Muscat, Oman, 5 February 2007 - The 4th Middle East Artificial Lift Forum (MEALF), which is scheduled on February 18-20 in the Sultanate of Oman, will have everything for oil industry professionals with its range of training workshops, exhibition of new products and technologies, and international conference on artificial lift systems and applications.

"MEALF 2007 primarily aims to contribute to the continued professional development of those directly involved in the use of artificial lift technologies in oil production," said Nasser Al Rawahy, chairman of the 2007 MEALF Technical Committee.

 Al Rawahy pointed out that the MEALF training workshops will educate delegates on commonly used technologies such as Electrical Submersible Pumping (ESP), Gas Lifting (GL), and Beam Pumping (BP). The workshops, which will be conducted simultaneously in separate rooms, will present the basic information about artificial lift technologies and an overview of their applications. The training courses will be conducted by experts from leading companies including Baker Hughes Centrilift, Harbison-Fischer, Lufkin Industries, Norris Rods, and Weatherford International.

The MEALF exhibition, on the other hand, will feature a total of 19 companies that will showcase their innovative products, technologies and services in the field of artificial lift. The exhibitors that have already confirmed their participation include BIW Connector Systems, Chaparral Automation LLC/Peaceland Trading & Energy, Completion Products, MC Borets, Novomet International, Siemens, Vanguard Engineering & Oilfield Services Co., Wood Group ESP, and Zenith Oilfield Technology, among others. 

The forum itself, which is scheduled for two days, will witness the presentation of over 20 technical papers discussing the use of artificial lift technologies in the Middle East region. The speakers will be made up of experts from leading companies such as Canadian Nexen Petroleum Yemen, Kuwait Oil Company, Occidental Petroleum, Petroleum Development Oman, Saudi Aramco, Schlumberger and Total. According to Al Rawahy, the quality of the papers to be presented has attracted many delegates not only from within the GCC but also from other countries including Canada, China, Russia, the U.S. the UK, etc.

"MEALF 2007 will truly be a major gathering of oil industry professionals who appreciate the importance of artificial lift technologies in ongoing efforts to boost oil production worldwide particularly in Oman, where over 90% of our oil production depends on artificial lifting," said Al Rawahy, who is also a Senior Production Technologist at Daleel Petroleum.

Managed by Omanexpo LLC, MEALF 2007 is supported by Baker Hughes Centrilift, Daleel Petroleum, Harbison-Fischer/OHI, Occidental Petroleum, Petroleum Development Oman and Schlumberger, as platinum sponsors. The gold sponsors are Al Khorayef Commercial Company, Kuwait Oil Company, Novomet International, Weatherford Oil Tool Middle East Ltd., and Wood Group ESP, while Lufkin Industries, Inc. is the silver sponsor.

The event is also supported by the Oman Daily Observer and Arabic Daily Oman as the media partners and the Oman Economic Review as the strategic partner. To register online or for more information, visit www.mealf.com. Those interested to participate in MEALF 2007 may also contact Omanexpo LLC at tel. no. +968-24790333, fax no. +968-24706276, or e-mail bacallan@omanexpo.com.

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© Press Release 2007