“All the contracts might be awarded by early next year and we’re hoping for completion in 2017,” Jamal Al-Loughani, deputy managing director of marketing at KNPC, told the MPGC conference organized by Conference Connection in Bahrain.

KNPC operates Opec member Kuwait’s three existing refineries, which together have a capacity of 930,000 bpd.

Investment in the Al-Zour refinery, estimated to cost around $14.5 billion, has been delayed for years due to political wrangling.

Loughani also said he expected Kuwait to import 40-45 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by October 2012, more than it did during the peak summer period from March to October last year.

The oil exporter needs to import gas for power generation to meet air conditioning demand in hot summer months.

More than 500 senior executives will attend the Arab Advisors Group’s 9th Convergence Summit to deliberate market trends and growth strategies in the Technology, Media, Telecommunications (TMT) space, including cloud-based services and revenue models.

The summit, being held under the royal patronage of Princess Sumaya Bint El Hassan, president of El Hassan Science City and the Royal Scientific Society, will take place in Amman on May 22 and 23 at the Four Seasons Hotel.

The summit comes as mobile broadband and broadband-enabled high performance handsets experience increasing adoption in the Arab World’s mobile markets, redefining and expanding the industry, according to regional research house and summit organiser Arab Advisors Group.

A company statement Saturday said the project includes a smart fiber-optic network to provide the project with an integrated information technology solution for all communications and services.

The agreement is the foundation for establishing a smart city based on information and communication technology with a goal to provide outstanding level of services in the region.

The infrastructure will be developed according to the highest international standards, including interactive e-services for all project elements such as safety and security, road traffic, monitoring facilities and other services.

The signing took place in the presence of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Eng. Saud Bin Majed Al Daweesh, CEO, STC Group.

Eng. Talal Almaiman, Executive Director for Development and Domestic Investments, KHC and Jameel Abdullah Al Molhem – CEO of KSA Operations, signed the agreement at KHC’s office in Riyadh.

Alwaleed said: “This significant strategic alliance between Kingdom Holding and Saudi Telecom is a beginning of a long term relationship with STC’s extensive experience in this filed we are confident it will add value to the development of Kingdom’s smart city at a high level of telecommunications standards.”

Almaiman added that “we at Kingdom Holding understand that the world is rapidly changing and we recognize the importance of lifestyle quality; therefore, our vision and objective is to exceed all expectations in light of our global experience STC was selected based on their well-known extensive experience and capability in the telecommunication filed.”

Al Daweesh said “we at STC are keen to partner with Kingdom Holding in light of its success with local mega projects and presence globally. This is in line with our belief to work closely with globally experienced companies to build smart cities given our extensive capabilities in this sector.”

The Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) invited international consortia to prequalify for the project, which it wants to be finished in four years.

“ADA invites global consortia specialised in the production and supply of rolling stock, control and telecommunications systems as well as metro tunnelling, civil, mechanical and electrical works to prequalify for Riyadh metro project,” it said in a statement.

Metro projects typically cost billions of dollars to build. The prequalification notice came with a June 20 deadline.

In April, the Saudi Cabinet approved plans to develop a new public transport network in the city within four years that would include both a metro and a new fleet of buses.

The project will be overseen by a committee headed by Prince Sattam, who was appointed Riyadh Governor in November and is chairman of ADA, and also including the finance and transport ministers.

About four-fifths of the network would be underground, including a line running under Al-Olaya Street, Al-Watan daily wrote on Tuesday quoting “informed sources”.

Saudi Arabia has only limited public transport facilities and Riyadh suffers grinding congestion for much of the day and into late evenings.

In December the government announced a 690 billion riyal ($184 billion) budget for 2012, as it seeks to boost infrastructure, education and health.

The essential oils and lubricants market is likely to bounce back to its 2010 level by 2016, said Dr Abdulhussain Mirza, Bahrain’s Energy Minister.

He was speaking at the opening of the first Middle East Conference for Base Oil and Lubes 2012at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa yesterday.

The conference, whose theme is “Opportunities and Challenges for the Essential Oils and Lubricants Manufacturing Industry and Future Prospects,” was organised by Conference Connection and Petrosil in collaboration with the National Oil and Gas Authority.

More than 150 senior industry experts from 16 countries were taking part in the two-day event to exchange information and scientific expertise and to work on developing participants’ practical and vocational skills.

The minister expressed his delight that the organisers had chosen Bahrain for the world-class event.

He said that in 2011, Bahrain had inaugurated the essential oils and lubricants production project owned by the Bahrain Basic Oils and Lubricants Company at a total cost of $430 million.

He said that in the current market situation and in view of limited resources, technical and marketing risks should be reduced but not overlooked.

One method to achieve this ambition was to form strategic alliances in which companies synergistically rely on their points of strength.

Regarding the essential oils and lubricants factory in Bahrain, he said the Finnish company Neste Oil provided technical know-how from the Neste-Jacobs Group, and operational expertise from Borvo Refinery in Finland in addition to its own marketing experience gained through its global operations.

Bahrain committed highly qualified manpower and a plot of land located in the vicinity of the refinery and export facilities for the project, he said.

He said the project was implemented with employees from 12 nationalities who spoke 20 languages and was completed within the allocated budget and specified timetable and had a record of 10 million hours of operation without any time-wasting incident.

The contract was signed by HRH Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Thenayan Al-Saud the Head of the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yabu in HRH office in Riyadh with Azmeel Contracting Company which will undertake the expansion of the pipe line route , so that it includes the horizontal supports of pre-cast concrete for pipes and steel structures such as loop networks for expansion and pipes steel structures , and structures for entrance of pipe  bridges and crossings support structures and safety area support.

The company will also undertake the construction of a fence for pipe line passages so that grid barriers of high density polyethylene are installed along the passages starting from King Fahad Industrial Sea port through Jubail1 and ending in Jubail 2, in order to stop sand movement to passages. Also roads are provided for service and passage entry, and fire water network, fences, gates and bridges for drainage channels. The scope of work also includes renumbering steel structures, bases and concrete horizontal supports located in the passages in Jubail 1 and Jubail2 and the industrial port in addition to executing designing works for releasing bottlenecks in structures of some crossings. The project will be completed within two months.

The new warehouse, which will use latest technologies in the areas of storage and products classifications, is within the company’s general strategy to keep abreast of latest global business development, said a statement from Bahra Cables.

The new facility can accommodate more than 19,000 pallets, in addition to 2500 pallets in an air-conditioned and temperature controlled, according to product type, storage area, it stated.

The warehouse, as well, has an area of 1,000 sq m for storing spare parts for machinery and equipment used in the company’s production operations, along with an open area to store more than 5000 of produced cable drums.

Speaking on the ambitious plans, Talal Idriss, the Bahra Cables CEO said the first stage of the new storage will be opened in the beginning of June, while the second stage will be launched by the year end.

The new storage system, supplied by the Italian company (Span), uses the latest wireless signal technology for convenient and quick in-and- out automatic service.

‘The hitech warehouse and technology will enable to company to  implement its production plans to meet its obligations to its customers, through using the maximum possible area of the warehouse, ensuring that first products go in are first to go out, in addition to reducing the coding number  of products and thus provide quick access to the required product,’ Idriss noted.

‘Moreover, as forklifts will not pass between shelves, as in regular systems, the number of the likelihood of accidents will be reduced dramatically; this is an addition to using strong and rigid shelves,’ he added.

The Domus Worker’s Village project is a staff-accommodation facility located in Jubail that houses over 1,000 of Alturki Group’s employees in the area. The 107,639 square-foot (10,000 square-meter) development also offers amenities including a wellness center, multi-use indoor and outdoor entertainment rooms, a first-aid clinic, and prayer halls. The Alturki Business Park commercial project is a 91,493 square-foot (8,500 square-meter) office park located in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province where the company has relocated its headquarters. Alturki Group envisions that the development will become a hub for local and international business who can work together and collaborate on projects.

The CEO of the company engineer Ali bin Saleh AlBarak explained in a press release that the signed contracts include the execution of electric power relay stations in Riyadh and AlKharj and Dawadmi governorates and north eastern AlRas in Qaseem region in order to lessen overload on existing stations which are loaded in excess of their capacity.

He confirmed that the construction of these stations aims at matching the overloads and expansions in construction planning and to contribute to enhancing the reliability and efficiency of the network, reinforcing the level of electricity services provided and to feed the new loads and provide electricity services to subscribers and to continue electricity feeding and lessen costs, and increase the reliability of electrical link between Riyadh and Qaseem.

Engineer Al- Barak pointed out that the company approved a budget for 2012 which exceeds SR 55 billion for the execution of a number of stations of electricity power generation and projects of transport and distribution in different parts of the Kingdom and providing electric service to 250 thousand new subscribers in Kingdom’s cities and villages in order to enhance electrical capabilities and meet subscribers needs.