Dubai residents could soon cancel labour cards at residency department
Dubai residents could soon cancel labour cards at residency department
Dubai: Labour Card cancellation could soon be done at the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) and at its offices in Dubai.
Those who need to cancel their labour cards can complete the procedure of cancellation at the DNRD without the need to visit the Ministry of Labour.
A team from DNRD and the Labour Ministry is studying the possibilities of implementing the new service.
Humaid Bin Deemas, assistant undersecretary at the ministry, said the new service will benefit a large number of expatriates.
Major Khalifa Mattar Balkoba’a, head of external centre sector at DNRD, said the department is looking forward to provide the best service.
He said it is a one-stop-visit option to assess the needs and administrative requirements.
Police call for compulsory fog lights
Police call for compulsory fog lights
Matt Kwong for THE NATIONAL
ABU DHABI // Fog lights capable of penetrating dense early-morning haze should be mandatory for all vehicles to reduce the high accident rate, a new police report suggests.
“All cars in the UAE must have fog lights because we have this exceptional weather here,” said Yousif al Katheeri, a warrant officer who drafted the report. “Front fog lights should be in all cars, even Japanese ones. It doesn’t take much to install them and it could save so many lives and reduce so many accidents.”
A 200-car pileup on the motorway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai on March 11 claimed four lives and left dozens of others injured.
Mr Katheeri said the scale of that accident – blamed on reckless driving and early-morning fog – convinced him that better headlights on cars could have saved lives that day.
“European cars are all already using fog lights,” he said. “Making them compulsory in the UAE could be very useful, so I’m ready to submit it [the report] to the traffic unit.”
Regular headlights dazzle other motorists in foggy conditions, but fog lights, which are mounted lower, increase visibility by projecting concentrated beams of light closer to the ground. Fog usually hovers between 30 and 45 centimetres above the surface.
Rear fog lights also increase the visibility of cars to traffic approaching from behind, and are considered to be better than four-way hazard lights.
Currently, all cars in the GCC are required to have a warning buzzer that sounds when the driver exceeds 120km/h, said Alan D’Souza, a business development manager for the Hertz rental car company in Dubai.
“But there is no mention of fog lights in the GCC specs – nothing at all yet,” said Mr D’Souza. “They might save lives when they’re used at the right time and at a safe distance. Still, there are a lot of factors to consider.”
Newer European cars all have the safety feature, he said, and both front and rear fog lights are mandatory in many parts of the continent.
“But it is a cost element for Japanese carmakers,” he added.
Drivers also have to know when to use the special headlights, he said. “Some people have fog lights but don’t even know where the switch is, or some don’t even know they have them.”
One motorist, Clive Mantell, from London, said putting fog lights on cars already in the UAE would be a “pain in the neck”, but also a welcome move.
“I think it’s to be applauded,” he said.
“It’s a bit surprising it’s taken this long [for a report] because the weather isn’t a new thing. I hope drivers get assistance from the manufacturers because this is an excellent idea.”
He added: “I used to live in Germany during the 1970s, when we had to have fog lights. You just weren’t licensed to drive unless you had those lights, so we just installed them.”
He called the thick fog “one of the most extraordinary aspects” of his experiences living in the UAE. “I’ve seen more foggy days than in my last four years living in London and The Hague, [which are] reputedly foggy cities.”
However, the main cause of most accidents seems to be reckless driving, Mr Mantell said. “Let’s be clear. The rear fog light isn’t going to stop all accidents. When the fog comes down, a good proportion of people just put on their four-way lights, continue speeding along and keep their fingers crossed. That needs to change first.”
mkwong@thenational.ae
Breast cancer in the UAE strikes girls as young as 17
Breast cancer in the UAE strikes girls as young as 17
Alison McMeans and Mitya Underwood for THE NATIONAL
ABU DHABI // Women are being diagnosed with breast cancer in their teens and 20s, in one case as young as 17, highlighting a need for greater awareness of the disease at an early age, say health professionals.
A leading expert has revealed that there are more cases of breast cancer among younger women in the UAE than in other parts of the world. Along with the 17-year-old, a woman of 19 was diagnosed with a disease more commonly associated with women in their 50s.
Late diagnosis often leaves women with little chance of a cure and doctors are calling for campaigns to alert schoolgirls and young women to the danger.
Women, afraid of the stigma still attached to breast cancer in Gulf states, often ignore warning signs and are reluctant to examine themselves. Younger women remain largely ignorant of the need to be aware of the disease from an early age. Dr Rawda al Mutawa, who was involved in the recent Break The Silence campaign, part of the Global Initiative for Breast Cancer Awareness, said: “Throughout the campaign and during the checks we performed on the younger women, many younger people were diagnosed with cancer who had no idea at all, including a 17-year-old.”
Dr Mutawa, the president of the Emirate’s Business Women Council and chief executive of the council’s Abu Dhabi branch, said lack of information was a problem.
“The problem with young people is that they consider this to be an illness that afflicts older women only,” she said, “so they do not heed the advice and warnings.
“During the campaign, we went to secondary schools. Each day, we had 10 or 15 girls going to the hospitals to get mammograms, so they learnt about the importance of these self-examinations.”
Between 2003 and 2006, almost as many women were diagnosed with breast cancer as with all the other types of cancer combined, according to the National Cancer Registry. The disease accounts for 22.8 per cent of the total number of diagnosed cases of cancer in the UAE, making it the country’s most common cancer.
The young age at which women are developing breast cancer is of increasing concern to doctors.
“The breast cancer in the UAE is very special,” said one expert, who has been involved in screening women for more than 10 years. “We have a lot of younger cases and most of them are caught only at a late stage.”
The average age at which breast cancer was diagnosed among Emiratis was between 40 and 45, she said, which was 10 years younger than in Europe. “Of course we get even younger cases, in their 20s and 30s, and we have had patients as young as 17 and 19.”
The national screening centre for women and children was officially opened in the capital a week ago. Its major tasks include educating people about the importance of self-examination at an early age, and overcoming taboos.
Encouraging women to self-examine, especially younger women, was not an easy task, said Dr Mutawa, but it was a vital one: “In the campaign, we focused specifically on girls who had a family history of breast cancer.
“Many people do not realise the hereditary element of the illness and we needed to make them realise the situation.”
It is estimated that only 30 per cent of women with breast cancer in the country are diagnosed in the early stages of the disease, when the chances of a cure are higher.
Dr Miriam al Otaiba, a senior doctor at the Makkah Specialised Medical Centre in Abu Dhabi, said the subject of breast cancer and self-examination was not always raised by doctors, as patients did not always welcome advice on the disease.
“Traditionally speaking, it would be odd for me to just ask the patient to examine her breasts without any complaint or request,” she said. “The patient would not think it was normal.
“However, we do advise and strongly encourage all patients to take certain precautions.”
munderwood@thenational.ae amcmeans@thenational.ae With additional reporting by Hessa al Romaithi and Fatima al Shamsi
Conoco, ADNOC sign long-awaited Abu Dhabi gas deal
Conoco, ADNOC sign long-awaited Abu Dhabi gas deal
(Reuters)8 July 2008
DUBAI – ConocoPhillips and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) signed a long-expected deal on Tuesday to develop sour gas reserves in the United Arab Emirates for a cost that could exceed $10 billion.
The partners did not release the expected project cost after signing the deal, saying only they would ‘jointly share’ any investments in developing sour gas reservoirs within the onshore Shah field.
An ADNOC spokesman declined to comment on the investment costs related to the project.
Costs of the project have escalated, as they have worldwide in the energy sector as producers strain to bring new capacity online to meet rising demand.
‘Completion of final joint venture agreements … is expected by year-end,’ ADNOC and Conoco said in a statement.
The sour gas deal is one of the largest upstream projects in the past year open to international companies competing for limited access to the Middle East’s oil and gas fields.
Saudi Arabia, home to the world’s largest oil reserves, keeps its oilfields closed to international firms.
ConocoPhillips beat competitors — including Exxon Mobile, Occidental Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell — for the project to process 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day at Shah and produce 570 million cubic feet of network gas.
Developing sour gas at the Shah field would cost at least $10 billion, an industry source told Reuters in February.
Conoco and ADNOC would set up a joint venture firm to manage and operate the Shah project, with Abu Dhabi owning 60 percent and Conoco 40 percent, they said on Tuesday.
Record oil revenues from a sevenfold rise in oil prices since 2002 have fuelled economic expansion and rapidly rising demand for gas from both the power sector and the Gulf Arab state’s growing heavy industry.
The UAE holds the world’s fifth-largest gas reserves at nearly 214 trillion cubic feet, much of it sour.
The gas has a content of around 30 percent of potentially deadly hydrogen sulphide, making it tougher and more expensive to produce than conventional gas reserves.
ADNOC unit Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd said in May it would invest about $25 billion in gas-processing plants and pipelines as it develops more fields to meet surging demand.
Adnoc and ConocoPhillips to develop Shah gas field
Adnoc and ConocoPhillips to develop Shah gas field
(By a staff reporter)KHALEEJ TIMES 9 July 2008
ABU DHABI – In a major development, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and leading US oil exploration company ConocoPhillips have signed an Interim Agreement to developing on-shore Shah gas field in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Both companies also agreed to setup a company, to manage and operate the oil fields, upon completion of the project.
Adnoc will have majority 60 per cent interest in the company, while rest of 40 per cent will be held by ConocoPhillips.
According to the details, Adnoc and ConocoPhillips will jointly share the cost of the Shah gas field development project.
It is expected that final joint venture agreements will be completed between the two parties by year-end.
This large-scale project involves the development of sour gas reservoirs within the Shah field, located on-shore approximately 180 km south-west of the city of Abu Dhabi.
Industry analysts put the value of the project at $10 billion, which will pump gas at a time when fast expanding economy needs the most.
The project will involve several gas gathering systems, construction of processing trains to process one billion cubic feet per day gas at Shah to produce 570 million cubic feet per day of network gas, in addition to new gas and liquid pipelines and the construction of sulfur exporting facilities at Ruwais in the emirate.
Great attention was given during the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) stages to select state of the art HSE systems as a result of extensive risk assessment and recovery studies.
ConocoPhillips is an integrated energy company with interests around the world.
Labour card cancellation at DNRD branches soon
Labour card cancellation at DNRD branches soon
By a staff reporter KHALEEJ TIMES 9 July 2008
DUBAI— The external branches of the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) may soon be providing the services for labour card cancellation. If the service starts, individuals will be able to complete the procedure of cancellation of labour cards at any of DNRD branch without having to go to the Ministry of Labour (MoL).
DNRD and MoL are currently discussing the feasibility of providing Labour Card cancellation service at all DNRD’s external branches across the emirate.
A team from DNRD and the Ministry of Labour was formed to study the feasibility of the process and identify the requirements as well as prepare a time frame for the gradual execution of the project across the 12 offices of DNRD in Dubai.
The cooperation details were discussed during a meeting between Humaid bin Dimas, Acting Under-Secretary Ministry of Labour, and Major Khalifa Matar Balkobaa’, Head of External Centre Sector at DNRD, along with a number of employees from both sides.
Bin Dimas, expressing satisfaction over the ongoing strategic partnership between MoL and DNRD, said that the cooperation will benefit a large number of expatriates and help in reducing the commuting time by using the facilities of the nearby branches of DNRD.
Adnoc to finalise Abu Dhabi gas deal
Adnoc to finalise Abu Dhabi gas deal
Tamsin Carlisle for THE NATIONAL July 07. 2008 7:48PM UAE
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and ConocoPhillips, the US oil and gas company, will finalise a long-awaited deal to develop Abu Dhabi’s first major sour gas project at a signing ceremony later today in the capital.
According to industry sources, the companies are likely to announce a 30-year partnership to develop the US$10 billion (Dh36.7bn) onshore gas project, which last year was the biggest Middle Eastern energy development open to bids by international oil companies.
The goal of the technically challenging Shah project is to produce up to one billion cubic feet per day (cfd) of gas to help boost Adnoc’s current output of about 4.5 billion cfd of gas to a targeted six billion cfd. The gas, which could start flowing in 2011, is urgently needed to fuel power and industrial developments in the emirate.
To achieve this, ConocoPhillips and Adnoc would tap deadly sour gas deposits, containing a high concentration of toxic hydrogen sulphide, from thousands of metres below ground. The partnership, in which Adnoc is likely to hold a 60 per cent controlling stake and ConocoPhillips a 40 per cent interest, would call on the US company’s international experience with such developments to render the gas safe.
The deal has been many months in the making. Adnoc surprised the industry in January, when it picked ConocoPhillips as the front-runner for the Shah project, which was expected to go to one of Adnoc’s existing partners – a select congregation that includes the Anglo-Dutch energy group, Royal Dutch Shell, and the US oil companies, ExxonMobil and Occidental Petroleum, all of which submitted bids.
ConocoPhillips may have had to agree to some exceedingly tough terms from Adnoc to gain a foothold in the Middle East and access to the region’s coveted oil and gas reserves analysts said. For instance, it may have agreed to produce Shah’s gas free of charge, in exchange for a substantial share of the liquids that are extracted from the gas and sulphur when the hydrogen sulphide is removed.
The strategy would be extremely risky for the international partner, especially with a forecast of volatile commodity prices. “They would be relying on prices for liquids and sulphur remaining high,” said Ross Cassidy, an analyst with the British energy industry research firm, Wood Mackenzie.
“Adnoc would continue to get a cheap source of gas, which I think has been their objective all along,” he added.
Still, natural gas liquids such as ethane, propane and butane – which are used as petrochemical feedstock and often trade at a premium to crude – are currently fetching near record prices on world markets. Likewise, the price of sulphur, a yellow solid used to make fertilisers and sulphuric acid, has soared more than 10-fold since the beginning of this year to unprecedented heights.
The end game for ConocoPhillips may not be development of the Shah project, but the chance to participate in future energy projects in Abu Dhabi and the Gulf region. Total, the French energy company, is thought to have the best chance of winning a contract for Adnoc’s next sour gas development, the proposed Bab project near Abu Dhabi’s Gulf coast.
But the US company may have set its sights on the emirate’s oil projects.
The 75-year oil concessions that are held by Occidental, ExxonMobil, Shell and other Adnoc partners are due to expire in the next decade, some as early as 2012.
Whether ConocoPhillips would eventually reap an acceptable financial return from joining the UAE concession holders’ club is an open question, although it would certainly be able to book substantial oil and gas reserves. “I do not think Adnoc is going to give anything away as a favour. When these other projects come along, they will be just as competitive,” Mr Cassidy predicted.
However, the US company has already established a beachhead in one Gulf state, Qatar, where it is a partner with the state-owned Qatar Petroleum in a large gas production and liquefaction project. Qatar is the world’s leading exporter of liquefied natural gas.
Last December, ConocoPhillips and Qatar Petroleum signed another deal to pursue joint energy projects outside Qatar.
Adnoc officials could not be reached yesterday for comment, and ConocoPhillips did not return calls.
tcarlisle@thenational.ae
Diesel queues have no end in sight
Diesel queues have no end in sight
THE NATIONAL July 07. 2008
Although petrol prices in the Emirates are among the lowest in the world, diesel prices at retailers other than Adnoc are among the highest. As a result, long queues of lorries have been forming outside Adnoc stations, where the pump price is less than half that of other fuel retailers. Drivers are waiting up to an hour to take advantage of cheaper fuel offered there and blocking traffic in the process.
Last month Dubai-based petrol retailers such as Emarat, Enoc and Eppco raised the price of diesel by 75 fils to Dh19.25 per gallon (US$5.24) while Adnoc’s has remained relatively constant at Dh8.60 (US$2.34). Unlike the Abu Dhabi-based Adnoc, the Dubai companies purchase fuel at international rates and thus are subject to the rising costs of crude. Over the past 18 months they have had to more than double the price they charge for diesel.
The long queues for the fuel at stations within Abu Dhabi’s city limits – which often spill onto busy streets – have created many problems, especially during the rush hour. Previous efforts to reduce the appeal of Adnoc’s diesel to lorry drivers have met with little success. When Abu Dhabi limited the amount of diesel that could be purchased to Dh50, lorry drivers simply drove off and rejoined the queue, exacerbating the problem. Now, on the advice of the road safety division of the traffic and patrols department, Adnoc stations in the city of Abu Dhabi will no longer sell diesel during rush hours.
Adnoc has 129 outlets in every emirate but Dubai – 80 of them outside Abu Dhabi. The same congestion problems have materialised in these emirates. In Sharjah, the police have begun fining drivers Dh400 for queueing along roads while limiting the sale of diesel to Dh100 to 300. Because of the lack of Adnoc stations, drivers are waiting up to three hours to be served, compounding the problem.
The situation is not sustainable, but the resolution will not be easy. While the congestion created is a genuine hazard that increases the likelihood of accidents, one must sympathise with transport companies struggling to remain profitable among numerous sky-rocketing costs. Nor can the Dubai-based companies, whose profits are being squeezed as a result of rising crude costs, be asked to keep their prices the same as Abu Dhabi’s. While the most obvious solution would be for Adnoc to build more stations throughout the UAE, that would amount to unfair competition with other suppliers.
What is clear is that the current measures do not address the root cause of the problem. As long as there is a significant price differential between Adnoc’s and the other companies’ fuel, there will be queues. Either Adnoc will have to raise its prices – highly unpopular – or provide its competitors with cheaper diesel – highly expensive. Even that will be difficult as Abu Dhabi’s refining capacity is under strain. There are likely to be queues for some time.
Bid to curb diesel sales
Bid to curb diesel sales
Matt Chung for THE NATIONAL July 07. 2008
ABU DHABI // Adnoc has been asked to restrict sales of diesel at its petrol stations on the island to reduce traffic congestion and accidents caused by vehicles queuing on main roads to take advantage of cheap prices.
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company sells diesel for Dh8.60 (US$2.34) per gallon, less than half the cost of fuel at the Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc), Emarat and Emirates Petroleum Products Company (Eppco) stations in Dubai and the northern Emirates, where it costs Dh19.25 (US$5.24) per gallon.
The price of diesel in the northern Emirates is said to have increased by 58 per cent this year.
An increase in the number of vehicles using diesel has contributed to congestion and clogged right-hand lanes of roads near the petrol stations are causing more accidents, according to a report by the Abu Dhabi Traffic and Patrols department, seen by The National.
Lorry drivers say they can wait up to an hour to fill their tanks. At busy times, some stations are imposing limits on diesel sales, such as Dh50 or Dh100 per vehicle.
However, as some drivers merely leave the pump and rejoin the queue, this may have made congestion only worse.
“They gave a limit, but some people, they come back around,” said Imtiaz Khan, 32, a lorry driver who works for a construction company in Abu Dhabi.
The report recommended diesel should not be sold to lorries and buses on the island between 7am and 9am, 1pm and 3pm and 6pm and 9pm.
The department’s report says long-term solutions could include selling diesel only at stations outside the city, creating station entrances and exits away from main roads where possible and opening new stations only in areas where road safety can be guaranteed.
Some stations have already stopped selling diesel, which yesterday afternoon was not available at the Adnoc outlets on Airport Road between 11th and 13th streets.
Major Hussein al Harthi, the head of the traffic engineering and road safety section for Traffic and Patrols, said Adnoc had been asked to co-ordinate with traffic police when choosing new sites for stations and to modify entrances. Officers were being sent to petrol stations to manage vehicles entering and exiting stations and to break up lengthy queues. The most congested stations were at the intersection of Fourth and Al Saada streets, Airport Road near Zayed Sports City and Between Two Bridges, said the report.
Adnoc, which also has 49 petrol stations in the emirates of Sharjah, Ajman, Ras al Khaimah, Umm ul Quwain and Fujairah, has kept its diesel prices at Dh8.6, despite the sharp increase at other UAE petrol stations. Petrol prices, fixed at Dh6.25 per gallon for an octane rating of 95, have been steady since 2005.
The Ministry of Interior’s traffic department and Adnoc officials met in May to discuss limiting the sale of diesel to certain hours for lorries heavier than 2.5 tonnes and building diesel stations on main roads outside cities. Ghaith al Za’abi, the director of the ministry’s traffic department, said the department had also suggested Adnoc increase its number of diesel pumps.
The rise in the price of diesel has contributed to inflation by pushing up the cost of transporting food and daily commodities and the proposals would make it even more difficult for transport companies to obtain cheap diesel.
Adnoc stations in the northern Emirates stopped sales of diesel to lorries with Dubai licence plates last month and police have been handing out fines to vehicles queuing in Sharjah. Saudi Arabia has introduced fines of 5,000 riyals (Dh4,03) to stop its residents attaching second fuel tanks to their lorries.
Some drivers are selling their vehicles, fed up with the long queues and the rising prices. “It’s not economical any more,” said Hamdi Shehabeh, who recently sold his diesel Isuzu lorry. He said he remembered a time when it cost only Dh4.5 a gallon to fill his tank.
“Imagine what is happening with contractors who don’t have a choice and have to use diesel,” he said.
* With additional reporting by Hashim al Mohammed
New system being installed at Dubai airport to detect fake travel documents
New system being installed at Dubai airport to detect fake travel documents
By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter GULF NEWS Published: July 07, 2008, 18:02
Dubai: The Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) reinforced its employees’ skills and ability to spot falsified documents and passports following an extensive training on the Electronic Documentation Information System on Network (EDISON) for verifying various passport security features and examination of questioned documents.
The system which is currently implemented by DNRD at the Dubai International Airport various terminals to assist passport control officers in detecting forged travel documents containing images of over 1,400 genuine and fake travel document samples from over 190 countries and is recognised as a global reference for testing the authenticity and validity of travel documents.
Questionable documents are taken to a specially-set laboratory at the DNRD offices at the DIA to avoid any delays inflicted on regular passengers.
A delegation from the International (EDISON) Committee headed by Diederik Fabius recently met with Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director of DNRD to discuss the next phases of the implementation of the system.
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