STOCEXPO MIDDLE EAST REPORT
Business was brisk at the
first StocExpo Middle
East conference and
exhibition, which was held
from September 11th to 12th
at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel
in Dubai. With a packed
conference programme and
50 companies showcasing
their products and services in
the exhibition hall, the event
attracted close to 1,000
visitors from the Middle East
region and beyond.
The wide range of
exhibitors represented the
best in terminal related
equipment from around the
globe. They included such
well-known names as Emco
Wheaton, International Paint,
Saab Rosemount Tank
Gauging, Endress + Hauser,
Motherwell Bridge, Enraf and
HMT.
Many exhibitors commented
on the quality of visitors
coming through the doors,
with more than one exhibitor
telling Tank Storage that
“We're seeing the right
people. These are the decision
makers.” Several companies
have already stated their
intention to exhibit at future
StocExpo shows.
“In StocExpo Middle East,
the Outokumpu stand,
manned by company experts,
attracted conference
attendees from the whole
Middle East region, many
Asian countries with growing
storage industries including
India, Malaysia and Taiwan,
and a number of European
countries,” said the company.
“Outokumpu will be exhibiting
the benefits of its products in
future StocExpo's as well:
Antwerp and Singapore in
2007.”
Critical conference issues
The StocExpo Middle East
conference, which took place
in a quiet auditorium above
the exhibition space, covered
critical issues that are
relevant to terminal operators
worldwide, but with a special
focus on the Middle East.
After a welcome from Peter
Patterson, Managing Director
of StocExpo, the first session
kicked off with an overview of
storage trends and
opportunities in the Middle
East, delivered by Victor
Shum, Senior Principal at
Purvin and Gertz.
Increasingly stringent
environmental controls is a
key issue for the Middle East,
with oil companies and
terminal operators
implementing new policies and
procedures, and investing in
new technology to reduce
their environmental impact
and meet new standards.
Presentations around this
theme included a detailed
report on the EHS
Management System in place
at Horizon Terminals Ltd, by
Horizon's EHSQ Director
Waddah Ghanem, and a talk
on environmental protection
initiatives underway at Saudi
Aramco, by Mostafa Al-Shami.
Also on the menu were two
sessions on environmental
emissions and vapour control.
The first was a presentation
by K.V. Jayaraman, Manager -
Engineering Operations at
Emarat, who talked about the
control of hydrocarbon
emissions in the Middle East,
compared to western
countries, and the efforts
being made by Emarat and
other companies to reach the
same level of control. There
was also a technical paper by
Ties Mulder of VOC specialists
Carbovac, about the specific
problems surrounding vapour
control that are faced by
Middle East operators, due to
the region's extreme climate.
“High temperatures mean that
vapours can be generated in
the recovery columns [of the
vapour recovery unit] and up
to half the capacity of the unit
can be lost,” said Mulder, who
went on to outline some
solutions to the challenges
faced by regional operators.
This was followed by a panel
discussion on the subject of
emissions and vapour
recovery.
Other subjects discussed
during the 2-day conference
included the role of
independent terminal
operators in the Middle East.
This was presented by Ian
Chochrane and Max Hamidah
at Vopak, who pointed out
that although independent
terminally developed in the
Middle East from specialist
services such as bunkering,
outsourcing the independents
is becoming more prevalent in
the Middle East as oil
companies see the benefits.
A lively debate followed the
very popular session on
renewable fuels, which was
presented by Phil Armstrong,
International Sales Director at
Enraf Fluid Technology. He
talked about the rapid growth
of biofuels and global trends,
as well as opportunities for
tank storage operators.
“Independents are the key
players here because of their
flexibility and because the
major oil companies don't
have an immediate incentive
to do it,” he said. However, a
delegate representing a major
Middle East oil company
pointed out in the Q&A session
that since the oil will
eventually run out in the
Middle East, “even the oil
majors are looking at this”.
A variety of technical papers
were also given at the
conference, including sessions
on the latest developments in
tank design and construction,
fire safety considerations for
storage terminals, the risk of
lightning strike, tank overfilling
and managing the risk,
secondary containment,
sludge removal, roof
replacement, roof seals, NDT
techniques, multiple product
handling on jetties, and
terminal automation.
