Qatar invites Opec to set up research centre

Qatar invites Opec to set up research centre
Web posted at: 5/3/2005 6:54:53
Source ::: The Peninsula
Abdullah H Salatt
Doha: Qatar has invited Opec members to set up an oil and gas research and development center, offering to provide the infrastructure, support and logistics for such a scientific institution.

The blueprint for the center is yet to take shape, but the general concept was floated by Qatari Governor for Opec at the 1st Meeting of Officials of the Petroleum and Development Institutions in Member Countries yesterday.

Addressing the two-day meeting, which opened at Inter-Continental Hotel, Abdullah H Salatt said Qatar considers Opec as a knowledge generating center for its members rather than a mere economic player, where creativity can find home.

"We invite our colleagues and friends within the Opec member countries to join us in Qatar in Science and Technology Park for collective efforts in research", he said.
Delegates at the 1st Meeting of Officials of the Petroleum and Development Institutions in member countries in Doha yesterday.

Opec's role can be further enhanced by capacity building in the area of scientific research and technological applications, Salatt, who is also Advisor to Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry told participants at the meeting.

"Our competitors, the alternative energy providers are intensively pursuing research programmes that aim to reduce the domination of oil and gas in the global energy markets; likewise we should have our own independent programme which would be directed to sustain our position in these markets".

He said the recent rise in oil prices should not divert the attention from seeking new uses for oil and gas, noting that this should be a motivation to increase investments on research and development not only in the pure scientific research but also in application fields.

"This serves our target in ensuring that oil and gas are not only the energy source of the present but will be the main energy source of the future as well", he said.

Salatt noted that the research and development activities could centered at the Science and Technology Park of Education City in Doha, which he said, was established specifically to be home for globally respected scientific institutions and programmes.

The Education City in Doha, which hosts leading universities and academic institutions, is a solid base to accommodate the scientific atmosphere that provides the healthy environment to any successful research and development project, he added.

Later Salatt told reporters that efforts should be stepped up to make oil and gas more environmentally friendlier to live up to the best standards of applications of this energy sources.