Following an exceptional performance in 2007, in which it made a record net profit of $201 million, the Gulf Petrochemical Industries Com-pany (GPIC) announced it will distribute the entire profit among its shareholders.

The announcement of the profit and the decision to distribute the profit was made by Adviser to the Premier of Bahrain for Industrial and Oil Affairs and GPIC chairman Sheikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa.
The profit payments represent a 126 per cent return on the paid-up capital, the company said.
Shaikh Isa thanked the shareholders, board members, executive managers and staff for the outstanding results and hailed the close relationships between Bahrain and the shareholders from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, saying the company was considered as a model of joint Gulf co-operation.
He said the record profits were the result of the sincere efforts of the employees towards the continuous rationalisation of costs and reduction of production costs in addition to the efforts of marketers, who made concerted efforts for marketing GPIC’s products in the international arena.
“Production of the ammonia, urea and methanol plants continued at the highest levels of quality and efficiency while maintaining the highest safety and health standards,” he said.
GPIC general manager Abdul Rahman Jawahery said the ammonia, urea and methanol plants continued to operate at the highest levels of efficiency while maintaining high standards of safety and health.
“Last year, GPIC was able to realise many achievements as its cost rationalisation efforts and increased productivity resulted in making $201 million in net profits, which was 24 per cent more than in the previous year.”
In the area of safety and health, Jawahery pointed out that the company last year won the International Award in Occupational Safety and Health from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, UK, for its compliance with strict safety and health standards.
The company was also able to endorse the OHSAS 18001 occupational health and safety system.
The GPIC efforts resulted in completing more than 10 million accident-free hours.
This is considered as a significant achievement given the huge size of the jobs completed during the plant maintenance shutdown in November last year, Jawahery said.
GPIC won last year a GCC award for complying best with Gulf environmental standards.