Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Under the patronage of HE Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil and GPIC Chairman, the Company celebrated its 23rd anniversary at a ceremony held on Tuesday 17th June 2003 at the Gulf International Conference Centre, Gulf Hotel. 

The event was opened by a speech delivered by GPIC General Manager Dr. Mustafa Al Sayed who highlighted the Company's achievements in all areas and expressed his thanks and appreciation for the continuous support given by His Majesty Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of the Kingdom of Bahrain and with the support of His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister and HH Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Commander-in-Chief of the Bahrain Defence Force.

In his speech, Dr. Al Sayed said it is gratifying to note that this event coincides with the continuation of production at a high level of efficiency in the three plants, as total output of Ammonia, Methanol and Urea was more than 1.495 million metric tons, 11.9% more than the budgeted figure.  All these products were exported to many international markets the most important of which are the United States, South America, Indian subcontinent and Japan.  In this context, he noted that the methanol and urea plant achieved during 2002 an international record of operation by continuous runs for 753 and 771 days respectively.

He added this outstanding performance has been made possible thanks to the continuous efforts of the operation and maintenance staff and their remarkable team spirit as well as adopting the preventative maintenance systems.

He also congratulated all the employees for the Company's winning of the best-run plant in the world in safety and occupational health from the Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) in 2002. He said he was pleased to note with appreciation the Company's winning of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoom Award for Arab Management for the outstanding Arab enterprise category. GPIC's success in winning this prestigious award is cause of pride for the Bahrain and Gulf industry for the high standard of excellence, professionalism and remarkable performance not only on the local level but also throughout the Arab world. 

GPIC also won the first position in an international benchmarking study among 55 companies. The study was conducted by Plants Survey International as part of a survey made by E.R.A.S. of the UK at the request of the GCC General Secretariat.  Meanwhile, the Company won an award from the GCC General Secretariat for the best ammonia and urea plants for production, maintenance and quality systems. 
 
He pointed out that the Company's management continued its efforts to rationalize spending and to reduce production costs enabling it to make US$51 million in operating profits and gain customer satisfaction for our high quality products locally and abroad.

The General Manager expressed his thanks to all the staff members for their contributions to the Company's success and growth making it possible to achieve such excellent results. Thanks to the co-operation and team spirit of all the employees, it was possible to comply with the highest safety levels, protection of the environment and application of the high quality concepts.

He expressed his sincere congratulations to the employees who have completed many years of continuous service in the Company with sincerity and loyalty. In addition, the Company does appreciate all the hard working and creative employees for their contributions to the Company.  

He expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to the Board members for attending this ceremony and for their continuous support that has directly contributed to making such achievements possible. He said he was grateful for all the Company's staff members for their outstanding efforts, loyalty and sincerity. 

Then, Mr. Ghasan Abdulla presented a poetry recital written by Mr. Nidhal Al Shomali and Mr. Abdul Redha Hasan. 

Honoured during the ceremony were employees who completed 20, 15, 10 and 5 years of continuous service in the Company. Also honoured were the best and hard working employees during 2002. The winners of the awards were: 

Mr. Abdulla Lahdan, of Plant Operations Department who won the "Sustained Performance", award Mr. Saber Abdul Rahman, of Plant Operations Department who won the "Sportsman of the Year" award, Mr. Abdul Rahman Hasan of Maintenance Department who won the "Quality Auditor of the Year" award, Mr. Maitham Al Oraibi, of Plant Operations Department who won the "Environmental Auditor of the Year", Mr. Mohamed Khalifa Al Muhaiza'a, of Administration Department who won the "Trainee of the Year", Mr. Yacoob Abdul Wahab, of Administration Department who won the "Trainee Engineer of the Year, Mr. Sami Khairi, of Administration Department who won the "Early Bird Award", Mr. Mohamed Abdulla of Technical Service Operations Department  who won the "Best Auxiliary Fireman of the year", Mr. Jamal Al Bahra of Plant Operations Department who won the "Safety Personality" award, Mr. Abdul Latif Shuwaiter of Maintenance Department who won the "Health Personality" award, Mr. Ebrahim Sharif, of Administration Department who won the "Environment Personality" award, Mr. Mohamed Iqbal Husain Khan of Administration Department who won the " Best Suggestion of the year" award, Miss Farida Hasan of Technical Service Department who won the "Outstanding Performance"  award, Mr. Nithen Powal, of Technical Service Department who won the Special Merit" award and Mrs. Najat Sharif of Information Technology Department who won the "Special Merit" Award.  Mr. Tesawar Khan of Technical Services Department who won the "Good Attendance Award for Shift Personnel.

Also honoured at the event were Mr. Saleem Al Qattan and Mr. Ahmed Mahmood of Plant Operations Department for their heroic role in preventing a gas leak at the ammonia plant.  Honoured was Mr. Kamal Al Saadoun of the Safety and Security Department for his contribution to help the victims of a tragic traffic accident in the Kingdom. Mr. V.C. Prasad of Plant Operations Department was honoured for his voluntary production of a documentary about the Company's environmental projects. 

Engineer Yousuf Ebrahim Fakhro, Planning and Marketing Manager was selected to receive the Special Recognition Award.  Plant Operations Department won the best department title in 2002.

-Ends-

© Press Release 2005