The Fertiliser Industry Safety, Health and Environment Conference scheduled to be hosted by Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) from March 14 to 19 will have immense significance owing to the contribution of this sector in providing the world with fertilisers used in the production of agricultural crops.

The focus is on the manufacture of urea which is considered the most important fertiliser in the world and will witness an increase of 156 million tonnes by the year 2012, an increase of 15 per cent, according to a report published in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

Participants in the conference, to be held under the patronage of Oil and Gas Affairs Minister and National Oil and Gas Authority chairman Dr Abdulhussain Mirza, will include leading international companies from all over the world.

The contribution of Gulf companies is the best evidence of the keen interest of these companies in the success of this conference that is coming to the region for the first time, said GPIC general manager Abdul Rahman Jawahery.

He said if the International Fertiliser Association did not have confidence in the potential of Gulf companies, it would not have agreed to hosting the conference by them in this region.

He said the Gulf states are considered as some of the most important producers of fertilisers with an output of 14m metric tonnes of the total world production of 136m metric tonnes, according to the IFA figures for last year.

GPIC manufactures urea with an annual capacity of 600,000 metric tonnes, ammonia with a capacity of 400,000 metric tonnes and methanol with a capacity of 400,000 metric tonnes. - TradeArabia News Service