GE Day comes to Doha

GE has been doing business in Qatar for almost 35 years, and GE-designed gas turbines have been operating since the 1980s.

But last year saw the US engineering giant's oil and gas division clinch $1 billion in commitments and orders from Qatar Petroleum, and the signing of a strategic agreement for the first 'supertrain' for the Qatar II LNG project.

In addition, GE has planned maintenance contracts for 15 GE-technology gas turbines installed at the existing Ras Laffan LNG plant; and the maintenance of a 100-kilometre natural gas pipeline. However, there is no doubt that GE would like to be winning more orders in Qatar.

Regional President & CEO Nabil A. Habayeb told AME Info:

'We would like to sell more from the whole range of GE products and services to assist the diversification from an oil and gas based economy. We have an enormous amount of equipment and services to provide for sectors as diverse as healthcare to airports, aircraft engines and hotels and resorts.'

Mr. Habayeb says that GE's order book in his region has mushroomed from around $1 billion four years ago to $6-8 billion today out of GE's expected worldwide sales of some $170 billion in 2005. 'This is one of our fastest growing markets,' he adds.

New Doha offices

At the G Day event Qatar Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah and US Secretary of Energy, Samuel W. Bodman, inaugurated the group's new corporate offices in Doha and unveiled the model of the new Oil & Gas service centre, and heard of a $30 million budget commitment over the next five years.

The new service centre is borne out of GE's long-term collaboration with Qatar Petroleum to support oil and gas resources in the State, and will also serve as a central point for all oil and gas-related service activities in the region and elsewhere.

'The rapid growth of Qatar naturally spurs an increasing demand for power and water infrastructure,' says Mr. Habayeb. 'Qatar has invested heavily in new power capacity over the last three years and GE is playing a significant role.

'For example Qatar Electricity & Water Compnay recently signed a $520 million contract with a GE consortium to expand its Ras Abu Fontas B-2 power plant, due for completion in 2007. For this project GW will supply three Frame 9FA turbines, the first application of this technology in Qatar.'

Aircraft engine maker

Meanwhile, besides the energy sector, GE has long been a provider of engines for the Qatar Airways' fleet, and the airline is set to become the largest operator of GE-powered Airbus A330s in the world. The GEnx engine has also been chosen to power its new fleet of 60 Airbus A350 aircraft.

The 300 key customers and partners who attended the GE Day clearly went away impressed by the breadth of engineering and services, and by the company's commitment to the development of Qatar.