Klinger celebrates major deal to work on Qatar green fuel plant

Klinger, which has its UK headquarters in Bradford, has won tenders worth more than 3m to supply gaskets for Shell's Pearl gas to liquids plant in Qatar.

As a result, more than one million Yorkshire-made gaskets will help to connect the plant's pipeline which stretches from Qatar into the Gulf.

The Pearl plant is part of a project to make fuels and lubricants on a large scale from clean-burning natural gas.

Jointly developed by Qatar Petroleum and Shell, the plant will process the equivalent of three billion barrels of oil over its lifetime.

Alan Bates, the managing director of Klinger UK, said it showed that Yorkshire manufacturers could compete against the world's best.

He added: "This contract is testimony to the expertise of our specialist engineers and operators here in Bradford.

"International projects of this scale demand the most stringent quality standards and customer care, with on-site support, training and consultancy. The project is a major addition to our fast-expanding export business."

The second phase of Shell's gas-to-liquid (GTL) plant in Qatar will be commissioned by the end of 2011, Qatar Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said yesterday.

The GTL project will be the world's largest and will have a capacity of 140,000 barrels per day.

Klinger UK supplies specialist industrial gaskets to oil rigs, gas platforms, refineries and chemical plants across Europe, the Middle and Far East and Scandinavia

The company has invested 2.6m over the past six years in equipment at its Bradford plant, where it employs 90 of its 130 UK staff.

Klinger's UK operation has an annual turnover of 24m, contributing to the 350m euro (around 317m) worldwide turnover of the Klinger group.

Recent expansion and a 3m investment in technology has also taken the company into new markets, including the aerospace industry.

Founded in 1866 by Austrian engineer Richard Klinger, the company specialises in gasket technology and supplies more than 2,000 customers across the UK, from its Bradford manufacturing centre and distribution specialists in Aberdeen, Grangemouth, Middlesbrough, Runcorn and Southampton.

The Swiss-based Klinger Group established an operation in Bradford 21 years ago. It also opened a giant test laboratory at its Bradford headquarters in 1997 to simulate working conditions.

Klinger has an international client base of customers across 40 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Far East and Australasia. Distribution partnerships are in place in eight countries including Kazakhstan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Abudhabi and Kuwait.

The company's client list includes Shell, BG Group, BP, Rolls Royce, Inious, Texaco and Total.

Wealth of the nation

Over the last 60 years, Qatar has emerged from relative obscurity to become one of the richest Gulf states due to its lucrative oil and gas fields.

Despite its wealth, the former British protectorate has a population of just 1.4m, with foreigners attracted by building work accounting for a large proportion of the population. Islam is the dominant religion. It is also the home of the satellite TV station Al Jazeera.

The country attracts tourists to its cultural heritage, which include the hills of Al-Jassasiya, which contain a large number of stone carvings and engravings which are believed to date from prehistoric times.