Saudi Aramco, a member of the Regional Clean Sea Organization (RECSO), is sponsoring the Offshore Arabia 2004 Conference and Exhibition, which will take place Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 in Dubai under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of Defense of the United Arab Emirates. The conference will focus on major environmental issues and concerns, providing a forum for exchanging new ideas, theories, research and policies that help in preventing oil spills and combating pollution at sea. Concurrent with the conference, an exhibition will display emerging technologies, equipment and services that are effective in minimizing the impact of oil on the marine environment. Technical workshops related to marine protection also will be conducted in the two days before the conference. Conference chairman Mohammed S. Al-Gusaier, Saudi Aramco's vice president of Distribution and Terminal Operations, at a recent press conference, emphasized the importance of the conference and its theme. The Gulf region, he said, is considered a cornerstone in the world's trade and economy, where tankers carrying millions of barrels of oil and its products pass through to the rest of the world. Almost 50 papers covering various aspects of the theme will be delivered by international and regional subject-matter experts during the conference. RECSO officially was set up in 1972 by 13 founding members with a common objective of maintaining a healthy offshore and protecting the Gulf's resources from oil pollution.
