The $314 million Bapco Lube Base Oil Plant has been declared the winner of the Meed Quality Awards for Projects, the only awards programme in the GCC to recognise completed quality projects.

Judged by an independent panel consisting of experts in the projects industry, the Meed Quality Awards for Projects 2012 selected Bapco Lube Base Oil Plant for its economic, social and environment impact, as well as innovations and achievements in design, engineering and construction.

"The Lube Base Oil Plant is one of the largest of its type in the world, and we are honoured to have played a role in the development of Bahrain as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for this project," said Kyung-tae Kim, vice-president, Samsung Engineering, which submitted the project to this year's edition of the awards.

"With the support of our respected client Bapco and partners, we were able to execute the project on time and achieve the safety milestone of 10 million man hours without lost time incident," Kim added.

The opening of the plant last year provided a fresh impetus to business investments in Bahrain and has set new benchmarks for use of technology in the oil and gas industry. It also boosted local employment, hiring 3,000 new workers for the development phase, including 200 Bahrainis.

The plant is expected to achieve 17 per cent investment revenues and will reinforce the reputation of the Bahraini refinery as a refinery with high quality products and will open new markets for Bapco products.

Judging panel chairman Edmund O'Sullivan said the award salutes the architects, engineers, builders, financiers and clients behind some of the biggest social and economic developments that will change the Middle East and the world for the better.

"Meed is honoured to produce an initiative that recognises best practice in the projects sector. These projects have shown that Bahrain and the GCC have come of age and are, in many respects, showing everyone else how to conceive, build and run great projects."

Besides Bahrain, winners were also selected from amongst projects completed in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

GCC winners will be announced at the annual Meed Quality Awards for Projects in May at The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa, UAE.-TradeArabia News Service