdullah Al Banayyan, Chief Executive Officer of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and Bakheet Al-Rashidi, Chairman, GDA & President, Kuwait Petroleum International Ltd.

 

 

In his keynote address, welcoming delegates, the Minister of Oil, expressed his thanks and appreciation to HRH Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, President of the Supreme Council for Women, on the theme of Bahraini Women's Day 2017, which will be dedicated to the celebration of Bahraini women engineers. He praised Princess Sabeeka’s unlimited support of Bahraini women and her appreciation for the role of women and their valuable contributions in all areas of the development process of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

 

Shaikh Mohamed praised the efforts made by LEWAS Team Leader Reem Al-Ghanim and the rest of the team to promote a culture of leadership excellence for women and encourage innovation, leadership, achievement and women's talents in the oil and gas industry.

 

The Minister also stressed the need for more engineering solutions to the various challenges in the field of process engineering as a result of population growth and the increasing demand for energy, which requires further work to enhance the relation between process engineering and technology. We need to achieve balance against the imbalance we face increasingly in the current volatile oil prices that affected the oil producing countries in addition to the need to take advantage of the solutions available to rationalize operating expenses in this vital and important sector.

 

Keeping in line with global issues, this edition of MEPEC focuses on “Sustainable Growth through Process Innovation & Downstream Integration”.

 

MEPEC’s technical sessions cover four main topics - Process Design and Development, Process Excellence, Sustainability and Downstream Integration for Value Creation. These are key priorities for the region, which should also foster synergy and collaboration between industries.

 

48 technical presentations will be delivered by leading regional and international key players including SABIC, Saudi Aramco, Shell, BAPCO, Tasnee, Honeywell, Sadara Chemical Company, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Rexa Inc., AspenTech and ExxonMobil Chemical amongst many others.

 

This year marks the 4th edition of MEPEC, bringing together more than 150 exhibiting companies, 103 speakers, 2,500 participants and thousands of visitors from all over the GCC.

 

 

Also, for the very first time three other co-located events take place alongside MEPEC: the Leadership Excellence for Women Awards and Symposium, the Middle East Fine and Specialty Chemicals Conference and Exhibition and the Middle East Process Safety Conference.