ABU DHABI — The Gulf Cooperation Council was urged to improve safety
in the energy industry.
The six Gulf Arab states, all of them energy producers, have been
offered Non-Destructive Testing to detect defects in energy facilities, Middle East Newsline reported. NDT
was deemed vital in operating crude oil and natural gas facilities.
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"It has been observed that a lot of effort has been put into the
development of specialists in NDT as well as plant inspection, to improve
facilities in this field to meet the worldwide demand for oil and gas,"
Bahrain Energy Minister Abdul Hassan Mirza told an energy conference in
Manama that ended on Monday.
"In the years to come, it will depend on these
specialist personnel to develop and implement solutions to the challenges
that arise in these extensive networks of oil, petroleum and refining
facilities."
Over the last year, several GCC states, including Kuwait, Qatar and
Saudi Arabia, have been struck by major accidents at refineries and other
energy facilities. A fire that erupted in a Saudi oil lubricant refinery in
Jedda on Dec. 2 took nearly a day to be extinguished. Mirza said NDT
operations have been outsourced to Gulf companies.
