Aramco Asia hosts virtual forum to lead the way for nonmetallic solutions

Aramco Asia Engineering and Technical Services (E&TS) hosted the virtual Nonmetallic Forum on June 23 following the establishment of the Nonmetallic Excellence and Innovation Center for Building Materials (NEXCEL) between Aramco and China Building Material Academy (CBMA) earlier this year.

Over 100 participants joined the forum via video link to address the opportunities and challenges for nonmetallic solutions in the building and construction fields. This is one of a series of technical measures Aramco Asia has adopted to ensure business continuity despite travel restrictions stemming from a fresh round of COVID-19 outbreak in the region.

Innovation, Influence, and Improvement

The 120-minute priority event, which focused on the theme of “Innovation, Influence, and Improvement,” facilitated a dialogue for attendees to listen to presentations and join each other in discussions on the roadmap, strategy, engineering, and application for nonmetallic technology.

“Aramco gained two decades of experience in developing and deploying nonmetallic materials in our production pipelines and operating plants,” said Aramco Asia China Country manager Mushabab M. Qahtani. “Therefore, considering our success in the oil and gas industry, we would like to encourage all to expand the nonmetallic business strategy to other potential industrial sectors in which building and construction domain is one of the most important.”

On behalf of Aramco's nonmetallic team, Waleed L. Al Otaibi, SAO nonmetallic project manager, explained the corporate nonmetallic strategy. “We have a clear vision to become a global leader in the nonmetallic business, with the key objective of maximizing the value of our resources, minimizing the life cycle of our assets, localizing the nonmetallic industry and reducing our hydrocarbon footprint. Now our strategy focuses on five key sectors of oil and gas, building and construction, automotive, packaging, and renewables.”

Informative presentations and in-depth discussions

Ten presenters, including experts and professionals from the Aramco nonmetallic team, NEXCEL, suppliers and technical partners, treated the participants with insightful progress and helped generate discussions among them.

• Mohammed Al Salloum from Aramco spoke about the corporate nonmetallic strategy in building and construction
• NEXCEL Program director Li Juan presented the possibilities to build a promising future with nonmetallics
• Liu Yongchuan, vice president of Harbin FRP Institute (affiliated to CBMA), introduced the application of composite materials in telecommunications.

Speakers from suppliers and technical solution providers also presented topics that promoted the application of nonmetallic technologies.

• Julien Saade, business development manager with IKK MATEENBAR, introduced the challenges of GFRP rebar in the project
• Zhang Yu, CEO of Shanghai CoinRobotics Technology Co. Ltd., shared with the audience the large-scale additive and subtractive manufacturing solutions for architectural landscape

Linda Liu, overseas business manager of Jiangsu Golden University, presented the nonmetallic grating for structural fire integrity

In his closing remarks, Mohammed Al Qahtani, vice president of Engineering and Technical Services at Aramco Asia, noted: “The platform is well established to align mutual interests and explore further collaboration. You are welcome at any time to share with us the ideas and opportunities that will advance the development and application of the nonmetallic materials.”