OPAL launches unified defensive driving permit

BUSINESS REPORTER

MUSCAT, NOV 29

In conjunction with the Sultanate’s celebrations of the glorious 50th National Day, the Oman Society for Petroleum Services (OPAL) celebrated the launch of the Unified Defensive Driving Permit for the energy sector under the patronage of Eng Salim bin Nasser al Aufi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Minerals in the presence of Shaikh Nasr bin Amer al Hosni, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Labour for Labour and Eng Salim bin Mohammed al Nuaimi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology for Transport and a number of executives and heads of member companies. The ceremony was held at the W Muscat Hotel respecting all measure prescribed by Supreme Committee for fight against COVID-19.

The Unified Defensive Driving Permit for the energy sector is an integrated and recognised driving licence for the whole energy sector and allows drivers to drive throughout the sector with a single document that is periodically renewed to ensure commitment to safe driving skills and behaviours to achieve a driving environment free of injuries or accidents.

With Unified Defensive Driving Permit, qualified drivers will be able to drive in all concession areas followed by advanced training and evaluation. This initiative will save operators and contractors a lot of time and efforts in training or testing drivers. In addition, annual costs of up to RO 6 million for the sector will be saved.

Another milestone during the ceremony was awarding the winners of member companies with OPAL Awards for Best Practices.

After a fair competition between oil institutions and companies, PDO, Schlumberger Oman and Seeh Al Sarya won awards in the Health and Safety category.

In the Omanisation category, Occidental of Oman and Al Shawamikh were among the winners. OQ Company, Al Hassan Engineering Company and Al Baraka Oil Services Company were crowned in the category of technical and operational excellence.

In the environmental category, PDO and Oman Cement Company took the crowns. PDO and Petrofac were crowned in the Omani product category. As for the Research and Development category, it went to Daleel Petroleum. And, last but not least, in the Energy Transition category, the award went to Petroleum Development Oman.

The Opal Award for Best Practices competition for member companies has shown an honourable competition among the member companies that submitted their projects to the evaluation committee with the amount of 60 projects, of which 24 projects classified by types of companies qualified to the projects of major operating companies, contractors and local community contractors.

AbdulRahman Humaid al Yahyaei, CEO of Oman Society for Petroleum Services (OPAL), praised the active participation of companies in the various fields of the competition by adding: “We are very proud of this, wide participation of energy companies in the competition with various and magnificent projects they have presented and healthy competition amongst each company in the specified categories for the award.

I would like to express my thanks to all the participating companies for their effort and projects that will undoubtedly contribute to support in spreading best practices among the sector companies.

We also extend our thanks to all companies, institutions and government agencies that have supported the Society to achieve its goals and aspirations throughout the period in order to raise productivity and working culture.”