Interior Minister, Oil Minister open Bapco disaster management centre

Manama, Oct. 23 (BNA): Interior Minister, General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, and Oil Minister, Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, today inaugurated the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) Centre for Leadership to deal with oil-related emergencies and disasters. His Highness Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council for Environment, Faisal bin Rashid Al Khalifa, and Chief of Public Security and Head of the National Disaster Management Committee, Major-General Tariq Al Hassan, attended the event. Upon the arrival of Interior Minister, the patron of the ceremony, the launching of the centre took place with a brief by the Deputy CEO of Bapco, Eng. Ebrahim Talib about the readiness of the centre to deal with oil spills. He said that as part of efforts to meet the latest developments in responding to emergencies and disasters, the assistant of organisations with high expertise were sought to learn about successful experiences of developed countries. He continued that a comprehensive team to deal with various cases was formed, and the centre was equipped with the latest technologies for effective responses to accidents. He highlighted that the centre was designed to manage more than one emergency at the same time. After that, Interior Minister toured the centre and was informed about the implementation steps of the national exercise against oil spills that commenced at 7 am on October 23. The drill is organised by the Interior Ministry, the National Oil and Gas Authority and the Supreme Council for Environment in cooperation with the National Disaster Management Committee. The exercise†s phases, implementation process, scenarios and goals were highlighted. The drill reflects the capability of the participating organisations to work together while fulfilling their duties to enhance preparedness. On this occasion, the Interior Minister expressed thanks and appreciation to Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the Oil Minister, for his sincere efforts in enhancing competencies, productivity and development in all oil-related aspects, along with the performance levels, including reinforcing preparedness to tackle emergencies in the oil sector. He valued the role of Bapco that reflects the level of competency and training as a national platform to develop expertise and leaders, as well as its contributions to the building of the nation. He highlighted that the national exercise with a scenario of a threat that targets an oil establishment comes at a time with unprecedented challenges. "As we see, there is a clear targeting of oil establishments in the region," he said, asserting the importance of field training to learn skills to deal with emergencies. He valued the exercise for being a realistic and the competency and capabilities of the participating organisations, through their cooperation and coordination in planning and implementation. He hailed the high readiness through the drill†s phases that is considered as the accumulated experience and efforts in the field of capacity building, whether at the human level or concerning modern equipment and techniques used in dealing with emergencies per the latest international emergency plans. He highlighted the essentiality to build on such exercises as part of joint fieldwork. The Interior Minister said that the centre that was inaugurated today would have positive outcomes to supervise the control operations to deal with oil-related emergencies. He stressed the importance of cooperation and coordination bamong all the participating organisations to gain expertise to enhance readiness. He asserted the need to continue training and learning about regional and international successful experiences. He praised the competence and readiness of the Saudi Oil Company "Aramco" and its achievements while dealing with the attacks on the Abqaiq and the Khurais plants in Saudi Arabia. He said that the incident had raised all capabilities to understand such attacks and an opportunity to form a joint work team with Aramco for cooperation and benefit from the taken steps. He asserted the importance of joint training, wishing all the best in serving the nation. Meanwhile, Oil Minister expressed thanks and appreciation to the Interior Minister for patronising this national event. He hailed the ongoing active support of the wise leadership to the oil and gas sector to support sustainable development. He said that the opening of the new centre was part of Bapaco†s efforts to support emergency and disaster response plans and part of its dedication to reinforce readiness of its teams. He thanked the Interior Ministry and the Supreme Council for Environment, hailing the supportive efforts to the oil and gas sector to carry its mission. He also thanked the employees of the centre for promoting the culture of occupational safety in the community.