First TEDx summit takes off at Katara - Qatar Tribune

METRO MUSINGS
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
www.qatar-tribune.com 23
Shell raises awareness
at QP environment fair
Oryx GTL backs
Qatar’s green
objectives
TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK
DOHA
QATAR Shell reached out to
hundreds of families and children
at the Qatar Petroleum
Environment Fair to enhance
their awareness of energy
supply and demand, environmental
consequences and
means of economising energy
consumption.
While presenting a variety
of Shell initiatives to preserve
the environment, the company’s
booth also featured an
interactive game helping children
to clearly understand
their energy consumption
and the choices they can
make to protect the environment
by eliminating energy
waste.
The QP Environment Fair
was opened on Saturday by
Minister of Energy and
Industry HE Dr Mohammed
bin Saleh al Sada to drive a
strong message that
“Environment is Everyone’s
Responsibility” and to ensure
that the public is informed
about the several environmental
initiatives in the oil
and gas sector.
Wael Sawan, executive
vice-president of Qatar Shell
and Managing Director of
Pearl Gas-to-Liquids project
said: “The environment fair
clearly demonstrates QP’s
commitment to minimising
the environmental impact of
oil and gas operations. We are
very proud that we are able to
support this QP drive by featuring
some of our innovative
environmental initiatives. We
also strongly support the
focus on the younger generation
and making them aware
of how they can support the
Officials at the Shell stand during the Qatar Petroleum Environment Fair, in Doha, recently.
environmental aspirations of
the country.”
The Shell booth took visitors
on an ‘energy discovery
journey’: an experiential
demonstration explained the
properties of fuels derived
from the gas-to-liquids
process and their impact on
improving local air qualities
where they are used. In a controlled
experiment, visitors
were shown how the colourless
and odourless GTL fuels
emit less fumes compared to
their conventional counterparts
derived from oil.
Qatar Petroleum and Shell
together developed Pearl
GTL project, the largest GTL
plant in the world and the
largest energy project in
Qatar. When fully operational,
Pearl GTL will be the
Students participate in a quiz at the Shell booth.
largest source of high quality
liquid fuels and products
derived from gas.
Visitors were then asked to
take part in an ‘energy quiz”,
which helped to raise awareness
of global energy supply
and demand and how children
can reduce their own
energy use and influence others
to reduce energy waste.
Children were given magnet
energy checklist to ensure
they continue with good
‘energy saving’ behaviours.
The visitors were also introduced
to ultra fuel efficiency
in the Shell Eco-Marathon
Challenge, where students
from around the world are
invited to build, operate and
test ultra fuel efficient vehicles.
Students from Qatar
University and Texas A&M
were the first from the Gulf
region to ever participate in a
Shell Eco-Marathon
Competition in 2011.
TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK
DOHA
ORYX GTL Limited, a leading
Qatari company in the gas-toliquids
(GTL) industry, participated
in the Qatar
Petroleum Environment Fair
to support the country in its
commitment to the environment,
while offering interesting
and fun activities for children
of all ages.
In line with its vision and
values, Oryx GTL, according to
a statement issued by the company
on Monday, liaised with
the team planning the World
Environment Day (WED) celebrations,
to teach children
about the importance of caring
for the environment and how
everyone has a role in its conservation
in a fun and creative
way, by painting a rainforest
inspired mural in its stand and
doing other artistic activities.
The WED is a worldwide
campaign of the United
Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) to celebrate
concrete, socially
responsible activity in promoting
greater awareness about
the environment and sustainable
development. The year,
the focus of the day was on
everyone’s responsibility
towards a greener economy to
guarantee a more sustainable
and greener future for the generations
to come.
Children and adults who visited
the Oryx GTL stand had
the opportunity to learn new
ways to protect the environment
starting from home,
have fun with different artistic
activities, as well as know
more about the several initiatives
organised by IAID and
the Friends of the
Environment Centre (FEC) to
celebrate the WED in Qatar
with the support of Oryx GTL
as platinum sponsor.
Oryx GTL’s participation in
the 2012 QP Environment Fair
provided the company opportunity
to educate children,
raise awareness about environmental
issues, while supporting
Qatar in its environmental
goals.
The Qatar Petroleum (QP)
Environment Fair is an annual
event created to educate,
entertain and raise awareness
about several important environmental
issues that affect
Qatar and the world. During
the three-day event, all QP
joint ventures, and other wellknown
companies in the country,
had a golden opportunity
to reach to children as a way to
guarantee a greener future for
the planet.
Visitors at the Oryx GTL stand during the Environment Fair, in
Doha, recently.
SAFARI DRAW WINNER
al khaliji launches new Visa credit card
Ahmed Ali, first prize winner in the Safari Mall cash promotion, receives his prize, in Doha, recently.
TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK
DOHA
AL KHALIJ Commercial
Bank (al khaliji) has
announced the latest addition
to its credit card portfolio, the
‘al khaliji Visa Infinite Card.’
The card is specially geared
towards meeting the demanding
requirements of affluent
and high net worth clients,
and because of its exclusivity,
will only be offered to a select
few customers on an invitation-only
basis.
“al khaliji Visa Infinite cardholders
benefit from both the
exclusive concierge services
and protection coverage that
the card offers,” explained
Arfat Qayyum, acting head of
consumer banking at al khaliji.
“We are one of the few
banks that offer this card in
Qatar, and this is testament to
our commitment to our premium
banking customer
base.”
The al khaliji Visa Infinite
Card offers benefits that go
way beyond the normal offerings
of traditional credit cards.
Exclusive services include a
multi-lingual concierge to
take care of customers’ travel
requirements, an Infinite
Global Assistance service to
deal with any issues that may
arise with the card, in addition
to extended travel and medical
insurance, crisis response
assistance and other services.
“The card itself is a symbol
of prestige and exclusivity,”
continued Qayyum “We are
The card is geared
towards meeting
the demanding
requirements of
affluent and high
net worth clients.
confident that Visa Infinite
Card customers will be
extremely pleased with the
privileges that are associated
with the card, and the services
that are tailor-made to fit their
lifestyles.”
Isaac Thomas, country
manager at Visa CEMEA for
Qatar, Oman, and Yemen,
spoke about the card. “We are
delighted to be partnering
with al khaliji to bring this
exclusive product to its premium
banking clients. Visa
Infinite is designed with this
very audience in mind, successfully
meeting the requirements
of this select group of
consumers through an unparalleled
range of truly exceptional
services and benefits,”
he said.
“These include the complimentary
Visa Infinite credit
card concierge which offers
tailored solutions to each
cardholder’s personal needs,”
Thomas added.
Classical dance students thrill audience with performance
SANTHOSH CHANDRAN
DOHA
BUDDING students of
Indian classical dances held
the audience spell bound with
their captivating and outstanding
performance at Gulf
Cinema recently.
In an enthralling and spectacular
display entitled
‘Noopuradhwani 2012’, the
young disciples of renowned
dance guru Kalamandalam
Seema, captured the hearts of
the audience.
The three-hour long dance
spectacle highlighted the
mastery of the dancers over
ancient South Indian classical
dances, Mohiniyattam, Bharatanatyam
and Kuchipudi.
The programme began with
‘Enthoro Mahanu Bhavulu’ a
dedicatory piece to the great
masters and performers,
composed by the renowned,
19th Century composer,
Saint Thyagaraja.
This was followed by
‘Cholkettu’, a primary item in
the ‘Mohiniyattam’ series
which was marked by sensuous,
graceful body movements.
The dancers also
showed their emotive abilities
conveying the pangs of separation
and the underlying sorrows
in some of the
‘Mohiniyttam’ acts that followed.
‘Bharatanatyam’ performances,
yet another an integral
part of the show, were
marked by graceful body
movements and elaborate
footwork.
‘Kuchipudi’ dancers followed,
displaying fast, rhythmic
footwork and a myriad of
emotions through subtle
expressions.
The dancers could also
effective portray love, sublime
romance, rage, mercy and a
multitude of emotions
Indian classical dance students perform at a function, in Doha, recently.
through various performances
based on the classical compositions
revolving around
ancient, well known characters
of the works by Indian
maestros.
The show came to end with
all the performers coming
together for a grand finale
titled ‘Enchanters/Bhavayami’,
a contemporary fusion
dance composed and choreographed
by Seema. The
dance, built around Indian
classical and Chinese piece of
music titled ‘Phases of the
Moon’, featured enchanting
dancers dressed as peacocks
who were later joined by the
Indian Classical dancers.
Benzy Reji and Nasweeha
Nazeer compeered the show
while Preji and Sreedevi
Ananthakrishnan provided
the narratives of each dance
piece. Nandakumar Menon
controlled the visual recordings.
Karun Menon was the
chief coordinator of the programme.