Effective steps to avoid a future oil crisis must be taken and the impact of sustained high oil prices should not be overlooked, says a senior Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (Oapec) official.

Oapec director of technical affairs Dr Samir Elkareish said: “If tensions in the Mena region die down quickly and the price of oil returns to pre-crisis levels, the global economic recovery will not be affected dramatically. However, if these movements spread, and a collection of countries see deep cuts in oil production, high oil prices could pose a real danger to the global economy.”

Dr Elkareish is one of dozens of high-level experts who will address the Middle East Downstream Week in Abu Dhabi from May 8-11, where NOCs, IOCs, petrochemical producers, refiners, fuels marketers and distributors in addition to independent oil and gas experts and technology leaders will gather.   

The global economic impact of the unrest in the Mena region, in particular Libya, and the resultant rise in the oil price, is expected to be an important point of the discussions at this leading industry event. 
  
Dr Elkareish continues: “Effective steps to avoid a future oil crisis must be taken.  Since the basic problem is not based on supply and demand or free market fundamentals, but instead is based upon speculatively inspired psychological perception, remedial action based upon economic factors seems appropriate.  The main oil producer, Saudi Arabia, must add additional spare production capacity to cover any loss of capacity elsewhere.”

The largest refiners in the region will attend the event where Dr Elkareish will specifically focus on clean fuels regulations and Arab countries’ strategies to improve refined product specifications, including current specifications of refined products in Arab countries and the expected time schedule for meeting international clean fuels standards. 

He will also address the main reasons why refiners in Arab countries are not able to meet international clean fuel standards in addition to plans already implemented for improving refined product specifications in Arab refineries.

High profile experts at Middle East Downstream Week include:
 Jasem Ali Al Sayegh, general manager, Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer); Jean Jacques Mosconi, senior vice president, Strategy, Total;  Solomon Mirza, vice president, strategic planning and capital allocation, Shell; Bakhit Shabib Al Rashidi, deputy managing director, planning and local marketing, Kuwait National Peroleum Company (KNPC); Dr Partha Maitra, president, petroleum business, Reliance Industries; Norman Gilsdorf, president, Honeywell Process Solutions; Nabeel Al Ruwaidhi, general manager, corporate affairs, business development and strategic planning, Oman Oil Marketing Company (OOMCO): Mohamed Mezal, refinery operations planning manager, Bapco; Dr Halim Hamid Redhwi, assistant supervisor, Dhahran Techno-Valley (DTV) and professor, Chemical Engineering Department King Fahd Unoversity of Petroleum and Minerals; Hamid Reza Seyed Jafari, director of corporate planning, National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC)
; Ali Mohammed Al Jaberi, Ruwais Refinery division manager, Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer) - TradeArabia News Service