Top speakers to present at Tank Storage Middle East

The inaugural Tank Storage Middle East event is scheduled to take place 26 – 27 January at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre and boasts a strong speaker line up for its conference programme. Over 20 experts from companies such as ENOC, SIDDCO Group, Fujairah Oil Terminal, Gulf Petrochem and GPS Chemoil share best practices, provide future forecasts and explore the growth of renewable fuels in the Middle East.

Few industries are developing as quickly as the energy sector. Akber R. Naqvi, Executive Director at Al Masah Capital will consider the factors impacting demand for storage capacity in the Middle East. He will discuss the region’s divestments, the expansion of refining capacity and explore the storage growth that Asia and the Middle East are experiencing.

Continuing the theme of a booming storage sector, Tarun Arora, General Manager at GPS Chemoil will discuss the potential pitfalls of overcapacity in Fujairah. He will examine where the demand for storage is coming from and the impact this expansion is having on storage development in the Emirate of Fujairah.

Fujairah clearly has a key role to play within the Middle East, so providing further details on this Emirate will be Nizam Noorali, COO at Socar Aurora. He will talk about the opportunities and challenges Fujairah faces as a trading hub, why it has become such a popular storage destination and what’s needed to move it forward.

Oman plays an increasingly critical role within the Middle East storage industry and as such the conference programme is packed full of updates and assessments for Oman. Edwin Lammers, Commercial Director from SOHAR Port and Freezone will discuss the country’s bulk liquid storage hub, detailing the developments at the Port of Sohar and the advantages of this location. Roderick de Rooij, Commercial Manager, Oiltanking Odfjell Terminals Oman will examine the future outlook for the storage market in Oman and Andres Suarez, General Manager Logistics at Orpic Logistics will take a look at the transportation and distribution of oil products within Oman.

Broadening discussion to an overview of the Middle Eastern storage market, Muthukrishnan Prabakaran, will draw on his experience as Global Head of Terminals at Gulf Petrochem to discuss the growth of oil demand, the expansion of storage terminals and the escalating capital expenditure on terminals that is resulting in both mergers and acquisitions.

The conference will also provide an opportunity for delegates to gain insights from other Middle East countries. For instance, Tony Randerson, Technical Manager at SKA Energy will talk about overcoming the challenges of building storage in Iraq, exploring the demand for storage capacity and explaining the importance of complying with the local regulations. He will also look at the Khor Al Zubair Port and the advantages its location brings.

As part of the conference’s safety content Nabeel H. Ali, chief Fire & Safety Compliance Officer at ENOC, will discuss the importance of preparing, implementing and monitoring sustainable fire prevention system. His talk will explore the significance of conducting frequent fire fighting equipment adequacy tests and how to ensure the effectiveness of a fire prevention system.

Photovoltaic demand is set to treble in the next four years across the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia alone forecast to install 2.4 GW of solar parks between 2016 and 2018, making renewables a hot topic. Yousif Lootah, CEO of Lootah Biofuels will be looking at the growth of renewable fuels in the Middle East and the impact of demand for storage capacity.

A key way to improve the cost effectiveness of plants and minimise capital expenditure, is to extend tank’s life. Mike Mottern, Supervisor, RT Maintain Potential Project Inspection Unit at Saudi Aramco, will discuss how to do this, detailing the risk based inspection techniques needed to return a tank service and still meet the terms of compliance.

The event will additionally feature an exhibition, with over 85 suppliers from across the globe using the show to launch products and services into the Middle Eastern market. The free to attend exhibition will feature the latest developments in tank design, maintenance, metering and measuring.

Adapted from a press release by Emma McAleavey.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/petrochemicals/03122014/tank-storage-middle-east-1731/