GOIC: WOQOD, Gold Sponsor of the 1st GMF

The Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) announced that Qatar Fuel (WOQOD) is a Gold Sponsor of the First Gulf Metrology Forum and Exhibition held in collaboration with Qatar’s Ministry of Environment, the GCC Standardisation Organization (GSO) and GULFMET under the patronage of His Excellency Engineer Ahmad Bin Amer Al-Hemaidi, Qatar’s Minister of Environment. The Forum will take place at the Hilton Hotel in Doha, Qatar on the 14th and 15th of December, 2015.

Engineer Ibrahim Jaham Al-Kuwari, CEO of WOQOD stated that his company’s sponsorship of this key forum is in line with WOQOD’s continuous support of industrial events aiming at boosting the industrial sector in the Gulf. He highlighted the important role of metrology in improving Gulf products’ competitiveness.

GOIC Secretary General Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel commended WOQOD for sponsoring the 1st GMF. He underlined the importance of this event to spread awareness in the industrial sector about the importance of measurements to the productivity cycle, for they allow the industrial sector to compete internationally. 

Qatar Fuel (WOQOD) is a downstream oil storage, distribution and marketing company. It is exclusively responsible for the distribution of fuel needs within Qatar. This includes diesel and gasoline for vehicles, boats and industry and aviation fuel for Doha International Airport. The company also trades in bunker fuels, ship-to-ship bunkering within Qatari waters, bitumen importation and distribution, for building new roads, LPG for cooking, and own-branded-lubricants. In addition, it builds modern branded service stations across Qatar.

Furthermore, WOQOD developed “FAHES” Centres for vehicle inspection services to guarantee safety and security of all vehicles on Qatar’s roads. Thus, the company contributes to preserving public safety and preventing accidents and injuries. In addition to that, “FAHES” Centres contribute to the reduction of air pollution by operating in conformity with vehicle emissions standards. In this regard, WOQOD has adopted state-of-the-art technologies to guarantee a high-quality and high credibility vehicle inspection. 

Measurements play an important role in business in terms of storage, distribution and marketing of petroleum products. Measurement activities provide protection to consumers and justice and equity in the market to protect the collective safety of citizens. In fact, global standard procedures in the area of measurements require the issuance of quality certificates to petroleum products by specialised laboratories in the country. All equipment and devices are tested before commercial use in terms of weights and measurements. This includes gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas and vehicle tank counters. 

Moreover, fuel pumping equipment are tested to assess the distribution of petroleum products and determine losses caused by scattering of drops and evaporation when filling fuel tanks. In fact, losses from storage evaporation result in the decrease of profits of retail petroleum products. Current estimates reveal millions of dollars of losses per year because of this issue. In addition, losses are incurred because quantities of fuel sold to customers are not accurately measured, hence more quantities are wasted, costs increase and profit margins drop. Differences in measurement also lead to lower trading and disputes in fuel sales, especially if the measurement process lacked transparency resulting in additional costs and absence of market efficiency. 

The Forum

The First Gulf Metrology Forum has emerged in response to the growing metrological requirements in the market today. It has been the fruit of joint efforts between governments, technical institutions, in an effort to achieve common objectives in the areas of metrology activities in the Gulf and international markets.

Wide participation of international organizations and companies is expected to encourage manufacturing industries and services in the Gulf. The aim is to remove technical barriers hindering trade flow, to facilitate international cooperation in metrology sector, and to promote International-GCC agreements in the field of trade and economic cooperation. More than 300 figures, concerned with metrology in the Gulf States, are expected to participate.

The First Gulf Metrology Forum targets government and private laboratories, related institutions and companies, and Ministries of Commerce, Industry and Environment. It also targets industrial companies that operate in the following areas: oil, gas, energy, petrochemicals, metals and metal forming, electricity and electronics, medical supplies, as well as universities, scientific research institutions and international metrology and calibration institutions.

The most prominent objectives of the Forum is to exchange ideas on the best ways to raise awareness, on industrial and general levels, to comply with industrial measurements, and to provide an overview assessment of the requirements of industries and Gulf metrological services, and to review means to raise the national capacities in the field of industrial standards. 

Other objectives include exchange of ideas on how to attract new metrological activities and areas, international practices to enhance metrological infrastructure as part of quality development in the Member States, highlighting of the role of national metrology centers and laboratories, review of the experiences of Member States in supporting metrology activities of local laboratories, discussion of ways of cooperation with the international laboratories, and recognition of experts’ executable recommendations to support the activities of the GCC metrology.

The organization of this Forum has emerged from global reports of companies operating in the field of metrological services. Such reports indicate the increasing demand for metrological services in the coming period, and in all industrial sectors, especially the automotive sector, electronics, power generation and others. The improvement in the global economy will have its impact on the Gulf region, resulting in an increase in investments in many areas, such as energy, industry and services associated with them. 

The main technical themes of the Forum are: raising awareness of the importance of metrology with all its scientific, industrial and legal levels, review of the experiences of the GCC countries in this area, cooperation with international institutions in order to develop and support the role of metrology, and communication between the concerned authorities in the GCC countries in the field of metrology, GCC cognitive and procedural environment, legal frameworks, research and applications.