Date/Time
Date(s) - 11 March 2015
12:00 am
Categories No Categories
EQUATE Petrochemical Company, Kuwait’s first international joint-venture in this industry, EQUATE Vice President for Technical Services Mohammad Al Benali participated in the 2nd KIACS 2015 (www.kiacs.org) press conference in partnership with Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) represented by its Deputy CEO for Support Services Khaled Al-Asousi.
During the press conference, Al Benali said:
1- First KIACS was organized during May 2014 by EQUATE in partnership and sponsorship with KPC & Subsidiaries, especially Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC).
2- During the 1st KIACS 2014, Minister of Oil & State Minister for National Assembly Affairs Dr. Ali Al-Omair stressed the need to hold such a conference on annual basis to ensure staying up-to-date with latest development relevant to Industrial Automation Control Systems (IACS).
3- This year, we are pleased that our “Partners in Success” Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) are organizing this event, KIACS-2 for the year 2015, under the leadership of KNPC Deputy CEO for Support Services Khaled Al-Asousi.
4- As an industrial company, EQUATE devotes and dedicates notable resources to its IACS to ensure maintaining its world-class operations at all time. It is not only a matter of having the latest technology, it is also about having overall sustainability by securing, protecting, developing and maintaining such sophisticated systems.
5- Intel has estimated that the annual losses to the global economy from cybercrimes is more than USD 400 billion annually.
6- Kuwait is part of the global community and is affected by this matter like all other countries that have Industrial Automations Control Systems (IACS).
7- While we do not have an exact figure on the impact such cybercrimes have on Kuwait, EQUATE strongly urges all sides, government and private alike, to form a partnership to encounter this growing danger.
8- We must realize that most attacks against Industrial Automations Control Systems (IACS) are not reported. For example, nuclear plants in certain parts of the world suffered from a very serious and dangerous attack that annulled its entire control system. This happened during 2012. In addition, a major European steel manufacturer faced an extremely comprehensive attack against its control systems in 2014 in which physical damages to the facility took place.
9- There are many sources for these cyber-attacks, such as memory sticks, emails, internet links and others.
10- In conclusion, I would like to extend utmost appreciation and gratitude to KNPC, as well as all KPC & Subsidiaries, for organizing this event, along with best wishes to them and all participants in the conference.
Established in 1995, EQUATE Petrochemical Company is an international joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). Commencing production in 1997, EQUATE is the single operator of a fully integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing over 5 million tons annually of high-quality petrochemical products which are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe. www.equate.com.