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King Salman inaugurates mega projects in Ras Al-Khair, Jubail

November 30, 2016

Ras Al-Khair/Jubail, Nov 30: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman inaugurated Tuesday a group of basic infrastructure and development projects in Jubail and Ras Al-Khair industrial cities on the Gulf coast.

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The inauguration ceremonies were attended by Eastern Province Gov. Prince Saud bin Naif and a number of princes, ministers, government officials, private sector officials, and other dignitaries.

The king inaugurated the Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara) and the Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Co. (SATORP) in Jubail. The two projects are among the largest facilities in the refining and petrochemicals industries that support the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.

The Vision aims to create new industries that will help provide new job opportunities for Saudis, as well as attract foreign investment to the Kingdom. Sadara and SATORP are aligned with these objectives and are the result of successful partnerships between Saudi Aramco and two global companies — the Dow Chemical Company and Total — which are leaders in their respective areas of business.

Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih, who is also chairman of Saudi Aramco, said: “Sadara and SATORP represent a bold undertaking for Saudi Aramco and its respective partners, Dow Chemical and Total. It is a major driver in achieving our goals of greater integration and value addition. They represent the concrete realization of our distinct yet complementary corporate visions — it is one way in which Saudi Aramco is helping to deliver on its abiding commitment to the Kingdom.”

The Sadara project is the largest integrated chemicals complex in the world to be built in one phase. It is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical Company in Jubail Industrial City. The first phase commenced operations in 2015, and the remaining operating units are scheduled for completion by the end of 2016. The production capacity is more than 3 million tons of various plastics and chemical products annually.

The king also laid the cornerstone of the King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries & Services, near Jubail, which was named in his honor during the groundbreaking ceremony. The complex is a commercial maritime project that complements the growth of the Saudi energy industry and helps to meet the development, localization and diversification objectives outlined by Saudi Vision 2030.

The development of the complex will start with a maritime yard as an anchor project to be completed in 2021. It will be managed and maintained by Saudi Aramco’s proposed joint venture with The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri), Hyundai Heavy Industries Co, and Lamprell PLC. The facility will offer quality, efficiency and economies of scale, and when completed it will offer vessel and rig build, maintenance, repair and overhaul services. The project will comply with all of the Saudi government’s environmental and sustainability requirements.

At Ras Al-Khair, Al-Falih gave a speech in which he expressed his pleasure at the king's presence on the occasion of the inauguration of the development projects. The projects, he said, would put Ras Al-Khair on the map as a key contributor to an integrated and productive economy as one of the Kingdom's developmental successes and a source of pride.

“Like your father, King Abdulaziz (may he rest in peace), who was the Kingdom’s founder, and who had the vision and insight to launch the Saudi oil industry immediately after the country's unification, you today are inaugurating a comprehensive group of projects for the mineral resources sector in Ras Al-Khair Industrial City, and in turn making it a launch pad to move toward broader development, growth and prosperity for the Kingdom and its people,” said the minister.

“What we celebrate today is a true embodiment of the keenness to diversify sources of income in the national economy and open the doors for strategic industries to operate and flourish,” he added.

“For this, we are committed, under your guidance, to ensure these projects are founded on the same solid foundations that have contributed to the success of previous strategic initiatives, namely: Conscious investment and diligent planning for the country’s resources and wealth; commitment to the highest levels and international standards of planning and implementation; keenness to establish strategic partnerships with relevant international institutions; cautious increase of local content in these projects; serious and consistent investment in national human resources through training, rehabilitation and employment generation.”

“The government has sought to support the development of the mineral resources sector as per new and exceptional competitive outputs, and with large investments exceeding SR130 billion allocated to developing the establishment of basic infrastructure, including trains, water and power plants, ports, networks of gas and sulfur, phosphate and aluminum factories linked to mines founded by Maaden, the Saudi Arabian Mining Company. Maaden today is classified among the 10 largest mining companies in the world, only 9 years after it was founded,” he said.

The minister also thanked all involved parties for the notable success, saying, “I take this opportunity to extend my thanks to all our partners, particularly the Saudi Railway company for its outstanding efforts regarding the North South Railway Line Project, which has a length of 3,000 km. It can help Maaden Phosphate and Maaden Aluminum deliver phosphate and bauxite ore from mines in the north and center of the Kingdom to manufacturing areas in the cities of Ras Al-Khair.”

The development and mining infrastructure projects in Ras Al-Khair include the railway project, the mining train, the Ras Al-Khair water desalination and power plant, Ras Al-Khair port, Maaden phosphate mine in Jalamid in the Northern Border Region, Al-Ba’itha bauxite mine in Qassim, Maaden phosphate complex in Ras Al-Khair, and Maaden Aluminum complex also at Ras Al-Khair.

They also include basic infrastructure projects carried out by the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, which is the management and operation body in Ras Al-Khair.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Dubai, Aug 2: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on Saturday that it has started operations in the first of four reactors at the Barakah nuclear power station - the first nuclear power plant in the Arab world.

Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), which is building and operating the plant with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) said in a press release that its subsidiary Nawah Energy Company "has successfully started up Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, located in the Al Dhafrah Region of Abu Dhabi".

That signals that Unit 1, which had fuel rods loaded in March, has achieved "criticality" - a sustained fission chain reaction.

"The start-up of Unit 1 marks the first time that the reactor safely produces heat, which is used to create steam, turning a turbine to generate electricity," said ENEC.

Barakah, which was originally scheduled to open in 2017, has been dogged by delays and is billions of dollars over budget. It has also raised myriad concerns among nuclear energy veterans who are concerned about the potential risks Barakah could visit upon the Arabian Peninsula, from an environmental catastrophe to a nuclear arms race.

Paul Dorfman, an honorary senior research fellow at the Energy Institute, University College London and founder and chair of the Nuclear Consulting Group, has criticised the Barakah reactors' "cheap and cheerful" design that he says cuts corners on safety.

Dorfman authored a report (PDF) last year detailing key safety features Barakah's reactors lack, such as a "core catcher" to literally stop the core of a reactor from breaching the containment building in the event of a meltdown. The reactors are also missing so-called Generation III Defence-In-Depth reinforcements to the containment building to shield against a radiological release resulting from a missile or fighter jet attack.

Both of these engineering features are standard on new reactors built in Europe, says Dorfman.

There have been at least 13 aerial attacks on nuclear facilities in the Middle East - more than any other region on earth.

The vulnerability of critical infrastructure in the Arabian Peninsula was further laid bare last year after Saudi Arabia's oil facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais were attacked by 18 drones and seven cruise missiles - an assault that temporarily knocked out more than half of the kingdom's oil production.

On Saturday, Dorfman reiterated his concern that there is no regional protocol in place to determine liability should an accident or incident at Barakah result in radioactive contamination spreading from the UAE to its neighbours. 

"Given Barakah has started up, because of all the well-rehearsed nuclear safety and security problems, it may be critically important that the Gulf states collectively evolve a Nuclear Accident Liability Convention, so that if anything does go wrong, victim states may have some sort of redress," Dorfman told Al Jazeera. 

The UAE has substantial oil and gas reserves, but it has made huge investments in developing alternative energy sources, including nuclear and solar.

Experts though have questioned why the UAE - which is bathed in sunlight and wind - has pushed ahead with nuclear energy - a far more expensive and riskier option than renewable energy sources.

When the UAE first announced Barakah in 2009, nuclear power was cheaper than solar and wind. But by 2012 - when the Emirates started breaking ground to build the reactors - solar and wind costs had plummeted dramatically.

Between 2009 and 2019, utility-scale average solar photovoltaic costs fell 89 percent and wind fell 43 percent, while nuclear jumped 26 percent, according to an analysis by the financial advisory and asset manager Lazard.

There are also concerns about the potential for Barakah to foment nuclear proliferation in the Middle East - a region rife with geopolitical fault lines and well-documented history of nuclear secrecy.

The UAE has sought to distance itself from the region's bad behaviour by agreeing not to enrich its own uranium or reprocess spent fuel. It has also signed up to the United Nation's nuclear watchdog's Additional Protocol, significantly enhancing inspection capabilities, and secured a 123 Agreement with the United States that allows bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation.

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News Network
March 24,2020

Mar 24: Saudi Arabia has recorded its first death from the coronavirus in a 51-year-old Afghani resident, Health Ministry spokesman Mohammed Abdelali told a televised news conference on Tuesday.

The man's health deteriorated quickly after reporting to a hospital emergency room in the city of Medina and he died on Monday night, Abdelali said.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Kuwait, Aug 2: Kuwait has barred entry of foreign passengers from over 30 countries including India and China.

A circular from the Director General Civil Aviation, State of Kuwait directed all airlines operating at Kuwait International Airport to adhere to the instructions in this regard.

"Based on the decision of the Health Authority in State of Kuwait, no foreign passenger coming from the down listed countries will be allowed to enter the State of Kuwait," the circular read.

These include- India, Iran, China, Brazil, Colombia, Armenia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Syria, Spain, Singapore, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Iraq, Mexico, Indonesia, Chile, Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Italy, North Macedonia, Moldova, Panama, Beirut ,Serbia Montenegro, Dominican Republic and Kosovo.

The circular stated that such restriction will also include the passengers were present 14 days before the date of travel until further notice.

The ban was announced the same day Kuwait began a partial resumption of commercial flights according to Khaleej Times, which quoted authorities stating that Kuwait International Airport would run at about 30 per cent capacity from Saturday, gradually increasing in coming months.

According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, Kuwait has reported 67,448 cases of coronavirus while the fatalities related to the virus stand at 453.

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