Investing in the Future of NDT
MANAMA, Bahrain, January 06, 2010 - With the world looking increasingly to the Middle East to meet its future oil and gas needs, it is essential to keep facilities and pipelines in good shape.
One key to that strategy is the nondestructive testing (NDT) professionals who gathered recently to network and hear the latest information on how to keep the industry humming.
For the fifth consecutive year, the Middle East Nondestructive Testing (MENDT) Conference and Exhibition was held in Bahrain. The three-day affair was organized by the Bahrain Society of Engineers in association with the Saudi Chapter of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing under the theme, “Leading Toward Innovative Solutions.”
In his keynote address, Isam A. Al-Bayat, Saudi Aramco vice president of Engineering Services, said, “Inspection in general, and nondestructive testing in particular, can ensure the reliability and integrity of our facilities.”
Conference chairman Fathi E. Al-Qadeeb, an engineering specialist in the Inspection Technology Unit of the Inspection Department, welcomed and thanked the organizers, participants and speakers.
“The technical program committee has put together an outstanding program covering NDT applications and inspection issues of great significance to the region,” Al-Qadeeb said. “This includes simulation, training and qualification programs, pipelines inspection management, risk-based inspection and fitness for service analysis, composite pipe inspection, long-range guided-wave inspection and more.”
Al-Bayat called NDT “the primary method for our industry to detect dangerous defects before they cause catastrophic failure and business interruption.”
He enumerated some of the challenges of the hydrocarbon industry and what NDT can do to solve them. “The most important challenge the oil companies are facing is the aging infrastructure of current facilities,” he said. Innovative NDT not only sustains equipment and pipelines but also extends their usefulness.
Composite materials, though, are another challenge for NDT to perform reliable inspection and ensure its safe deployment.
To meet the challenges, Al-Bayat said, “We are investing in new NDT technologies by partnering with world-class advanced NDT service providers, research and development centers and academic institutions under various joint industry programs.”
In conclusion, he said, “Not only do our communities and countries rely on the petroleum industry’s ability to provide a stable supply of energy, but so do the entire global economy and countless individuals around the world. I believe that by working together and, in fact, only by working together, we can fulfill our commitments.”
The conference included 75 scientific papers and 12 technical workshops. Several Saudi Aramco professionals presented papers. Among the workshops were “Nondestructive Testing for Engineers,” taught by Al-Qadeeb; “Fundamentals of Radioactive Source Retrieval,” by Tom Scales; and “Use of Automated Ultrasonics on Capital Projects,” by Raymond J. Carswell.
The accompanying exhibition featured 700 exhibitors from local, regional and international oil companies, suppliers and manufacturers. Conference vice chairman Mohammed Al-Saleh explained the exhibit to visiting VIPs and guests. Mohammed Abu Four gave brief explanations of the advanced NDT equipment and tools the Inspection Department uses to examine Saudi Aramco operating facilities.
Saudi Aramco was the main sponsor out of 22 sponsors.