Bahrain will host the second Middle East Refining Technology Conference (MERTC) and exhibition, under the patronage of Oil Minister, Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, on January 23-24.

Organised by the World Refining Association, in cooperation and coordination with the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA), and sponsored by a number of international oil companies, MERTC will attract experts, leaders of famous refining companies, and refining technology academicians and researchers.

Oil minister praised the World Refining Association’s choice of Bahrain to host the second edition of the MERTC thanks to the kingdom’s good reputation in the conferences industry, as well as thanks to outstanding success of the first edition, also held in Bahrain in 2017.

He expressed sincere thanks and appreciation to the government for the tremendous efforts it is exerting to ensure the success of events aimed at boosting the national economy and supporting the sustainable development process in the kingdom.

40 speakers will focus on a number of key themes, including Refining-Petchem Integration, FCC and Catalyst Advances, Environment, Digitalization and optimisation technologies as well as more strategic topics, such as Talent retention, competitiveness in the Middle East and IMO.

The minister commended the efforts of the World Refining Association and the event’s advisory board to ensure the success of such a specialised conference.

Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa also highlighted NOGA’s keenness to implement the directives of the leadership to study the priorities of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in different sectors, in line with the Paris Agreement, signed in Paris 2015.

The Agreement aims to keep a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.