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As a result of the recent Doha service station incident as reported by
PetrolWorld, new safety measures being implemented include the
installation of electronic devices to check fuel levels.
The chairman Engineer Saad Ali al-Kubaisi of the Petrol Station
Executive Committee (PSEC) has reported to media including Gulf
Times that the new electronic instruments should start to arrive
in Qatar by April 2010 and usage would become mandatory by June 2010.
“During investigations, we found certain safety instructions had been
ignored. One was the lack of a safety aspect of the storage tank
compartment,” said al-Kubaisi, who is also the helath & Safety
Director of Qatar Petroleum (QP). “There was an opening in the
sand which coupled with ageing, allowed air to enter the tank and mix
with the fuel,” the official said, while maintaining that the incident
was “rare” not only in Qatar but anywhere in the world.
“Reaching the target of June is important for us also, as chances of
vapourisation increases during summer,” committee member Hassan Ali
al-Qasmi, the director of Industrial Inspection & Monitoring at the
Ministry of Environment (MoE), explained. Apart from QP and MoE, the
PSEC, which was set up in 2007 on the directives of HH the Heir
Apparent, has representation from Woqod, Civil Defence and the Ministry
of Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning.
Al-Kubaisi stated it has also been decided to have the Qatar service
station network (70 fuel retail stations) regularly inspected.
“An international consultancy is studying the conditions of service
stations in the country,” al-Kubaisi noted. The exercise is likely to
conclude this year, leading to the issue of a law regulating the
functioning of petrol stations in the country. The law is likely to
cover issues like pollution, leakages and spills. According to
him, the strategy is not to disturb theservcie stations while
implementing solutions. The officials admitted that an evaluation of
the service stations in Qatar had revealed problems with their
inspection and monitoring systems, but insisted that PSEC was there to
correct them.
“The pace of development in Qatar was so rapid. For the purpose of
comparison, Woqod’s latest announcement of its plan to open 100 more
petrol stations (with associated facilities) makes sense. There’s room
for more refuelling points especially in suburbia,” al-Kubaisi added.
PSEC is responsible for liaising among the various state agencies,
providing plans for rehabilitation and licensing of petrol stations, as
per pre-defined standards in accordance with international guidelines.
PSEC evaluates and enforces regulations that range from safety to
security to environment. PSEC is also engaged in cross-border
sharing of expertise, as evident from a recent visit to the UAE,
officials pointed out.
PetrolWorld 260110
28th October 2009 – Qatar : Service Station Network to be Regularly Inspected
16th October 2009 – Qatar: UST Explosion at Doha Service Station
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