METS show

The Middle East Turbomachinery Symposium (METS) premiered February 13th  in Doha, Qatar, to rave reviews from both users and suppliers of turbomachinery. Dara Childs, Director, Turbomachinery Laboratory, Texas A&M University and co-chair of the METS advisory committee, was “amazed” at the initial success. “A lot of that credit goes to Abdul Aziz Al Naimi,” he said. “His participation was the difference between failure and success.”

Al Naimi, co-chair of the METS advisory committee, is Lead Specialist Engineer, Technical Services, Qatar Petroleum (QP), the Symposium’s primary sponsor and host. He attributed METS success to the 33-member Technical Advisory Committee, selected from QP, GE Oil & Gas, Shell Oil and other firms involved in the Gulf Region. “The high quality of papers reflected their involvement.”

“For the next few days you have a table of knowledge before you,” said Dr. Childs at the welcoming ceremony. “Please savor and enjoy it.”

Indeed they did. Some 1,000 visitors from 35 countries generously partook of the technical offerings, developed cooperatively by QP and Texas A&M. Sixty-two exhibiting companies occupied 92 booths at the show. “They were very pleased with the high-quality leads,” said Martha Barton, Exhibitor Services Director, Texas A&M.

Technical sessions, made up of six short courses, twelve lectures and several tutorial and discussion groups, were on par with the consistent quality of the 39-year-old, Houston-based Turbomachinery Symposium, scheduled for September 12-15, 2011

“Program development has been a strongly international effort with substantial contribution from engineers within the Middle East,” added Said Mubark Al Mohannadi, Director Operations, QP. The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) ran a concurrent program at METS on project challenges now facing the Middle East.

For years, the State of Qatar has been an education leader in the Middle East. Attendees concurred that METS was entirely consistent with the educational goals of Emir Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani and Her Highness Shieka Moza Bint Nasser Al Misnad.

METS was the result of a six-year effort by Dr. Childs and his staff to bring the Turbomachinery Symposium to the Middle East. At the end, they succeeded through cooperation with QP and the support of the government and people of Qatar. QP leaders were very pleased with METS and are interested in repeating the event in Doha in 2013.