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209331
Sun, 09/25/2011 - 21:44
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http://m.oananews.org//node/209331
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Energy Minister Honors Winners of 'Safety Excellence Awards 2010'
Doha, September 25 (QNA) - HE the Minister of Energy and Industry, Chairman and Managing Director Qatar Petroleum (QP), Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada presented the inaugural 'Qatar Oil & Gas Industry Safety Excellence Awards 2010' to six winners at a ceremony held here on Sunday.
An independent panel of judges has unanimously selected the six winners comprising three from QP s joint ventures and another three from its contractors.
From the first category, Qatar Shell GTL won the gold award for its Pearl GTL Project, Q-Chem won the silver award for its QSAFE Process Revamp and RasGas won the bronze award for its Interactive Safety Training Programme in QP joint ventures category.
In QP contractors companies category, Schlumberger Overseas won the gold award for its Quantum Thermoelectric Generator (QTG) Commentary Task Assessment while Descon Engineering Qatar won the silver award for its construction of the onshore Pear GTL Project and Qatar Kentz won the bronze award for its Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Projects and Services.
In his keynote address, Dr. Al Sada praised HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani’s vision for Qatar to excel in terms of socio-economic development and prosperity in the community of nations.
This vision depends, to a large extent, on the success of Qatar's oil and gas industry, said Dr. Al Sada, calling on the experts and decision makers to make the business operations of the Qatari industry more competitive and cost-effective in an increasingly challenging business environment. The Minister of Energy and Industry emphasized the importance of the management of Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) as a key factor in this success.
He further stressed the need of paying close attention on this factor since oil and gas business is replete with HSE risks.
Implementing an "effective" management in this regard prevents incidents and hence, losses that could affect the entire economy, said Dr. Al Sada, referring to some catastrophic incidents that took place in the industry around the world; such as the Piper Alpha disaster of 1988, which claimed lives of 167 people and more recently the Deep-water Horizon accident in April 2010, which caused the death of 11 oil workers and spilled a large volume of oil into the Gulf of Mexico before the well was eventually closed and sealed after 87 days.
"These incidents clearly demonstrate what can happen if we do not approach the management of HSE issues in a systematic manner," said Dr. Al Sada, calling for bringing innovation and creativity to bear on how to operate and protect not only the health and safety of the employees but also the national assets and the community at large.
He also put an accent on the protection and conservation of the environment for now and the future as a part of this need for innovation. Concluding, HE the Minister of Energy and Industry thanked the winner companies of this year's 'Safety Excellence Awards for implementing outstanding programmes, which have passed the rigorous screening and evaluation process and truly distinguished themselves for their laudable commitment.
He called on the attending energy industry experts and decision-maker to give the integration of the management of HSE risks into their buisness the seriousness it deserves and consider it as an integral part of it.
For his part, Director for Health, Safety and Environment Saad Al Kubaisi reiterated the need for innovation in safety programmes.
"One of the objectives of this programme is to encourage innovation and the sharing of information to advance safety performance. Having had the privilege of serving on the judges' panel, I can attest first hand that we have much to share with and to learn from each other in the field of safety," said Al Kubaisi.
Launched in 2010 and being implemented by QP Health, Safety, Environment and Quality Department, 'Qatar Oil and Gas Industry Safety Excellence Awards ' recognizes companies and organizations in the industry whose projects, initiatives or programs exceptionally demonstrate improvements to behavior, procedures, design, plant operations, safety standards and overall risk reduction.
Under this programme, oil and gas companies operating in Qatar are invited to submit their ongoing safety programmes for consideration before being evaluated by an independent team of judges within the framework of a pre-established set of criteria.
An independent panel of judges has unanimously selected the six winners comprising three from QP s joint ventures and another three from its contractors.
From the first category, Qatar Shell GTL won the gold award for its Pearl GTL Project, Q-Chem won the silver award for its QSAFE Process Revamp and RasGas won the bronze award for its Interactive Safety Training Programme in QP joint ventures category.
In QP contractors companies category, Schlumberger Overseas won the gold award for its Quantum Thermoelectric Generator (QTG) Commentary Task Assessment while Descon Engineering Qatar won the silver award for its construction of the onshore Pear GTL Project and Qatar Kentz won the bronze award for its Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Projects and Services.
In his keynote address, Dr. Al Sada praised HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani’s vision for Qatar to excel in terms of socio-economic development and prosperity in the community of nations.
This vision depends, to a large extent, on the success of Qatar's oil and gas industry, said Dr. Al Sada, calling on the experts and decision makers to make the business operations of the Qatari industry more competitive and cost-effective in an increasingly challenging business environment. The Minister of Energy and Industry emphasized the importance of the management of Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) as a key factor in this success.
He further stressed the need of paying close attention on this factor since oil and gas business is replete with HSE risks.
Implementing an "effective" management in this regard prevents incidents and hence, losses that could affect the entire economy, said Dr. Al Sada, referring to some catastrophic incidents that took place in the industry around the world; such as the Piper Alpha disaster of 1988, which claimed lives of 167 people and more recently the Deep-water Horizon accident in April 2010, which caused the death of 11 oil workers and spilled a large volume of oil into the Gulf of Mexico before the well was eventually closed and sealed after 87 days.
"These incidents clearly demonstrate what can happen if we do not approach the management of HSE issues in a systematic manner," said Dr. Al Sada, calling for bringing innovation and creativity to bear on how to operate and protect not only the health and safety of the employees but also the national assets and the community at large.
He also put an accent on the protection and conservation of the environment for now and the future as a part of this need for innovation. Concluding, HE the Minister of Energy and Industry thanked the winner companies of this year's 'Safety Excellence Awards for implementing outstanding programmes, which have passed the rigorous screening and evaluation process and truly distinguished themselves for their laudable commitment.
He called on the attending energy industry experts and decision-maker to give the integration of the management of HSE risks into their buisness the seriousness it deserves and consider it as an integral part of it.
For his part, Director for Health, Safety and Environment Saad Al Kubaisi reiterated the need for innovation in safety programmes.
"One of the objectives of this programme is to encourage innovation and the sharing of information to advance safety performance. Having had the privilege of serving on the judges' panel, I can attest first hand that we have much to share with and to learn from each other in the field of safety," said Al Kubaisi.
Launched in 2010 and being implemented by QP Health, Safety, Environment and Quality Department, 'Qatar Oil and Gas Industry Safety Excellence Awards ' recognizes companies and organizations in the industry whose projects, initiatives or programs exceptionally demonstrate improvements to behavior, procedures, design, plant operations, safety standards and overall risk reduction.
Under this programme, oil and gas companies operating in Qatar are invited to submit their ongoing safety programmes for consideration before being evaluated by an independent team of judges within the framework of a pre-established set of criteria.
