Saudi PMV show

The time is on us for our most significant event of the year – and one in which all the world will have its eyes on. As construction sites grind to a halt all around the world, Saudi Arabia remains reasonably strong – but it’s ups and downs can be seen as a barometer for the rest of the GCC states, as its fortunes are closely mirrored by the rest of the Gulf.

Apart from this, a huge number of commercial and infrastructure projects in the region mean that even in these tough times there is still a demand for machines, and a thirst to know how to operate them safely. Here follows a bit about out host, and a few of the companies that are supporting the event.

Saudi Aramco

Saudi Aramco is the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia. It is the largest oil corporation in the world with the largest proven crude oil reserves and production. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco also operates the world’s largest single hydrocarbon network, the Master Gas System. It was known as just Aramco between the years of 1933-1988, an acronym for Arabian American Oil Company.

As of the end of 2006, its yearly production of only crude oil neared 3.4 billion barrels (540,000,000 m3) and it managed over 100 oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabia totaling at least 264 billion barrels of oil reserves and massive gas reserves.

Among those fields fully owned by the company is the Ghawar field, the world’s largest oil field; the Safaniya Field, the world’s largest offshore field. Despite the recent slump in crude prices, Saudi Aramco is still thought to be the world’s most profitable company.

Saudi Aramco dates back to 1933 when the Government of Saudi Arabia signed a concessionary agreement with Standard Oil, California (Socal) allowing them to explore Saudi Arabia for oil. Socal passed this concession to a subsidiary called California-Arabian Standard Oil (Casoc). In 1936 with the company having no success at locating oil, the firm that became Texaco purchased a 50% stake of the concession.

After a long search for oil that lasted around four years without success, the first success came with the seventh drill site in Dammam, in a well referred to as Dammam number 7. The discovery of this well, which immediately produced over 1,500 barrels per day (240 m³/d), gave the company the confidence to continue and flourish. The company name was changed in 1944 from California-Arabian Standard Oil Company to Arabian American Oil Company (or Aramco).

In 1950, Aramco agreed to share its profits on oil sales 50/50 with Saudi Arabia’s government. In 1973 the Saudi Arabian government acquired a 25% share of Aramco, increased this to 60% by 1974 and finally acquired full control of Aramco by 1980. In November 1988 the company changed its name from Arabian American Oil Company to Saudi Arabian Oil Company (or Saudi Aramco).

From its headquarters in Dharan, on the eastern shores of the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Aramco manages virtually all of the kingdom’s enormous hydrocarbon enterprise. Saudi Aramco is engaged in the management of onshore and offshore oil fields, petrochemical research and development and operates its own fleet of oil tankers.

The firm is responsible for 99 percent of the Kingdom’s proven crude oil reserves of 259 billion barrels (41.2 1010m³) — about a quarter of the world’s total conventional oil reserves.

That is more than double the total of Iraq, the country with the world’s second largest conventional oil reserves, and nearly 12 times the reserves of the United States. Recent output is more than twice the output of the next highest producer and nearly five times greater than the largest U.S. oil company.

Russia as a whole produces almost 9 million barrels (1,400,000 m3) of oil per day, however, several different companies pump oil there, while Saudi Aramco is responsible for 99% of Saudi Arabia’s oil.

The company is also a leader in both the production and export of natural gas liquids (NGL), and a major producer of refined products. A programme is currently under way to expand gas production to meet demand for gas at home to power the Kingdom’s domestic economic growth.

ALE Al-Suwadi

Abnormal Load Engineering Limited (ALE) was formed in 1983 to provide an engineering service to manufacturers of electrical plant and utility companies associated with the movement and installation of large items of generating plant.

Subsequently the company has developed into one of the world’s major international heavy transport and installation contractors working for all industrial sectors with an extensive fleet of modern heavy cranes, specialist transport and installation equipment. Coupled with Al Suwaidi, it has created the SK.90, a vast 4300Te twin-lift crane, whose recent exploits in the kingdom are detailed elsewhere in the issue.

Zahid Tractor Caterpillar

As mentioned in this month’s editorial comment, Caterpillar are a ‘bellwether’ company, in that it leads the industry, with its fate and fortunes acting as a barometer for the rest of the industry. Cat and its regional dealers do not attend every trade show, so we are honored to welcome them to our event this year.

Caterpillar offer machinery for every equipment sector and multiple Cat machines can be seen on every site throughout the Kingdom. MANN+HUMMEL

Any machine that uses oil is going to need to filter it. This is good business for one company, who since the 1940s have developed and manufactured a wide range of filters, air intakes and other components.

The MANN+HUMMEL Group was established in Ludwigsburg, in southwest Germany in 1941. The motor spares trade is supplied with filter elements under the MANN-FILTER brand name in the same quality as that supplied to OEMs. For the general industry MANN+HUMMEL develops and produces industrial filters and filtration systems for the engineering industry and units and systems for materials handling in the plastics processing industry.

According to the company, the most important product in the MANN+HUMMEL product range for the reduction of emissions is the SMF-AR diesel particulate filter.

It is designed for use in applications with low exhaust temperatures as is usual with mobile machines. In comparison to other solutions on the market the SMF -AR offers the advantages of active regeneration without any machine downtime, low maintenance and operating costs, and a wide range of use for many applications.

The SMF-AR is equipped with a high performance filter element. In contrast to conventional ceramic elements, this enables a higher ash holding capacity and therefore longer service intervals. In addition, the MANN+HUMMEL filter element is durable for the life of the product and is easy to clean. Conventional ceramic elements on the other hand have to be replaced after a number of cleaning intervals.

A further advantage of the diesel particulate filter SMF-AR from MANN+HUMMEL is that the regeneration process takes place without any machine downtime.

The regeneration also requires no external energy. The soot burn-off is introduced automatically when the ideal amount of soot for electrical regeneration has collected in the filter element. Ignition of the soot is made through radiant heat from heating elements. The heating elements ensure consistent heating of the radiated soot area. An additive is automatically dosed which reduces the ignition temperature of the soot particles and enables a quick and consistent soot burn-off.

The heating elements are designed to ensure that a fully automatic ignition of the soot layer is made in the shortest time possible. Regeneration is made without any additional increase of emissions. A costly fine-tuning of the engine is not required. The SMF -AR can be fitted to a wide range of applications.

Al-Qahtani

Al-Qahtani Group of Companies was established in 1940’s and has been expanded to cover various activities and with around thirty separate divisions stretching from agriculture to oil and gas, is considered to be one of the largest and most reputable privately owned companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with good relationships in both government and commercial sectors.

The group headquarters are in Dammam, the biggest city in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

In the PMV sector, the company is perhaps best known as being the dealer for the Chinese firm LiuGong in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. It is also the dealer for various crane lines for Terex in KSA and Bahrain. It also represents a Genie Arial platforms

Sales activities include direct sales, credit, lease to own, & direct rental. It supplys the cranes with operators and the earth moving equipment without operators.

The company says that its main goal is to provide a reliable product, coupled with spare part availability and unmatched service.

GTE

GTE is a construction equipment and civil technology distributor throughout Saudi Arabia and Lebanon with headquarters in Al Khobar and branches in Riyadh & Jeddah.

Since being formed in 1976, GTE has pioneered the use of modern building and construction technologies through professional product introduction and innovative applications. The firm provides technologies & solutions to the most prestigious and major construction and infrastructure projects.

The company has fully equipped sales, rental, parts and service facilities at all branches.

Bakheet

Bakheet Co. was established in 1975. Bakheet Company staff is comprised of Mechanical Engineers, Civil Engineers and Technical Staff.

The company has a network of eight branches Every Branch consists of Administrative office, Sales Department, Spare Parts Department and Workshop for After Sales Service. Each department is managed by qualified Executives and Engineers.

Mercedes-Benz

By far the most common truck brand in the region today, Mercedes-Benz are distributed by JIPCO in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In association with the world famous Daimler Benz company, JIPCO provides its customers with unparalleled, quality MB products, followed up by reliable service and support.

The dealership markets a complete range of Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles from heavy-duty trucks and Buses to the smaller Vans and Coaches for Commercial, Construction and Municipal applications. The MB Heavy-Duty trucks have been assembled in the Kingdom for over 20 years to the highest quality, by National Automobile Industry (NAI).

The products are sold and serviced throughout the Kingdom by the branches in Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and Abha and through various sub-dealerships.

Al Shuwayer

The company began construction work in 1954 and had made substantial advances in the contracting market and has extensive experiences in Oil & Gas Industries, responsible for Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and instrumentation works for a number of projects. Saudi Aramco, Royal Commission, Al Khafji Joint Operations (KJO) and SABIC industries are main clients in Saudi Arabia and other clients in the neighboring gulf countries.

Other related activities involved in the company are crane rentals, heavy metal industries – such as fabrication of heavy structures, pressure vessels., Additionally, the firm are very much involved in the MEP sector.

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