Japan water treatment pilot plant launched

A produced water treatment pilot plant for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), designed and built in Japan with the backing of Japan Cooperation Centre Petroleum (JCCP), in cooperation with Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), was officially launched at a ceremony under the auspices of HE Dr Mohammed bin Hamad al Rumhy, Minister of Oil and Gas. HE Seiji Morimoto, Japan’s Ambassador to Oman, HE Dr Ali al Bemani, vice chancellor of SQU and PDO Managing Director Raoul Restucci were present on the occasion. The pilot plant, which was designed and manufactured in Japan, is a result of a long technical cooperation project between SQU and JCCP. The project was initiated to address PDO’s produced water treatment challenges, and is being executed by the SQU College of Engineering and Shimizu Corporation Institute of Technology from Japan.

BankMuscat raises largest Omani fund

BankMuscat has successfully raised the largest fixed income fund in the country. The RO105mn Oman Fixed Income (OMFI) Fund is the first-of-its-kind fund in Oman and offers subordinated financing to investee companies. OMFI has received a total investment commitment of RO105mn from local as well as regional investors, including co-investment. With a seven-year maturity, OMFI is a closed-ended fund listed on the third market of Muscat Securities Market (MSM). The drawdown and distribution mechanism of the fund is akin to that of a private equity fund. The fund management board of OMFI comprises of Sulaiman bin Mohamed bin Hamed Al Yahyai (Chairman), Rashad Khamis Al Battashi (Vice Chariman), Salem bin Mohammed Al Mashaikhi, Hatham Mohammed Al Maskery, Sunder George, Ahmed Al Abri and K Gopakumar.

Lufthansa upgrades to daily services

Lufthansa has increased its service from Muscat to Frankfurt from the current six flights to seven weekly. With this further enhancement of the flight schedule, travelers from Muscat will have a daily departure to Lufthansa’s Frankfurt gateway, with connections to some 200 destinations worldwide. With the offer of daily flights from Muscat to Frankfurt Lufthansa passengers benefit from even greater flexibility on their travels to Frankfurt and some 200 destinations world wide. With the daily late night flight LH619 travelers arrive at Frankfurt just in time for the early morning departures to well over 100 European destinations. This allows Lufthansa customers to reach most European cities before 10am. Peter Pollak, Director of Lufthansa for Middle East and Pakistan says, “I am pleased to announce a further enhancement of our service from Muscat to Frankfurt.”

NBO bags corporate governance award

National Bank of Oman (NBO) was awarded the 2010 Distinguished Corporate Governance Award by the Institute of Corporate Governance (Hawkamah) and the Union of Arab Banks (UAB), for the third year in a row. Launched in 2007 by Hawkamah and UAB, the Regional Bank Corporate Governance Awards, seeks to identify and honour banks across the Middle East and North Africa that show leadership and initiative in enhancing good corporate governance. The award was presented at a ceremony held in Muscat. Salaam Said Al Shaksy, NBO’s CEO, received the award on behalf of the bank.
 

Mustafa Sultan launches ‘SBI – NEFT’

Mustafa Sultan Exchange Co. launched the new electronic remittance service named ‘SBI NEFT’ developed by State Bank of India, enabling credit to customers’ accounts within 4 to 24 hours. The facility presently covers more than 70,000 branches of over 115 banks in India through the NEFT platform. The service is now available at all 13 branches of the company spread across the Sultanate. ‘SBI NEFT’ is one of the best remittance packages that enable processing remittances with minimal manual intervention to ensure greater accuracy and speed. The confirmation of credit through SMS to both beneficiary as well as the remitter is the unique value addition of the service being offered by Mustafa Sultan Exchange Company. The SMS confirmation is provided free of cost. Akber Mustafa Sultan, MD, Mustafa Sultan Enterprises inaugurated the formal launch of “SBI NEFT” in presence of Shabbir Mustafa Sultan, director, Minoo Saher, group CEO and Sudhir Naik, Group CFO.

Prosper launches ICF accredited programme

Prosper Management Consultancy has launched the first International Coach Federation (ICF) accredited programme in the GCC region in affiliation with the leading global coaching academy Erickson International. A four-day comprehensive executive training workshop ‘The Art and Science of Coaching: Leadership through Coaching’ was delivered by Dr Marilyn Atkinson, Founder and President of Erickson Coaching International, at Shangri-La’s Barr al Jissah resort. Speaking at the inaugural session, Khalfan al-Esry, managing director, Prosper, and Eyhab al-Hajj, commercial director, Prosper, stressed the necessity of capitalising on undiscovered talent and directing it towards personal development and national growth. The workshop aimed at helping executives develop and implement applied psychology to positively impact their company’s bottom line. It was attended by delegates from Nawras, Omantel, PDO, Bank Muscat, National Bank of Oman, Public Authority for Social Insurance, Royal Court of Affairs, Sohar Aluminium, Oman Oil Marketing Company and Capital Market Authority.

Omran hands over Beach Games site

Omran formally handed over the site of Muscat Asian Beach Games to the Muscat Asian Beach Games Organising Committee (MABGOC) at a ceremony held under the auspices of HE Sheikh Saif bin Mohammed al Shabibi, Minister of Housing recently. Started in June 2008, the project was completed in less than 900 days. Over 2,500 workers spent more than 12 million man hours – all without a lost-time accident – to finish the job. Based around Oman’s first marina hotel development, the project includes all facilities required for the Games, including pitches and arenas, grandstands, the marina, a Games Command Centre, 
an athletes’ village and a media centre.

Eng. Wael bin Ahmed al Lawati, CEO of Omran, described the project as a testament to the single-minded dedication of the Omran team and many partners in the project. “In less than 900 days, we have created a venue which will make all of Oman proud while hosting the Asian continent,” he says.

Oman Air launches ‘40 Young Ambassadors Programme’

Forty students from across the Sultanate have been selected to deliver forty messages of solidarity to leading academic institutions in Oman Air’s forty destinations across the globe as part of the national carrier’s hallmark National Day initiative. The unprecedented “40 Young Ambassadors Programme” was launched to celebrate the Sultanate’s forty years of progress and historic achievements under the reign and pioneering leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

Oman Air, with the support and coordination of the Ministry of Education, selected the forty finalists from a pool of hundreds of candidates between the ages of 14 and 17 who were required to submit a creative writing essay on the Airline’s role in bolstering tourism and Oman’s social and economic transformation over the last four decades. Entries were assessed and evaluated based on proficiency in language, conceptualisation, quality and fluency of expression, ingenuity and originality.

Oman-L&T MFY dedicates Sohar facility to nation

L&T Modular Fabrication Yard (L&T MFY), a joint venture between Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Zubair Corporation of Oman, has dedicated its state of the art fabrication facility to the Sultanate. The dedication ceremony to mark the Sultanate’s 40 National Day was attended by HE Ahmed bin Abdulnabi Macki, Minister of National Economy, A.M. Naik, chairman and managing director of L&T, Rashad bin Mohammad al Zubair, chairman of Zubair Corporation and several other dignitaries. L&T MFY pledged to use its expertise and experience in the service of the economy and the people of Oman. L&T MFY is a world class venture that sets regional benchmarks in terms of size, scale and sophistication. It is the first facility in Oman geared to build very large structures for the upstream oil & gas industry. It will build structures that have never been built before in the region.

NTS launches Huawei fashion phones

National Telephone Services (NTS) has recently introduced the affordable yet fashionable mobile phones for the tech-savvy customers in the sultanate. Four high-powered Huawei mobile devices – U8110, U9120, G2200 and G6600 – were showcased to match the specific requirement of different segments of customers. Through its WiFi and Bluetooth facility, users can easily access the Internet and transmit data to each other. U9120 3G/3.5G has a 3.2 mega pixel camera, GPS and SD card with upto 8GB memory. The G2200 comes with FM and has a dust proof keypad, MP3 ring tones and hands free speaker. The G6600 is ideal for social networking, and comes with a 2- mega pixel camera, FM, FM recording, MP3/MP4 player and supports external SD up to 16GB.

A leader in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, Huawei has a presence in over 100 countries.. The launch was attended by James Wu, country manager, Oman; Rishi Bhalla, regional director, Huawei Device; Rajiv Dhar, executive director, Omzest and Khursheed Ashraf, general manager, Waleed Associates.

Osram-Traxon LED Road Show 2010

Al Hassan Electricals Lighting Division in association with OSRAM and Traxon presented the latest information and developments in LED lighting solutions at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The event was attended by high profile lighting designers, architects, interior designers, consultants and representatives of media. The event in Muscat is part of OSRAM’s regional LED roadshow which is covering the most important business hubs in the Gulf Region including Riyadh, Doha, Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat. The event was attended by Hassan bin Ali Salman, chairman – Al Hassan Group, Maqbool Ali Salman, MD, Al Hassan Group and Eng. Talal Al Assaad, CEO-Manufacturing & Trading SBUs, Al Hassan Group. Osram was led by Dr Billy Hartmut, LED Technical Expert from Germany, Tobias Metsch, sales director Middle East, Patrick Kriegeskorte, marketing manager, Mohammed Mossad, Middle East technical manager and Oliveiro Rodrigues, Traxon technical manager.

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