Steel fabricator Geyad for Commerce and Import Company expects to work more on pressure vessels in the near future and is currently developing a workshop dedicated exclusively for that kind of activity at Dammam's second Industrial City where the company's plant is located.

The company, which fabricates steel structures, tanks, pressure vessels, pipe spools and miscellaneous steel and has design facilities, is now working on four jobs for Mitsubishi Heavy Industry (MHI), which will be used at the Ghazlan power project in Saudi Arabia, says Geyad general manager Dr Khalid Al Gaadi.

''Geyad has been tasked with the fabrication of an air/gas duct and eco hopper, steel structures, handrail ladders and chequered plates and buck stay and boiler casing,'' he says.

The plant's production capacity is approximately 7,200 tonnes per year, but is currently producing at the rate of 4,800 tonnes per year, about 20 per cent less when compared with last year.

"The reduction is mainly due to the type of work involved - more complicated and less weight,' says Al Gaadi. ''However, business prospects are good, but competition is very high.'

Over the past few years the company has worked on important projects for Saudi Electricity Company (formerly Sceco) at Al Hasa (under a subcontract of Arcwest); Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) at Al Khobar (Kier International); Aramco's JO 9451 at Al Hasa (Abdullah Al Shuwayer); the Ras Tanura Refinery upgrade (Bugshan Stone & Webster); a PTA plant at Ibn Rushd (Consolidated Contractors Co), a medical products and pharmaceutical plant in Riyadh (Teamwork); the AK3 project, Al Khobar (Hoshanco); ammonia and urea plant at Jubail (Tecnimont Arabia) and Kemya's LDPE project at Jubail (Tecnimont Arabia).

The company, established in 1980, has a turnover of $6.5 million. It conforms to ISO quality standards, having been awarded the ISO 9002 certificate in 1997. The covered area of the premises totals 4,185 sq m and the open storage area 12,700 sq m. Its main markets are Saudi Arabia and the other GCC states.

Geyad had an interesting project in 1998. "A slop oil tank of 6 m diameter and 6 m height was fabricated for Imad Company in our Dammam workshop and transported to Abha by truck through dirt roads. It was an unusual task which was successfully completed,' Al Gaadi recalls.