ConocoPhillips’ Global Water Sustainability Centre (GWSC) celebrated the second annual Discover America Week Qatar by hosting US ambassador Dana Shell Smith for a special tour of its facilities located at Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) in Doha.
As an American company, ConocoPhillips’ GWSC was keen to participate in Discover America Week Qatar, a week-long initiative held from February 15-22 to mark the US-Qatar partnership.
As a testimony to GWSC’s collaborations in Qatar, also attending the occasion was Hamad al-Kuwari, managing director, QSTP, a member of Qatar Foundation.
Dr Samer Adham, manager (water solutions) at ConocoPhillips, said: “As an American company, we value the strong relationship and ties between the US and Qatar and we reaffirm our commitment to develop innovative water solutions for produced water treatment and seawater desalination, and promote water conservation in Qatar.”
On her part, the US ambassador said: “It is rewarding to see American companies contribute to research and development, as well as social responsibility efforts, as they develop their businesses abroad. ConocoPhillips is taking important steps to promote water conservation, water security and education in Qatar to ensure that future generations continue to prosper.”
During the visit, the delegates toured the labs and the visitor centre where they met GWSC’s team of scientists and engineers. The team showcased its advanced treatment and analytical capabilities and award-winning initiatives.
The ConocoPhillips GWSC team was praised for its ongoing efforts to address one of the grand challenges facing Qatar, water security, as identified by the Qatar National Research Strategy.
The delegation also visited GWSC’s visitor centre, which works to promote water conservation to students in a “unique and compelling way”. Since its launch, the GWSC visitor centre has hosted more than 5,000 students from schools around Qatar. Students from Omar Bin Al Khatab Primary School
participated in Wednesday’s event.
Al-Kuwari said, “We appreciate the visit by Her Excellency, US ambassador Dana Shell Smith, to support ConocoPhillips’ Global Water Sustainability Centre. We believe that leadership and advancement are acquired through research and awareness-raising, and that these are best nurtured at a young age, hence our excitement to have welcomed young students as part of this US embassy visit to ConocoPhillips.”
The research programmes at GWSC focus on applying current technologies to develop innovative solutions for the treatment of produced water from the oil and gas industry, desalination of seawater, volume reduction of produced water, recycling of industrial wastewater and bio-treatment with membrane bioreactors.